Good Company Blog http://www.apaexcellence.org/resources/goodcompany/blog/ en-US Copyright 2013 Wed, 12 Jun 2013 09:34:05 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification In the Face of Adversity: Resilience at Work 4311097490_5d2a5a8f10_n.jpg

A recent survey by the American Psychological Association's Center for Organizational Excellence found that one-third of American workers experience chronic work stress with low salaries, lack of opportunity for advancement and heavy workloads topping the list of contributing factors. For more specifics regarding the results of this survey, click here.

The good news, as Dr. David Ballard, head of the APA Center for Organizational Excellence, points out, “When employers acknowledge that employees have responsibilities and lives outside of work, they can take steps to promote a good work-life fit and help individuals better manage these multiple demands. Forward-thinking organizations are re-evaluating work practices, providing employees with resources that support well-being and performance and applying new technology that helps shift work from somewhere we know from 9 to 5 to something we do that is meaningful and creates value.”

So what role can resilience play in helping employers and employees make this shift? The skills and the attitudes that make for resilient individuals and organizations are not just the ones that we need to survive adversity and to bounce back from hardship. But they play a key role in making our lives worth living. Connectedness and communication are two of these.

Most of us spend much of our lives at work. If we are to enjoy our lives, we should be able to connect and communicate in a positive way with the people that we spend so much time with. They should be part of a network of people that we can count on when things are difficult. They should be a source of support, not of adversity. But this requires efforts on our part, our co-workers’ part and the organization. We may need to work on our communication skills, and there are times when we need to be able to speak up and assert ourselves. Psychologically healthy organizations encourage employees to be involved and to grow and develop.

Some of the growth that needs to be encouraged at times is the ability for employees to adapt to changes in the organization. Change is a reality. Adapting to this reality requires that both employees and organizations be flexible. Work environments increasingly encourage team effort and joint problem solving. Effective communication is critical. Individuals and organizations need to learn to try in a different way to solve problems, not just to try harder in the same way. Such rigidity creates, at best, frustration or worse, failure.

Adopting to the work environment in the 21st Century requires that we accept change as a given. Most things are temporary and will have to change. Permanence is not to be expected. And the changes that do occur we cannot expect to have a pervasive impact on our lives or our organizations. Good or bad, they will not change everything. Their impact will usually be specific. Not everything will change. Blaming ourselves or others for the problems that we are or the organization is confronting is not going to be helpful. We need to be accountable for our actions, and we need to hold others accountable for theirs. But engaging in the blame game is a waste of time. Backbiting or gossiping certainly does not make for a better work environment.

If we can connect with our co-workers in a positive way, if we can be more effective communicators, the work environment will often be less stressful. This may require flexibility on our part and an optimistic attitude. The latter involves accepting that most things are temporary. But positive or negative events seldom have a pervasive impact on our lives, and then assigning blame is not helpful. If we can apply these skills and attitudes of resilience to our work, we can make the organizations that we work in psychologically healthier places.

In my next blog post I’ll discuss how some of the other skills and attitudes of resilience can be applied at work.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/paul / CC BY-NC 2.0

]]> http://www.apaexcellence.org/resources/goodcompany/blog/2013/06/in-the-face-of-adversity-resil.php http://www.apaexcellence.org/resources/goodcompany/blog/2013/06/in-the-face-of-adversity-resil.php Attitudes Change Communication Positive Psychology Relationships Resilience Stress Work Work-Life Workplace Wed, 12 Jun 2013 09:34:05 -0500 Loving One’s Job Isn't Just for the Birds Although most work environments don’t have cuddly kittens and exotic birds visiting on a daily basis, for Rachel Hahn-Teichberg, head veterinary technician for All Creatures Veterinary Hospital in Salem, MA, the animals are one reason she loves coming to work each day. Click to find out what else she loves about her job!

Tell us why you love your job! We'll be featuring submissions on our website and social media pages. Each month, we will select and recognize our favorite submission. If your entry is selected, you'll receive some delicious treats at your office to share with your co-workers! It's our way of helping you spread the love!

]]> http://www.apaexcellence.org/resources/goodcompany/blog/2013/06/loving-ones-job.php http://www.apaexcellence.org/resources/goodcompany/blog/2013/06/loving-ones-job.php Co-Workers I Love My Job Satisfaction Video Work Wed, 12 Jun 2013 08:16:01 -0500 We Should be Talking about Worker Well-Being, Not Worker Health 5517659445_703539a1a1_m.jpg

I had the privilege of spending a few days in Los Angeles recently for the Work, Stress and Health Conference. I had the opportunity to interact with some outstanding professionals, some of which I have known for several years and some I met for the first time at the conference.

