Will they give up a 9 day Fortnight?

As the dust starts to settle on cost cuts and redundancies, I can’t help but start to think about what the world will look like when the markets come back and business begin to experience growth again.

Today the employment landscape looks different to what it did 12 or 18 months ago. The flexibility 4 day work weeks or 9 day fortnights have introduced to employees is likely to be something many will value and not want to surrender when given the opportunity. This time away from the workplace has now been replaced by personal errands or hobbies usually reserved for the weekend, time with friends or family, or even just the opportunity to slow down and live life at a relaxed pace rather than a relay. The value placed on this sort of lifestyle is likely to be far greater than any possible financial impact offered as a substitute and those who have come to expect this sort of flexibility will regard it as essential when considering future employers.

The skills shortage will absolutely return, enhanced now by those who have opened new doors to opportunity and taken on the entrepreneurial spirit of small business. Declining birth rates will continue to impact the current workforce and a continued ageing population will bring new dimensions to how and when we work. Organisations will need to think creatively about flexibility in the workplace for all generations, why not start now?

Discover your Hidden Strengths

I recently spent a few weeks in London, Paris and NYC , all amazing cities boasting hectic lifestyles at a frenetic pace. Most of my travel to date has been with a very good friend who has a fantastic ability to read maps in seconds and have us en route to our destination immediately. Over this time I had come to decide that maps and me were not friends! My sense of direction is terrible, so much so that if I was convinced we should be heading in one direction, it was almost certain that that the opposite would be correct! Never wanting to fail and convinced I can do anything, I persisted at proving my direction prowess. After a few years (yes it took that long for me to give up) of being proved wrong I finally abdicated any responsibility for direction, deciding to leave it to the experts!

So back to London, Paris and NYC...... this time I was alone and had no choice but to navigate the maze of streets and underground transport systems. Somewhat terrified at the prospect of ending up in some nasty neighbourhood, I armed myself with 3 versions of maps for every city and to the streets I went..... and what a star!

I became a tube hopping bandit! No mistakes, no nasty neighbourhoods and no fights because I had spent 30 minutes trying to prove we are heading in the right direction till proven we weren't!

The point.... sometimes there are things that you are brilliant at and actually enjoy, but have yet to discover. It can take the right role, manager, workplace or in my case a moment of sheer necessity, to open up opportunities to explore our unlimited potential.

"Now discover your Strengths' by Marcus Buckingham is a fantastic book with an associated online questionnaire which helps to identify your own strengths and those of the people you manage. It also opened my mind to how we language the strengths of our staff in the workplace. Try brainstorming 20 different words you would identify as a strength. Then try weaknesses or development points.

The StrengthsFinder provides 34 different themed strengths to help articulate your strengths which incidentally they define as 'consistent near perfect performance in an activity'.

Most organisations need to maximise internal resources, particularly with recent staff cuts and market pressures. Open up a conversation with your staff to identify and language their strengths. Not only will this create power within each individual but open up possible synergies within teams and functions, the ultimate in leveraging. I am sure that you will find pockets of gold everywhere, perhaps a creative genius in the finance department!

People love to do what they are good at! It gets more energy, focus, accuracy, creativity and ultimately success! And this type of momentum is infectious.

Thought Provoker

This video[1] recently came across my in box and I was fascinated by the facts around the growth of technology in last 10- 20 years, and more importantly what is has meant for the way we communicate, do our jobs and live our lives. Whilst acutely aware that the internet has dramatically changed the face of the workplace, the extent of this change and the potential of what it means for the next 5 years can only be truly understood when we consider the way things were.

Some of the most thought provoking facts for me were:

· The top 10 in-demand jobs in 2010 did not exist in 2004
· The US department of labour estimates that today’s learners will have 10-14 jobs by the age of 38
· 1 in 2 employees have been with their employer less than 5 years
· 31 billion Google searches every month, in 2006 this number was 2.7 billion
· Text messaging has been around since Dec 1992
· Today the number of text messages sent and received exceed the population
· There are 540,000 words in the English Language, 5 X more as there was at Shakespeare’s time.

More information at a greater pace communicated in new ways with new words....... What does this mean for your employees, your organisation and you now and in 5 years time?

[1] created by Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod, and Jeff Brenman

Workplace stress is costing the Australian Economy $14.81 billion a year

Workplace stress is costing the Australian Economy $14.81 billion a year, equating to 3.2 days of lost productivity per worker[1]. Often used as a catch-all term to describe any perceived difficulties in the workplace, excessive and consistent stress, whether perceived or real, compromises day to day employee engagement, health and productivity.

Most people in the corporate world would acknowledge this to be a somewhat conservative estimation of the impact of stress. In the US, 48% of Employers believe that stress caused by extended working hours and doing more with less is affecting business performance[2]. Add to this the impact of mobile technology, and there is no question that this is a serious concern for Australian Employers.

What triggers Stress in today’s workplace?

· Excessive work demands and working hours (code for being paid one salary to do three people’s job),
· Unreasonable expectations and deadlines given resources available,
· Concerns about the security of their own employment,
· Concerns about the security of others employment within the organisation and the impact it may have on their own role,
· Limited or poor communication about the direction of the company, particularly in uncertain economic times,
· Limited flexibility and autonomy as to how roles are performed,
· Poor relationships with team mates, colleagues and management,

AND the list goes on.................

How does the body react to Stress?

When you perceive a threat, your nervous system responds by releasing a flood of stress hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones rouse the body for emergency action.

Your heart pounds faster, muscles tighten, blood pressure rises, breath quickens, and your senses become sharper. These physical changes increase your strength and stamina, speed your reaction time, and enhance your focus – preparing you to either fight or flee from the danger at hand.

Signs of stress may be cognitive, emotional, physical or behavioural. As employers, it impossible to address every possible cause of stress for every employee. And your employees do not expect you to!

Small and simple initiative can make a huge difference in encouraging or helping employees manage external factors that trigger stressful situations or develop skills to handle these sources of stress.

6 Tips for Employers to facilitate Stress Management in the workplace

1. Facilitate flexibility within the working week. This may mean staff finishing at 3pm on a Friday but start half an hour early the other days of the week. A few spare hours to get things done outside the workplace or perhaps the opportunity to get away early for a weekend break can enhance focus throughout the week.
2. Develop support networks within the business through informal morning teas or team meetings. A stronger supportive environment makes people feel like they are not alone and facilitates communication ensuring serious issues can be identified and addressed before they have significant consequences.
3. Mandate a clean desk policy and actively monitor it- a messy desk will induce stressful states much quicker and reinforce the lack of control.
4. Develop a Priority Protocol with staff eg Priority 1 means drop everything and action ASAP, Priority 2- requires 24 hour turnaround etc. This will ensure clear expectations are communicated and the employee can re-organise themself accordingly for a win-win result.
5. Ensure all employees have the opportunity to speak privately with their manager, one on one to facilitate conversation and clarification around issues that may be the source of stress. Sometimes a problem shared is a problem halved and being heard may be enough.
6. Annual leave planner- Ensure all employees have at least one consecutive 2 week holiday booked each year .

[1] http://www.medibank.com.au/Client/Documents/Pdfs/The-Cost-of-Workplace-Stress.pdf
[2] Watson Wyatt’s 2007/2008 Staying@Work report http://www.watsonwyatt.com/research/resrender.asp?id=2007-US-0216