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Equal Happy and Healthy Staff
2008/06/03
Equal Happy and Healthy Staff
BETTER BUSINESS Constant fatigue, lack of motivation, dried up creativity - a quick survey around any office will probably find a shocking number of employees suffering from these and other symptoms of stress. You need to be made of stern stuff to survive the intense demands of the modern workplace; but even the strongest can, at times, feel that their coping skills are being pushed to the limit. Thankfully, business is beginning to wake up to the fact that it's beneficial to ensure a happy and healthy workforce. Prevention, as they say, is better than cure. So rather than letting staff reach burnout, some corporates are having a change of thinking and implementing employee assistance programmes (EAP) which are aimed at identifying and preventing problems before they become unmanageable and affect other aspects of the employee's life (most notably, their work and productivity). The bottom line is that the health of a company's employees is its most valuable commodity. An EAP recognises this and works to reduce a business risk by investing proactively in the health of employees. The employee assistance programmes that really help are those that ease the burden by offering practical advice and problem solving. The success of such programmes demands building awareness (through education) and trust-employees need to feel comfortable and confident enough to access the programme. Self management, peer and self referral are also promoted through awareness campaigns. It's all well and good saying, "Don't bring your personal life to the office," but in reality that's impossible - particularly if something drastic is happening at home, e.g. the major breadwinner has been retrenched or fired and the debt collectors are knocking on the door. In this kind of situation, the employer may not want to bail the staff member out financially. However, through an EAP, it can help whilst maintaining a degree of non-interference. According to Cleone Bakker, marketing general manager at Europ Assistance SA, "A good employee assistance programme should take an holistic view and not only deal with issues at work." Europ Assistance's latest innovation in the market, LifeBalance focuses on finding areas in people's lives that can be made easier with professional and efficient services, ranging from household repairs, health and legal advice to both emergency services and leisure services. For Bakker, "There's no doubt that a good EAP can result in a reduction of staff turnover and increase productivity." And what boss in his right mind would rather be greeted with scowls than smiles each morning?
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