I learned a great deal from those who presented, and much of what I learned will be integrated into my own future initiatives and projects. But one thing that left me scratching my head a bit was the repeated emphasis on worker health. Wikipedia defines health as “the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being.” When we think of health, we typically think of good health as the absence of illness or disease (either chronic or acute). When an illness or disease is present (either physically or mentally), someone could be considered to be in “poor health.”

Yet, when occupational health psychologists discuss the issue of “health,” they are referring to so much more than the presence or absence of disease. They are referring to what would be defined as well-being, “a good or satisfactory condition of existence; a state characterized by health, happiness, and prosperity.” High levels of well-being include, by definition, general levels of health, but it also includes emotional health (happiness) and even success or financial health (prosperity).

I might sound like I’m playing semantics (and maybe I am), but when organizational leaders hear the experts speak of improving worker health, they often assume that means the traditional conceptualization of health, such as weight loss, exercise and nutrition. In other words, they conclude that the best way to improve their bottom line is to offer a wellness program.

Though they can be effective tools for improving bottom line results, wellness programs and even establishing a “culture of health” (often defined as having healthy foods in vending machines, walking meetings and other such health-focused initiatives) are not strategies. They are tactics for improving the physical health of workers.

But here’s the struggle. Wellness programs do little to help workers who exist under the oppressive rule of an abusive supervisor. They are inadequate when it comes to helping workers manage work overload, especially when their work demands interfere with their ability to effectively participate in other aspects of their lives. They do little to help workers feel valued for their contributions to organizational success. And they seldom result in promotions and career advancement.

So, while a wellness program may be a great tactic for targeting worker health, that program will fall miserably short of improving an individual’s overall well-being, which involves so much more.

For organizations, this means you have to have a strategy, one emphasizing the development of a workplace that fosters (or at least does not detract from) overall worker well-being. It should not start with the implementation of a wellness program; it should start by taking a long hard look at the culture, structure and business practices of the organization to identify where those important contextual factors are enhancing or detracting from worker well-being. It should include an assessment of a range of well-being factors (including health). And it should result in a multi-faceted approach that leverages a host of psychologically healthy workplace practices to effectively improve worker well-being.

Exercise can be a good way to relieve stress that we experience from an abusive supervisor, work-life conflict or poor working conditions. But wouldn’t the organization and its employees reap greater rewards if abusive supervision, work-life conflict and poor working conditions were eliminated? Then, exercise could be used to enhance health rather than to simply maintain it (or keep it from deteriorating even more).

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/donshall / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

]]> http://www.apaexcellence.org/resources/goodcompany/blog/2013/05/we-should-be-talking-about-wor.php http://www.apaexcellence.org/resources/goodcompany/blog/2013/05/we-should-be-talking-about-wor.php Conference Context Culture Employee Health and Well-Being Health Psychologically Healthy Workplace Psychologists Psychology Strategy Well-Being Wellness Tue, 28 May 2013 12:33:04 -0500 Avoiding Discrimination in Organizational Wellness Programs 273289101_6d3bbf76c6_m.jpg

A panel of experts met with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to discuss employer wellness programs in a meeting last week that was open to the public. Panelists urged the Commission to issue official guidance on how to avoid discrimination in organizational health and wellness programs; specifically regarding the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). Guidance from the EEOC on discrimination issues would make it easier for employers with wellness programs to comply with GINA, the ADA, the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Discussion points addressed during the meeting included the urgency to officially define “voluntary” participation in wellness programs and the need for employers to provide reasonable accommodation and adjustment of standards (or waivers) in wellness programs for disabled persons, as well as the consideration of employees protected by the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). Also discussed was the need for EEOC guidance on whether employees’ spouses should be asked for health information under an employer’s wellness program and how this would be protected under GINA.

As panelist Leslie Silverman, a partner with Proskauer Rose, LLP and former EEOC vice chair put it, “Wellness programs as a component of employer-sponsored health insurance are here and here to stay.” According to recent research by Aon Hewitt, 83 percent of organizations surveyed offer employees incentives for participating in wellness programs. Nevertheless, since employers still have questions about incentives and financial penalties, guidance from the EEOC may help organizational leaders, HR and benefits specialists structure reward systems in a way that ensures equal opportunity for all employees and avoids disparate impact.

Fifty-nine percent of organizations recently surveyed by Towers Watson expressed interest in expanding financial incentives to include employees’ spouses by 2014. Although including spouses in wellness programs can be an effective way to engage employees and family dynamics are an important factor to overall health and sustainable behavior change, organizational leaders and managers still have questions about the legal ramifications of collecting health information from employees’ spouses. Panelists asked the EEOC to weigh in on this.

Jennifer Mathis, deputy legal director for the Bazelon Center for Mental Health highlighted an important take away for organizational leaders – when it comes to wellness programs, ensure that your communications reach all employees, including those with disabilities who may require alternate forms of communication, such as American Sign Language. This key point underscores the tenet of our healthy workplace model – in order to be effective, it’s important to consider the specific needs and preferences of your workforce and tailor communications accordingly.

