Healthy people, healthy workplace

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We're serious about stress management. 

STRESS, WHAT IS IT?

Stress is the distance between what you're getting and what you want. The further you get away from what you want the worse you feel.

If luck is where preparation meets opportunity, it's not hard to work out what bad luck it!

If one of the brick walls of life is stopping you from getting what you want you can start to feel sad, miserable or unhappy. You can lose energy and vitality.

If you don't know what you want then you can really get stressed, because if you don't know what you want, by the time you're 70 there's a good chance you'll be on your own, on a pension, depressed, diabetic, in a nursing home, with a crook back, a bypass and a  hip replacement. It's not something most people look forward to, but if you're not focused on the good life sooner or later the bad life rears it's ugly head.

If you experience these symptoms, sit back for a moment and think, 'What do I need to do to remove the cause of my stress?" Some may be physiological, in fact more than most people realize. Some may be psychological, in fact more than most people realize.

Of course, for many people, the great stress of life comes from not knowing what they want and having to put up with what they're getting. Stress is the distance between potential and achievement. You can be pretty certain you'll start feeling stressed when your Self comes to an understanding that you are not achieving your full potential as a human being.

We feel distressed when

•   we're not getting enough - of the things we want

•   we don't have a clear idea of what we really want out of life

•   there is a gap between potential and achievement

•   there is an imbalance between the demands of life and our capacity

     to deal with them

•  when we're not giving enough back to our Self.

Stress is also the rebellion of the Self from lack of attention. Give back to your Self.

WHAT DOES IT DO TO YOU?

In the first instance you'll experience a range of emotions, the normal healthy emotions of stressed people; they feel angry, sad, miserable, anxious - emotions designed to let you know something is wrong and that it's time to deal with the cause of the problem. It doesn't feel normal at the time, unless you're trained to read the signs and do something to get yourself feeling better.

Lao Tzu said a big problem could have been solved easier when it was a small problem.

Then there are the physical symptoms; you get tired, you can't sleep, you get headaches, your blood pressure and cholesterol goes up, you get itchy, you get an irritable bowel. These are symptoms you need to look out for and deal with - not by masking them.

BEING UNHEALTHY

If you're feeling stressed, anxious, depressed or just plain dreadful, the first thing you need to think about is 'Maybe I'm unhealthy'. If you're unhealthy various body systems won't be feeling all that flash. The mind is just one of many body systems and when you're not healthy it takes a battering as well as the other systems.

WHERE DOES IT COME FROM

We believe stress comes from two sources

We believe it has a cause and it can be fixed.

We believe the risk of people becoming stressed can be measured.

We believe that high levels of absenteeism can be reflective of a stress problem of some sort - relating to physical health, mental health, and family, life and career satisfaction.

The successful management of the stress of our people is an integral part of the OH&S firewall policy that stops stress from dropping into the injury bucket and becoming a lost time and compensatible incident.

In many workplaces stress accounts for the second highest numbers of workers' compensation incidents.

We believe these claims are a reflection on our ability to get to know and manage our people.

Our aim is to have zero workers compensation claims for stress.

In our community the incidence of anxiety and depression is rising dramatically as people become unhealthier generally and less resilient psychologically. We believe that the mind is just one of the many body systems that are under threat of becoming dysfunctional.

STRESS MANAGEMENT

At work

We place a high value on people being in the right job, the job that suits their intelligence strengths and their personality, a job for which they have an aptitude and about which they are passionate. Many people don't know what they really want to do (when they grow up!) We help them work that out and move toward it.

We're serious about getting the right people in the right jobs. In our pre-employment screening we look for people who have a passion for the job they're applying for, who have the aptitude and personality for it.

We require managers to be conscious of staff being in the 'right' job, and if they're not, working with them to get into the 'right' job - whether it is inside or outside our organisation. Whilst we're not a sheltered workshop, our people focus compels us to be interested in our staff and their fit within our organisation. Where it's the wrong fit we do our people and our organisation a disservice by  not doing anything about it.

We know that productivity drops when people are not doing the work they're passionate about. As with most things in life, when the passion dies it's time to move on.

We require managers to be diligent and vigilant in monitoring the workload of their staff. We will not allow persistent work overload to affect the health and wellbeing of our staff.

We wish to be know as an organisation that develops people through work, an organisation of choice.

We have a redeployment program that goes hand in hand with our employee assistance program that helps people work out what they want for their lives and their careers and then supports them in getting it.

We support people who want to move on because we know that healthy organisations are characterised by a regular inflow of new people and ideas. We value renewal over stagnation.

We say to our staff, 'If you don't want to be here, we'll help you to go somewhere else where you can be richly rewarded by your job and your career.' We're committed to helping people build their careers.

WORKPLACE MANAGEMENT

Managers

We require our managers to successfully manage the staff for whom they are responsible. We provide them with management skills training. Managers are involved in a continuous management development program.

Staff

We require staff to manage themselves and manage their manager. We insist that they become confident in their relationship with their manager, they they get on the front foot and manage up. Staff are involved in a continuous management development program.

MORALE

We promote a healthy morale within our workgroups through our morale development program, regular staff meetings and morale-boosting activities. We don't count time spent on these activities as a waste of time.

Our health, fitness and wellbeing program is an integral aspect of our morale-boosting program.

We're serious about having fun in our workplace(s)!

WORKING HOURS

We expect our staff to do a good day's work for a good day's pay. We don't expect them to persistently work long hours, though we know that at times putting in extra hours may be required. Nevertheless it is the exception, not the rule.

In the event of people working long hours to complete a project we require them to take time off to recharge their batteries.

We do not encourage senior managers to set a good example to their staff by not working excessively long hours. In fact we actively discourage it because in the long run it is unproductive, it destroys family life and leads to poor health. We're a family friendly organisation, we're a health promoting organisation.

HOLIDAYS

We insist that our staff take their holidays, as and when they are due.

By the end of January each year, managers are required to gain an indication from their staff when they propose to take their holidays.

We encourage people to take a three-week, away from home holiday each year, and to use public holidays to maximize their leave entitlements.

Our office is closed between Christmas and New Year.

LONG SERVICE LEAVE

We require our staff to take their long service leave in the year in which it become due. Long service leave is opportunity we provide for staff to recharge their batteries for the benefit of themselves and our organisation. We regard it as an important health initiative, not a financial initiative.

STRESS CLAIMS

Whilst we do our best to minimise stress claims, if and when they occur we treat them seriously.

We do not regard stress as a medical complaint.

We require people on stress leave to attend a Formula 1 stress management  program that includes

DEPRESSION

We are in the grip of a depression epidemic. More and more people are being diagnosed as being depressed and being placed on medication. It's a sign of poor health and a sign that people are not coping with their internal and external environments.

At WorkHealth Victoria we're serious about depression and, with the approval of staff members will enrol them in a Formula 1 stress management program that includes

If people are in the wrong job we will assist them to move to one that is more to their liking.

We do not believe that a depression initiative that relies solely on medication is good treatment.

We want our staff to be fit and healthy and we encouraged those who are depressed to improve their health, fitness and wellbeing.