Age and circumstances should never limit our potential for growth and transformation. Imagine yourself free falling in a skydive, experiencing the openness of boundless possibilities that’s the mindset I suggest we could all benefit from when considering our next leap into development.

As professionals, we wield incredible influence in shaping workplaces, fostering employee development, and driving organizational success.

However, you might sometimes find yourself pondering missed opportunities or unexplored paths in your career.

Whenever I personally feel how life and opportunities occur as fleeting, I remember this quote by the great Michael Jordan:

My father used to say that it’s never too late to do anything you wanted to do. And he said, ‘You never know what you can accomplish until you try.’

His empowering quote reminds us that our potential for professional growth knows no boundaries.

So, let’s explore how this powerful message can inspire you to embrace new challenges, expand your skills, and become the HR professional you’ve always aspired to be.

Reflect on Your Journey:

Take a moment to celebrate your accomplishments and appreciate the valuable experiences and lessons you’ve gained along your professional journey.

Every step has shaped you, providing a unique foundation for charting a new course toward becoming the HR professional you dream of.

Identify Your Aspirations:

Reconnect with your passions and aspirations as an HR professional. Reignite those ambitions and realign your career with your true calling.

Embrace the belief that you can steer your path toward fulfilling your professional desires, be it talent acquisition, employee development, or organizational strategy.

Expand Your Skill Set:

Continuous learning and growth are vital on the path to realizing your aspirations. Seek opportunities to expand your knowledge and skills, whether through workshops, certifications, or coursework. Each new skill acquired brings you closer to unlocking your full potential.

Embrace Change and Take Risks:

Honor your discomfort and step outside your comfort zone, for change often leads to growth. Take calculated risks by volunteering for challenging projects, seeking new responsibilities, or exploring different HR specializations. Embracing change with an open mind unveils hidden talents and passions.

Surround Yourself with Inspiring People:

Surround yourself with inspiring HR professionals who motivate you to excel. Engage with industry associations, attend conferences, and connect with mentors who provide guidance and support.

Collaborate with like-minded individuals and learn from each other’s perspectives.

Protect and Sustain Your Health:

Nurture your body and mind through self-care and well-being. Prioritize regular exercise and a healthy lifestyle, empowering you to tackle challenges with vigor and focus. A resilient you foster a positive and productive workplace environment.

Final thoughts:

Ultimately, Michael Jordan’s words serve as a powerful reminder that it’s never too late to become the HR professional you might have been.

Seize new opportunities, embrace change, and pursue your passions.

With a motivating network, continued growth, and a focus on well-being, you can unlock your true potential and become the HR professional you’ve always envisioned.

Remember, your journey is unique, and every step forward leads you closer to fulfilling your true potential. Embrace the possibilities that lie ahead!

To your health!

The post Unlock Your HR Potential: Embrace Professional Growth at Any Stage of Your Journey! appeared first on Corporate Health Coach Los Angeles - LifeUP Corporate Wellness.

You’ve seen the signs employees who were once highly engaged and productive now seem emotionally and physically exhausted.

They’ve become cynical, irritable, distracted, apathetic, and inefficient. Workplace stress comes from many sources including heavy workloads and tight deadlines.

It’s been a problem for companies during these stressful times, and it’s not getting better. A few sobering facts:

• Young people say burnout is one of the top three reasons they’re quitting. A recent Deloitte survey found that 24% of millennials and a whopping 40% of GenZers are considering quitting their jobs within the next two years.
• In the same survey, 77% of respondents say they’ve experienced burnout at their current company, and 50% of them cite multiple occurrences. 77% of millennials say they have burnout.
• 86% of remote employees complain of burnout
• Employees who feel burned out are 63% more likely to use sick days and 23% more likely to end up in an emergency room.
• In 2021, almost 3 in 5 employees (59%) said they experienced negative impacts from work-induced stress during the previous month, including trouble focusing, a lack of motivation, interest, or energy, and reduced work effort.

Given that 57% of employers say burnout has a direct impact on turnover and retention, quite possibly, you’ve already seen the trends.

So how important is it to recognize and prevent burnout? Well, if you want to retain your high achievers, it’s a no-brainer.

What are the signs of employee burnout?

Chances are, you may be missing some of the early signs because there are three phases of employee burnout. The two earliest are most difficult to spot.

Here are the three phases:

1. Low risk: Employees remain engaged. They have low but manageable stress levels.
2. Moderate risk: Employees continue being engaged, but they may be unfocused due to stress.
3. High risk: Employee stress is unmanageable.

So, you can likely see the importance of building safeguards to support employees during the first two stages. It’s crucial to be proactive.

You’ll find it’s way harder to address the issue during the high-risk phase.