After testimony and rounds of questioning from the Commission to the panelists, the meeting concluded with Commissioner Chai Feldblum of the EEOC stating that “not having clarity and certainty from the EEOC is not fair to either employees or employers” and that this meeting was the beginning of a process. Feldblum further stated that she believes “it is an obligation on the EEOC as [they] interpret laws to be cognizant of the entire body of law that’s out there, even if that’s not an easy situation.” It is now up to the EEOC to decide whether or not to issue guidance with regard to employer wellness programs and discrimination issues.

Click here to read a Society for Human Resources article about a recent case (Seff vs. Broward County) mentioned by Mathis in the meeting, about an employee who sued their employer over participation in a wellness activity. You can also access more information about the EEOC meeting, including the video recording and panelists’ written testimonies on the EEOC website. Written comments can be submitted to commissionmeetingcomments@eeoc.gov (please note that all comments submitted may be made public, so do not include any personal information you do not want posted on the EEOC website).

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/emzee / CC BY 2.0

]]> http://www.apaexcellence.org/resources/goodcompany/blog/2013/05/avoiding-discrimination-in-org.php http://www.apaexcellence.org/resources/goodcompany/blog/2013/05/avoiding-discrimination-in-org.php Communication Disabilities Disability Discrimination Health Promotion Incentives Participation Penalties Reward Wellness Mon, 13 May 2013 13:36:36 -0500 Work & Well-Being 2013: Chicago in 140 Characters or Less Couldn’t make it to our 2013 Work & Well-Being Conference in Chicago last month? Never fear, we’ve aggregated the Twitter postings from the event, below. Here's what people were chirping about...

Stay tuned for other goodies from the conference, including photos, online sessions and more.

]]> http://www.apaexcellence.org/resources/goodcompany/blog/2013/05/work-wellbeing-2013-chicago-in.php http://www.apaexcellence.org/resources/goodcompany/blog/2013/05/work-wellbeing-2013-chicago-in.php APA Center for Organizational Excellence Conference Crisis Social Media Twitter Well-Being Wellness Work Work-Life Fri, 10 May 2013 11:12:19 -0500 Does Your Organization Have a Psychologist on the Board? carpenter_240_180.jpg

Have you noticed that organizations have some employees who are a drain on the workplace while other employees are very effective at promoting the well-being of the company? Did you ever wonder how to improve motivation or promote resilience in the workplace? Are you clear about how to nurture the relationship with existing customers or attract new customers?

These questions, and many others, are questions about human behavior. Psychologists are dedicated to studying and understanding human behavior. So why don’t more businesses have psychologists on their boards of directors?

The board of directors sets policy, represents the owners of the company and oversees the operations to ensure that the company is working up to its potential. To be successful, organizations need an effective board of directors with a diverse set of skills. It is necessary to understand the financial picture of the organization. The legal and regulatory environment must be understood. Marketing and public relations for the organization are key to its success. It is also necessary to be effective in directing and motivating employees, as well as dealing with customers.

Most businesses have a board of directors that includes accountants, lawyers and business development experts to help them to address financial, legal and marketing issues that are a part of the day to day functioning of the organization. I believe that a psychologist should also be on every board of directors to address human behavior, something that is critical to business success.

There are a multitude of issues that come up within the workplace that require a good understanding of human behavior. It is essential to focus on goodness of fit, including getting the right people in the right places within the organization. Executives and managers need to understand human motivation. Conflicts arise and need to be resolved. The organization must strive to promote and support excellence in performance. In a stressful business environment, workers must have the ability to be resilient. There are workplace behaviors that will contribute to the bottom line, but others that will interfere with good outcomes. It is important to promote the behaviors associated with positive outcomes while limiting the negative behaviors. Having a psychologist on the board will help ensure that these vital workplace issues are addressed.

There are also ways to promote good connections and retention of customers. Human beings need to connect on both emotional and intellectual levels in the process of making decisions about accepting what an organization has to offer. To gain a usable understanding of this extraordinarily complex human behavior, it is helpful to have a psychologist involved.

Human behavior is difficult to understand. It is often driven by multiple and contradictory factors that result in actions that are sometimes rational and sometimes emotional. Human beings make systematic errors in decision making. They also can be incredibly innovative, hard working and effective. All of this can be confusing. Yet it is critical to the success of any organization. A psychologist is uniquely positioned to work with a business in addressing and maximizing the potential for working with human behavior to improve the bottom line.

Every company should have a psychologist on the board of directors.

