Rehabilitation cost at least 100 times more than health promotion cost!
Once a week I work in a team doing work assessment test on people on long-term sick leave. I get to meet fantastic people who struggle to make life worth living again. Some of them are refugees from war zones around the globe, some are brought up in dysfunctional families and it is easy to understand that these people had a tough life and therefore maybe became ill.
But I also meet many, I would like to say too many, men and women who have just worked themselves sick. People who were just going to do this extra, and then that extra, and then something else extra – a never-ending story. They had a hard time to say NO to their boss – I can’t increase my workload any more. Or they say it was all fun work – it just was way too much and consequently got out of hand.
Whatever the reason, I can tell that none of them say it was worth the price to get sick. The consequences for the person him/herself, for their family and friends, for the workplace and for the society can be very extensive. We talk both about massive money AND human loss.
What is the lesson in this?
Learn how to control Stress! Don’t put yourself – or anybody you have responsibilities for – in this situation.
Taking good basic care of yourself as leader is essential in this work. That will help you stay clear in mind and have energy to tackle the issues you need to deal with. It does cost some time to exercise and to make sure you eat regularly but that time is easily regained in efficacy. The monetary cost is minor for this.
Taking good care of your team is the next level. They also need to care for their physical health – and you can support that. You also need to make good structures, rules and transparency that promote good health and happiness at work. In the long run you will get manifold back in better job done resulting in increased profit.
As leader you can do a lot to prevent your employees from getting ill and there is also a lot you can do to stay healthy yourself. It is not uncommon that leaders get squeezed between different levels in the organization and that is an easy way to get into “the famous wall”. It is worth a fortune not to get there – I promise you.
First step for you can be to gather your team and start talking about these issues. Try to find out if anyone is at risk for burned out. Try to find out the needs for happiness at YOUR workplace. Set rules, change rules, do changes whatever needed.
Good luck – and if you find it too hard to do by yourself – go get help.
Have you ever been close to the wall? How do you tackle stress and overload in your team? Please share – I love to read your comments below.
You can read more about a model for your personal stress mangement in my book “Take stress from chaos to calm”. It if full of tools and worksheets. It can also be used for discussion in your team – and you can do the work together and suport each other.
To your success – keep smiling!