What are burnout’s common causes and how do we combat them?

PROBLEM: Overload

When employees feel there’s never enough time in the day to complete their workload, they soon start to feel stressed out, unfocused, and exhausted.

They begin to drop balls and their projects suffer.

Solutions

• Ask managers to review the employee’s work situation with honesty and empathy. Is everything the employee is doing absolutely necessary?
  Are there tasks on their plate that the manager can relieve them of?
  Can any deadlines be pushed back? Can mandatory meetings be shortened or even scrapped altogether? Can you hold walking meetings in the great outdoors?
• Build opportunities for relaxation into your stressed employees’ day. Yoga, mindfulness, meditation, and tai chi are all wonderful practices for lowering stress even in small doses. 10-15 minute mindfulness exercises in the middle of the day give everyone the opportunity to take a hard pause.
• Holding events like healthy cooking demonstrations can provide both a beneficial takeaway and a much-needed break to unwind.
• Offer educational resources on stress-mitigation strategies like getting better sleep, more exercise, and maintaining positive social relationships.

Remember though, you can “yoga-fy” a company all you like, but if the workplace environment is toxic, these activities won’t help. You can best utilize them within a robust culture of health.

PROBLEM: Pressure

Many employees feel continually under pressure to perform, particularly if they are involved in high-stakes/high-value projects.

They sit at their desks with furrowed brows and fret about the next deadline. When the pressure builds up over time, they become at greater risk for burnout.

Solutions

Be a crusader for work/life balance (and practice it yourself!). The day before a holiday shut down early. Institute “unplugged” initiatives, so employees can enjoy a reprieve from cell phone dings and the constant drip of email.

Create mindfulness spaces where employees can wind down in solitude in a low-lit and comfy area.

• Track employees’ days off and vacation time, and motivate those who haven’t taken time off recently to get some needed rest. Encourage mental health days.
• To combat employee burnout, Ashton Adair, Director of Culture and First Impressions at Mojo Media Labs, started home “hump days.” It allowed his people to work remotely on Wednesdays, so they could decompress from the bustle of the office and enjoy some solitude. As he explains to SHRM, it increased brain power and productivity and alleviated problems of fatigue and engagement.

PROBLEM: Ineffective management

When employees lack consistent, empathetic support, their stress levels can skyrocket. If their manager doesn’t offer constructive feedback, practice fairness, and encourage autonomy in decision-making or worse, micromanage them employees are apt to seek a job elsewhere.

Sometimes managers are stressed and overwhelmed, which only compounds the problem.

Solutions

Many managers need empathy training and development and, importantly, training on how to demonstrate empathy toward employees.

There are a few simple ways to help managers hone  their empathy skills:

• Teach managers to practice active listening. When employees have managers with standout listening skills, they know they are being heard and feel comfortable expressing their problems and concerns. Good listeners inspire respect and trust.
• Train managers to motivate employees by offering them more work freedom and instilling a sense of purpose. They can create purpose by increasing opportunities for autonomy when employees accomplish tasks, assigning tasks that are meaningful, and encouraging more adaptable work schedules.

It goes without saying that managers also need this kind of treatment from their own superiors.

PROBLEM: External stress

Each of us has family members, personal goals, and aspirations. Even when everything’s going fine at work, stress can get in the way of performance and lead to burnout.

Your employees may be caring for elderly parents or small children. They may be dealing with unmet financial obligations, the death of a loved one, or toxic relationships at home or at work.

All these can make employees distracted, absent, or physically and mentally ill from the toll.

They are exhausted and unfocused, have difficulty making good decisions, and ultimately may move on from the company to handle their personal issues.

Solutions

• Widely promote your employee assistance programs (EAPs) and go beyond posters in the hallways for this effort.
• Provide financial guidance and advocate for fair pay.
• Offer flexible work hours to enable employees to handle outside issues as they arise.
• Allow telecommuting or implement a hybrid home/office approach, which gives employees more time to support themselves and others.
• Encourage mental sanity work breaks and provide emotional support.
• Remind employees to take their paid time off (PTO) to handle stressors outside of work.
• Finally, create a culture of health that promotes a good work/life balance.

So, what kind of difference do burnout prevention and reduction make?

Burnout problems – alone or in combination – impact all of your employees, both directly and indirectly. But especially when your top performers begin to burn out and leave, the whole company suffers.

In the past, it may not have been common to consider a staff’s well-being and emotions, but now employees have begun to expect that kind of care from their employers.

And there’s no doubt that reducing the effects of burnout provides a significant benefit.

Final takeaways

Engaged and happy employees drive tangible business results – they are focused, energized, and enthusiastic.