Photo Credit: ©iStockphoto.com/Jason_V

]]> http://www.apaexcellence.org/resources/goodcompany/blog/2013/05/does-your-organization-have-a.php http://www.apaexcellence.org/resources/goodcompany/blog/2013/05/does-your-organization-have-a.php Behavior Business Governance Leadership Performance Psychologists Psychology Relationships Well-Being Thu, 09 May 2013 09:33:42 -0500 Opportunities for Student Volunteers at Work & Well-Being 2013: San Francisco 2616168185_5719d0876a_m.jpg

If you are a student interested in healthy workplace issues, consider working with APA’s Center for Organizational Excellence on our 2013 Work & Well-Being conference in San Francisco at the Sheraton Fisherman's Wharf Hotel on September 12-13. Students from all disciplines, especially industrial-organizational psychology graduate students, psychology undergraduates, students studying business, HR, nursing, medicine and more will find value in working with us on this engaging conference.

Our Work & Well-Being student volunteers have come away from our conferences with new connections, presented their research in front of future employers, published their writing through our communication channels and more. Below is a list of opportunities for students – see which one is right for you…

STAFF THE CONFERENCE

If you like to network, consider volunteering your time to staff our conference sessions where you will be responsible for conference registration, handing out name tags, distributing handouts, answering questions from participants about the schedule and sitting in on sessions to make sure they run smoothly. We will work with you to find hours that fit your schedule. Each conference is different, but typically our volunteers work 3-6 hours over two days.

PRESENT YOUR RESEARCH

We invite graduate students with research on psychologically healthy workplace topics to submit proposals for presentations at the conference. These will be brief (ten minute) presentations that will be part of a special conference session. Topics can include, but are not limited to: workplace wellness and health promotion, employee involvement, work-life balance and flexibility, employee learning and development, occupational health and safety, job stress, diversity, industrial-organizational psychology, occupational health psychology, management and employee recognition.

Guidelines for Presentation Proposals

  • Proposal must be submitted via email no later than June 24, 2013
  • Proposal must be in Microsoft Word, follow APA format and be no longer than 300 words
  • Please include the presentation title, statement of problem, study design, sample size and composition, measures used, analysis method, results and conclusions
  • Also include a one-page bio with the presenter’s credentials, academic affiliation, education, research and work experience, statement of career goals, mailing address, email and phone number

Presentations will be selected and students will be notified by July 15, 2013.

WRITE FOR US

If you are an experienced writer and interested in covering the conference, please consider writing a newsletter article or blog post. We will work with you ahead of the conference to go over your topic and discuss interviewing our presenters. In general, our articles and blog posts should follow these guidelines:

  • 500-800 words 
  • Tone and style blend psychology and business writing
  • Use headings breaks, short paragraphs and clear/concise language 
  • Provide links, bibliographic information, and primary sources for any and all cited content – we need to be able to access exactly what you’re citing 

Suggested perspectives and other tips:

  • Connect presentations to the categories of psychologically healthy workplace practices (employee recognition, employee involvement, health and safety, employee growth and development, and work-life balance)
  • Discuss sessions as they relate to key issues of employee well-being, productivity, communication, organizational outcomes
  • Comment on related economic trends and workplace conditions
  • Read past issues of the Good Company newsletter
  • Access blog posts

The deadline for submitting articles/blog posts is September 27, 2013.

TWEET ABOUT THE CONFERENCE

For those of you who are active on Twitter and interested in tweeting from the conference, please send us your Twitter handle so we can determine if it would be mutually beneficial for us to work together this way during the conference. You can check out our Chicago 2013 conference tweets by searching the #WWB2013 hashtag. Check us out on Twitter, where we post as @APA_excellence. We are also on LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest and more if you are social media savvy – so pitch us your creative ideas soon so we can formulate a plan ahead of time.

PHOTOGRAPH THE EVENT

If you are an experienced or skilled amateur photographer with your own equipment and interested in taking photos during the conference and would be willing to release the photos to us, we would love to have your help. Send us a link to your portfolio or flickr page so we can take a peek before signing you up!

BENEFITS FOR STUDENT VOLUNTEERS

In exchange for volunteering for our conference, we will waive your conference registration fee ($399) and you will be able to attend the main conference sessions you are not scheduled to work for free. You will be fully responsible for your travel, hotel stay and miscellaneous costs, like parking, cab fare, although some food and beverages will be provided.

NEXT STEPS

If you are a current student and interested in working with us on our San Francisco conference, please review the opportunities listed above and email us with your name, email address, cell phone number, school name, program/degree expected, date of expected graduation and a commitment to the conference time frame (September 12-13, 2013) and clearly state which opportunities you are interested in and why you are qualified. Once we receive this information from you, we will forward a registration form that must be returned to us in order for you to volunteer. If at any time your availability changes, please let us know ASAP so we may offer your spot to those on the waiting list. Please note that you must be a student to volunteer with us.

The American Psychological Association’s Center for Organizational Excellence works to enhance the functioning of individuals, groups, organizations and communities through the application of psychology to a broad range of workplace issues. To learn more, please visit: apaexcellence.org.

Additional information about the conference is available online here. If you have any questions, please call our office at 202.336.5900 or email us. We look forward to hearing from you!

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/footloosiety / CC BY 2.0

]]> http://www.apaexcellence.org/resources/goodcompany/blog/2013/05/opportunities-for-student-volu.php http://www.apaexcellence.org/resources/goodcompany/blog/2013/05/opportunities-for-student-volu.php American Psychological Association APA Center for Organizational Excellence Conference Health Promotion Psychology Students Volunteering Wellness Mon, 06 May 2013 09:50:11 -0500 The Modern Skill Set Employees Need to Succeed, But Few Have cali-web-179.jpg

What modern skills are critical to employee success, on and off the job? Perhaps networking, negotiation and personal financial management come to mind.

But there’s another skill that should be on the top of the list, and probably isn’t.

Helping employees manage the way work fits into their lives, day-to-day and at major life transitions, deliberately and with intention, is a modern skill set everyone needs, but few have.

Twenty years ago, clocks and walls used to tell us when work ended and the other parts of our life began. As technology and globalization expanded, those boundaries disappeared, but the way we talk about, think about and decide where to put our time and energy remain stuck in 1985.

Today, many employers offer more flexibility in how, when and where people can do their jobs. But with that increased work flexibility comes responsibility.

An employee may be able to work from home periodically, but a boss can’t tap them on the shoulder and say, “Why don’t you telecommute one day a week. Avoid the long train ride, get to the gym, and have dinner with your family.” The individual has to make those “tweaks”—small changes with big impact—happen.

The same is true at major life transitions like having a child, caring for an aging adult, going back to school, or wanting to work in what used to be called “retirement.” Your people may have the flexibility to officially reset the way work fits into their life, but they need to initiate that conversation, create the plan, and then collaborate, communicate and coordinate to make it work.

Whether it’s putting up boundaries to make what matters to us happen every day, or creating a plan to formally reset our work+life fit at a major life transition, each person needs to take the lead. But, again, unfortunately most people don’t know how. Until now.

In my session at the upcoming Work & Well-Being Conference in Chicago, “Work+Life Fit Skills for Employee Success, On and Off the Job,” I will share the simple, commonsense solutions found in my books, the just released TWEAK IT: Make What Matters to You Happen Every Day (Center Street/Hachette) and Work+Life: Find the Fit That’s Right for You (Riverhead/Penguin Group). You can catch an even more in-depth session at my pre-conference training at the San Francisco conference this fall.

I’ve developed these field-tested strategies over twenty years in the work+life trenches helping hundreds of organizations and thousands of individuals partner for flexible work success. They show your people how to take the lead, capture the work flexibility available, partner with the organization and create a work+life fit that meets their needs and the needs of their job, day-to-day and throughout their career.

It's time to add work+life “fit” to the list of modern skills employees need to succeed, on and off the job.

How do you help your employees flexibly manage the fit between their work and life?

To learn more, go to our site, my blog and our Tweak It Community. You can also connect with me on Twitter and Facebook.

Cali Williams Yost has been pioneering ways to manage work and life in the new economy for nearly two decades. As a consultant, speaker, and CEO and founder of Flex+Strategy Group/Work+Life Fit--and one of Mashable’s Top 14 Career Experts on Twitter--she shows organizations and individuals how to partner for award-winning flexible work success.

]]> http://www.apaexcellence.org/resources/goodcompany/blog/2013/04/the-modern-skill-set-employees.php http://www.apaexcellence.org/resources/goodcompany/blog/2013/04/the-modern-skill-set-employees.php Conference Flexibility Performance Skills Telecommuting Well-Being Work-Life Work-Life Balance Thu, 18 Apr 2013 06:13:45 -0500 Stress is a Problem – And Playing Semantics Doesn’t Change That 2334280048_61c3a13b9a_m.jpg

I came across an article earlier this week about the Five Myths of Stress. As someone with expertise in the stress domain, I typically enjoy reading articles that serve to bust myths for the general public. However, as I read the article I was dismayed to find that the “myths” are really not myths at all. So, in the spirit of providing accurate information, I have decided to offer my rebuttal.

Myth #1 – Getting enough sleep, exercising and eating right can reduce stress.

Um, well, what the author claims is a myth is actually 100 percent accurate. She tries to argue that sleep, exercise, and nutrition “help us feel good” but that they “won’t come close to mitigating stress.” She then uses the “example of the single mother who has three children, an hour-long commute and an angry boss” as the prototypical individual for whom sleep, exercise and nutrition will not mitigate stress.