They care about their jobs – helping to boost company performance, productivity, and morale. 

According to recent Gallup research, companies that have highly engaged employees:

• Realize 21% more profitability
• Outperform competitors by 147%.

Those stats are hard to argue with. And it’s why you can’t afford to ignore the signs of burnout – especially in your top performing employees. After all, they’re the ones that have been giving 100% because they care deeply about their work and they’re the employees who are the most costly to lose and replace.

But burnout needs to be addressed in all your employees. It’s why I urge you to focus on some of the solutions above. How about it?

As always, I am here to help guide your process. 

To your health!

The post High Performers burnout- Stats, Signs, Problems & Solutions appeared first on Corporate Health Coach Los Angeles - LifeUP Corporate Wellness.

Impaired psychological wellness can disrupt clear thinking, healthy decision-making and the ability to stave off chronic diseases. But did you know that psychological issues are risk factors for other serious illnesses? I’m talking about anxiety, depression and stress. According to the CDC, anxiety is the primary risk factor for heart disease and it also precipitates other known risk factors, such as substance abuse, obesity, a sedentary lifestyle, and depression. The CDC also pegs depression to other physical health issues, especially long-term (and largely preventable!) conditions like heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.

We don’t normally consider stress a mental health problem, but it connects to mental health in a number of ways. It can cause psychological issues and make existing issues worse. Compaies can’t afford to ignore it.

But when shaping your multigenerational employee wellbeing initiatives, don’t boil the ocean! Focus on risk factors that are the most prevalent within your population. You may find that cross-generationally there are plenty of similarities. For instance…

Anxiety, depression and stress are common to all generations
Consider these three signs of ill-health that all generations of employees report, from Gen-Z to Boomers. Each of these conditions significantly impacts your company’s productivity:

Anxiety and depression

Record numbers of employees report feeling anxious and depressed. Champion Health’s 2023 report lays bare the shocking statistics. A full 60% of employees experience anxiety, and 56% report depression symptoms, with 22% of them claiming they are ‘clinically depressed.’.

And although most workers won’t report a mental health diagnosis, one in four employees meet classic criteria for ‘clinically relevant’ anxiety and depression symptoms, suggesting they’d benefit from the support of mental health professionals.

Here’s the thing…

A recent survey by the American Psychiatric Association, indicates “more than four in ten employees are concerned about retaliation if they seek mental health care or take time off for their mental health.” And recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that 36% of US employees experience depression and anxiety on a daily basis. According to the American Psychiatric Association, untreated depression accounts for productivity reduction of a staggering 35%. And it contributes a $210.5 billion annual cost to the US economy in terms of reduced productivity, absenteeism and medical costs.

How can HR help?

First, it’s crucial to reduce any stigma associated with mental health issues. Openly address the commonness of suffering from them and provide easy access to education, resources, and support – especially your EAP and mental health services if you have them. Encourage your managers to promote and allow mental health days. Familiarize yourself with meditation apps and online stress-reduction classes, and make sure employees know about them. Remember that different generations prefer different modes of contact, so avail yourself of all communication channels.

Stress

Since the pandemic, 67% of workers report suffering from moderate to high stress levels, according to the 2023 Champion Health report. And employees are reporting catastrophically lower levels of productivity. Productivity and stress are closely linked. That’s why it pays to step up and invest significantly in workplace wellbeing strategies that support employees to prevail over the struggles they face. There are several steps companies can take to reverse this negative pattern.

How can HR help?

When you HR professionals feel fed up and worn down, how can you lead stressed-out teams yourself? HR leaders have faced this bugbear since the pandemic. But here is a tip that the Champion Health report reveals: employees are at their most energetic at 10:22 in the morning and most blah-feeling at 1:27 pm. How could you leverage that information to strategize some wellbeing plans? How about initiating a (healthy) afternoon snack break or schedule laid-back team chats at that time?

Reducing busywork is perhaps the easiest way to combat employee burnout. Consider which tasks are crucial to your company’s core goals and get rid of any nonessential tasks. Doing this will allow your employees to focus on their most requisite assignments.

Don’t forget – small steps like these can lead to sweeping organizational improvements for a company and all its generations. And remember, we are always here to help.

To your health!

Derek

The post All generations say 3 risk factors impact productivity and wellbeing appeared first on Corporate Health Coach Los Angeles - LifeUP Corporate Wellness.

What if your employees had the means to make corporate health and wellness an integral part of their workday? How might that impact your people’s engagement levels? How about your company’s productivity and its ability to attract and retain talent? Ultimately, how would it affect the bottom line?

But wellness is more than a program. Instead, think of it as a way to improve your quality of life and help your people show up as their best selves every day. And believe me, health matters in your business setting.