Unfortunately, the article completely misses the boat when it comes to actually explaining the stress process. Stress is a complex interaction between our personal resources and environmental demands (or stressors). Every contemporary, reputable, empirically-validated stress theory emphasizes this point, whether we are referring to the Job Demands-Resource Model, the Demands-Control Model, the Personal Resource Allocation Framework or other perspectives. A search of scholarly articles in this domain will reveal a myriad of studies that show that internal (e.g., energy, attention) and external resources (e.g., control, social support) are both key elements that can increase resilience to stressors (i.e., mitigate stress).

Hence, a logical approach for all people is to focus on shoring up their own personal resources (both internal and external) and to focus on ways to minimize the impact of stressors in the environment. For the example the author provides in her piece, a feasible way to go about mitigating the harmful effects of stress would be to (1) leverage any and all forms of social support available (external resources); (2) try to make intelligent decisions regarding sleep, exercise, and nutrition (internal resources) and (3) start looking for a new job, maybe one a little bit closer to home (stressors).

Myth # 2: Stress makes people more vulnerable to illness.

This is where the author starts playing semantics with the issue of stress. She argues that a meta-analysis conducted by Suzanne Segerstrom and Gregory Miller found no evidence that “stress makes otherwise healthy people susceptible to illness.” However, a review of that article clearly points out that “chronic stressors were associated with suppression of both cellular and humoral measures” (in other words, chronic stress does result in immune system suppression). And while the author tries to sweep that under the rug in a later part of her paragraph, that is what researchers, in general, study – chronic stress. Going back to the models and frameworks I mentioned above, empirical research typically assesses people’s general (i.e., chronic) exposure to demands, not moment-by-moment exposure. Even the PBS article she links to in her own article emphasizes the killer nature of “prolonged exposure to stress.” Hence, one stressful event is not likely to cause immune system suppression, but if those stressful events are a common part of daily life, then they will take a toll on over time.

Myth #3: Most people exposed to traumatic events develop post-traumatic stress disorder.

First, I’ve never heard any reputable source indicate that “most people” develop post-traumatic stress disorder after experiencing a traumatic event. The Mayo Clinic even specifies that “some people” get post-traumatic stress disorder and that predictors of whether one will get PSTD after a traumatic experience include: your inherited mental health risks, such as an increased risk of anxiety and depression; your life experiences, including the amount and severity of trauma you've gone through since early childhood; the inherited aspects of your personality — often called your temperament and the way your brain regulates the chemicals and hormones your body releases in response to stress.

Furthermore, the trauma that triggers PSTD, as defined by the National Institute of Mental Health involves “seeing or living through a dangerous event.” I don’t know what poll reported that 60 percent of U.S. adults “say they have had at least one traumatic experience,” but I would like to know how that poll defined a “traumatic experience.” The loss of a loved one to cancer can be defined as a traumatic experience, but it is not one that would likely result in PSTD, because it does not involve danger to the person who experiences it. Hence, PSTD is a potential negative consequence that results from traumatic events that involve potential danger to oneself. Not everybody is going to get PSTD after such an event, and reputable sources don’t suggest that.

Myth #4: Women and men respond to stress differently because of genetic and hormonal differences.

To prove this myth is common, the author cites John Gray’s Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. Really? Are we really going to formulate an entire “myth” around a popular press book that has no real scientific underpinnings? Beyond that particular book, I’m not really aware of any other widespread propagation of this particular myth. Hence, while I guess I will say this would indeed be a myth, it certainly isn’t one rears its head often.

Myth #5: If women learn to cope better with stress, they’ll be able to resolve work-family conflict.

I will grant the author one point here. She argues that “too much of the work-life balance debate is focused on women’s illusory choices.” The work-life interface is not just an issue for working mothers; it’s an issue for everyone, and it’s even broader than just looking at the work-family relationship. It’s about competing role demands and being able to flexibly manage those demands.

But the issue is not about stress causing conflict between work and non-work roles, the issue is about conflict between roles causing stress – and that is not a myth. Hundreds of empirical articles have demonstrated this phenomenon. I’m not aware of anyone suggesting that coping with stress will reduce work-family conflict. Instead, the reverse is much more common – managing work-life conflict will reduce stress. And though the author argues that outdated polices are the problem (I agree they are part of the problem), even with maximal flexibility, workers have to take ownership over managing (or coping with) their workplace flexibility, which involves ensuring that they have the appropriate personal resources at their disposal to do so.

This gets back to the first myth. It is not about the environment alone. It is about how we, as people, transact with our environment. It is about the internal and external resources we bring to our interactions with life demands and how we choose to leverage our resources in managing or responding to those demands. So, our choice is either to:

  1. Whine about stress and blame our employer while doing nothing; or
  2. Learn to better manage our personal resources so we can be as resilient to stress as possible AND be as proactive as possible at reducing the stressors in our lives.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/liquidnight / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

]]> http://www.apaexcellence.org/resources/goodcompany/blog/2013/04/stress-is-a-problem-and-playin.php http://www.apaexcellence.org/resources/goodcompany/blog/2013/04/stress-is-a-problem-and-playin.php Conflict Health Mental Health Myths Research Resilience Resources Self-Care Stress Work Work-Life Wed, 10 Apr 2013 06:30:28 -0500 Having a Ball After the Award Ceremony The award ceremony may have been a formal affair, but the tone of this year’s Psychologically Healthy Workplace Awards reception was set by the guy in a giant blue stress ball costume who bounced his way into the party and kept the crowd entertained with free hugs and photo ops. Everyone wanted to know, “Who is this guy?”

As you can see in the video “Putting the Squeeze on Work Stress” which features the stress ball interviewing people on the street about their work experiences, for him, job security is not an issue. “There’s always going to be stress, so I’m always going to be employed,” he says.

The stress ball dispenser was also center stage at the reception and a big hit with the kiddos and the young at heart. Check out photos from the reception by clicking the image, below.

View photos from the 2013 awards reception]]> http://www.apaexcellence.org/resources/goodcompany/blog/2013/03/having-a-ball-after-the-award.php http://www.apaexcellence.org/resources/goodcompany/blog/2013/03/having-a-ball-after-the-award.php Awards Event Humor Psychologically Healthy Workplace Stress Fri, 29 Mar 2013 09:45:06 -0500 Congratulations to APA's 2013 Psychologically Healthy Workplace Award Winners View photos from APA's 2013 Psychologically Healthy Workplace Awards

Values matter. When a team shares values, it generally performs better, with employees who are engaged and committed to the organization’s success and leaders who strive to create a positive work environment where employees can thrive.

The uncertainty of health care reform and its implications for the future of employer-sponsored health insurance, as well as provisions in the Affordable Care Act that allow for increased use of incentives and premium differentials to drive health behavior change, have amplified the volume of employers who are beating the drum of “personal responsibility” when it comes to workplace health and productivity.

While the value of employees who are invested in their own well-being cannot be overstated, expecting them to make significant and sustainable behavior changes without the necessary resources and support is unrealistic and serves as nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt at cost shifting. Just as shared values can help foster performance and success, shared responsibility for creating a psychologically healthy workplace promotes an organizational culture in which employer and employee look out for each other’s best interests. With this approach, individual health improvement efforts get better results, because they are supported by the larger system and organizational-level practices are more effective, because they are consistent with, and driven by, individual behaviors.

To showcase employers who value employee well-being and understand its link to organizational performance, APA recently presented its 2013 Psychologically Healthy Workplace Awards (PHWAs) and Best Practices Honors. The four PHWA winners described here reported an average turnover rate of just 6 percent in 2012—significantly less than the national average of 38 percent, as estimated by the U.S. Department of Labor.

In surveys completed by the winning organizations, on average, fewer than one in five employees (19 percent) reported experiencing chronic work stress, compared to 35 percent nationally, and 84 percent of employees said they were satisfied with their job, versus 67 percent in the general population. Additionally, 77 percent of employees said they would recommend their organization to others as a good place to work compared to 57 percent, and only 11 percent said they intend to seek employment elsewhere within the next year, compared to almost three times as many (31 percent) nationally.

It will come as no surprise that in our award-winning organizations, an average of 80 percent of employees say their values and those of their employer are very similar, compared to just 50 percent nationally. We congratulate our winners and hope that sharing their stories inspires others to work together for a healthy and prosperous future.

View photos from the 2013 awards event.

Photo Credit: Larry Canner Photography

]]> http://www.apaexcellence.org/resources/goodcompany/blog/2013/03/congratulations-to-apas-2013-p.php http://www.apaexcellence.org/resources/goodcompany/blog/2013/03/congratulations-to-apas-2013-p.php 2013 American Psychological Association APA Awards Culture Employee Health and Well-Being Performance Psychologically Healthy Workplace Values Fri, 29 Mar 2013 08:34:21 -0500 Full Programming Announced for Work & Well-Being 2013: Chicago PHWC2013_chicago_logo_rgb_241_127.jpg

With our Chicago conference just six weeks away, we’re putting the final touches in place for an outstanding learning experience.

Organizations are looking for ways to position themselves for success in the changing world of work and we want to make sure that attendees come away with practical, concrete tips for helping their employees and organizations thrive.

We’ve assembled a collection of top experts to discuss timely, relevant topics that are designed to help you enhance performance and well-being in the workplace. Check out the program descriptions, below.

Work & Well-Being 2013: Chicago
April 25-26

Eventbrite - Work & Well-Being 2013: Chicago

Presented by the American Psychological Association's
Center for Organizational Excellence

The conference is designed especially for human resource professionals, benefits managers, health and wellness professionals, business consultants, occupational health professionals, health plan executives, corporate medical directors, business owners, managers and psychologists who work with organizations.