Consider these employee responses to an Aon Hewitt survey that asked for their opinions on workplace wellness initiatives offered by employers:

Yes, wellness programs matter. Here are some more reasons why:

1. Your company foots the bill for unhealthy employees.
2. Building a healthy workforce provides many benefits beyond ROI.

Let’s jump in…

The Onerous Costs of “Sick-Care”

Health insurance and claims costs are soaring exponentially. You are trying to minimize cost increases while remaining competitive for marketplace talent. But your foundational strategies are not keeping up with the realities of an unhealthy workforce. A reactive care model is just not sustainable.

Our country’s healthcare system wasn’t designed to help prevent the onset of disease but rather to diagnose and treat illness. Hence, the American healthcare system, and the fallback position of many companies, is based on an acute care model, where the focus is to address (instead of prevent) urgent issues and manage chronic diseases. This reactive approach is expensive and inefficient. It’s why more and more companies are embracing a new model that promotes proactive health and wellness.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), preventable chronic conditions are at an all-time high in the US. They are also a major contributor to the costs of employee medical claims and health insurance premiums. The CDC lists five chronic conditions or risk factors:

• High blood pressure
• Diabetes
• Smoking
• Physical inactivity
• Obesity

These cost US employers a whopping $36.4 billion a year because of employees missing days of work. Obesity alone increases job absenteeism due to injury or sickness by three days per year. And post-pandemic, obesity has risen. Annually, productivity losses due to obesity range from $271 to $542 for each obese employee. When calculating the cost-effectiveness of interventions, it’s vital to take reductions in absenteeism into account.

Research shows that employees of normal weight cost $3,830 per year on average for a covered medical, sick day, short-term disability, and worker’s comp claims combined. Employees that were morbidly obese cost over double that amount, or $8,067 – and that was in 2011!

In all, US employers spent an estimated $13,728 per employee on healthcare in 2020, and this spending will only continue to rise. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services projects that national health costs will increase at an average annual rate of 5.4% until 2028.

Your company may have little control over many of the factors that drive up healthcare costs, but one area you can influence is the incidence of your employees’ unhealthy habits. Because here’s the thing, all the above risk factors can be controlled – and often prevented – with proven, achievable lifestyle changes. Yes, getting your employees to move more, eat healthily, reduce stress, sleep better, and work on detrimental habits can pay huge dividends.

In fact, supermarket chain H-E-B found that over time, moving just 10 percent of employees from high and medium-risk to low-risk status yielded an ROI of 6 to 1! But investing in workplace well-being has tangible benefits beyond monetary savings. Let’s explore…

Going beyond ROI

Here are just a few of the additional benefits of providing a wellness program for your workforce:

More likely to stay, more likely to recommend

Providing corporate wellness services is an investment in attracting and retaining talent. Research shows that the availability of well-designed wellness programs improves employees’ net promoter score (eNPS). Employees with access to 7-8 programs are one and a half times more likely to remain with their employer. 89% of workers at companies that provide wellness initiatives are more likely to recommend their company as a good place to work. Programs that help employees manage chronic conditions and provide a physical work environment that promotes healthy decision-making have the biggest impact on eNPS. And ultimately, attracting and retaining talent reduces the burden of an already busy HR staff.

Increased productivity

Companies that promote well-being can experience 21% higher productivity. And compromised employee health is one of the top reasons for lagging productivity. The last thing your company needs is a sluggish and mediocre workforce. Taking part in company wellness programs involves developing healthy habits, such as regular exercise, stress reduction, improved sleep hygiene, and good nutrition, that are linked to more productive behaviors. Better health results in a more focused and motivated workforce.

For instance, one Harvard study demonstrated that the benefits of exercise go beyond physical. Evidence suggests that it boosts mental abilities like:

• Improved cognitive function
• Sharper memory
• Enhanced creativity
• Better concentration

Employees that exercise regularly are for the most part healthier than their sedentary co-workers. This results in fewer sick days and medical appointments, and overall reduced absenteeism.

Better nutrition also matters. One Brigham Young study of nearly 20,000 employees found that those with unhealthy diets were 66% more likely to report lower productivity. But employees who eat right get more done in a day.

As Virgin’s Richard Branson advises corporate leaders, “Take care of your employees and they will take care of your business. It’s as simple as that. Healthy, engaged employees are your top competitive advantage.”

Bottom line: better habits lead to better health and better outcomes. So, what positive outcomes might your company gain by implementing a comprehensive corporate wellness solution?

The post Investing in wellness: Key to employee health & productivity appeared first on Corporate Health Coach Los Angeles - LifeUP Corporate Wellness.