Pre-Conference Training Session:

Best Practices in Critical Incident Response for the Workplace
Bob VandePol, Crisis Care Network

When tragedy strikes the workplace, behavioral health professionals play an important role in onsite consultation aimed to facilitate individual and organizational resilience and return-to-productivity. Business leaders increasingly value strategic application of Psychological First Aid principles for their employee groups as a means of mitigating both the human and financial costs associated with critical incidents. This session will address practical strategies for applying evidence-based practices to the delivery of services in a way that empowers leaders, work groups and individual employees. Learn more.

Main Conference:

Growth and Impact of Financial Incentives in Worksite Wellness
David R. Anderson, PhD, LP, StayWell Health Management

Encouraged by health care reform, employers are increasingly integrating wellness incentives into their health plans. While they have potential benefits, incentives can have unintended consequences. They may increase participation but reduce success by attracting participants not ready to change, and incentives intended as “carrots” may be viewed as manipulative “sticks.” However, well-designed incentives may be a useful tactic in a culture-based wellness strategy. This session reviews incentive use in worksite wellness and discusses evidence-based strategies for optimizing their impact on health. Based on worksite experience and research, the session encourages tying rewards to achieving progress-based steps in “outcomes-based” incentive programs.

Blending Technology and Customization for Successful Well-Being Outcomes
Briana Boehmer, Salus Corporate Wellness

In both the corporate and athletic world, success comes through hours of individualized attention to detail. This session will explore successful well-being outcomes seen through individualized and highly interactive programming made possible via blending technology with hands-on and on-site services. The program will include results from programs implemented for both small and mid-sized employers and offer suggestions on how to implement similar programs. Special attention will be given to identifying technologies that can facilitate individualized measures and programming, utilizing real time data to better understand the needs of employees and customizing programming that has the potential to reach each employees on an individual basis.

Love of the Job
E. Kevin Kelloway, PhD, Saint Mary’s University

This presentation will introduce new research that defines "love of the job" and identifies the predictors and health-related outcomes of loving one’s job. The session will include a review of organizational attitude research, present a three-component model of love of the job, describe the four main predictors of loving one's job and discuss the consequences for both employees and organizations.

Healthy Employees, Profitable Bottom Lines: Delivering on the Value of Health Promotion and Worksite Wellness
Rebecca Kelly, PhD, RD, CDE, University of Alabama

Organizations are searching for innovative strategies to control rising health care costs while also providing programs to engage their workforce and members. Employers must identify and adopt strategies that include health improvement and wellness programs to address rising health care costs and productivity losses. As an expert in the field of health promotion and wellness with over 20 years of experience as a practitioner and leader of multiple nationally recognized programs, the presenter will outline a practical and innovative approach to engaging employees in wellness programs that improve health and also yield favorable bottom line results.

Commitment: The Core of Safety, Health and Wellness
D.J. Moran, PhD, BCBA-D, Quality Safety Edge

Commitment is defined as “acting in the direction of what you care about even in the presence of obstacles.” This experiential workshop aims to sharpen your understanding of how you should be actingin order to improve safety and wellness in your organization, as well as helping you clarify what you care about in order to accelerate your motivation to work toward important goals. In addition, you will increase your skills of situational awareness and mindfulness to help you deal with the presence of obstacles that often impede leadership and dedication.

Healthy Habits, Healthy Employees: Strategies for Health Behavior Change
Cindy Wang Morris, PsyD, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

Creating a culture of health begins with the practice of healthy habits. Although many employees have the desire to change their health practices, taking steps towards changing these behaviors can feel daunting. Health behavior change happens through a process of mindfulness, skills building and inspired action. Through this practice, employees can develop healthy habits in the workplace that translate into other areas of their lives. In this session, participants will learn about the process of health behavior change and ways employers can support positive change across multiple levels, including individual, organizational and environmental. Special attention will be given to the impact of obesity and tobacco use on employee health and the use of evidence-based health behavior change strategies.

Current Practices in Talent Management
Amy Owen Nieberding, PhD, S and C Electric Company
Robert Bloom, PhD, Performance Management Associates-Human Resources

The goal of integrated talent management is to build human capital capability that will enable the organization to achieve overall business objectives. Helping the organization achieve its goals must begin with the recognition that the most important challenge faced by virtually all organizations is the need to respond quickly to change in a competitive environment. This session will outline the building blocks of a talent management strategy and infrastructure. Some companies get caught in a cycle of implementing a patchwork of "best practices" without good appreciation or understanding of how to link these efforts to organization impact. Participants will have the opportunity to explore the link between a dynamic organization strategy and shifting human capital priorities.

Work-Life Fit Skills for Employee Success On and Off the Job
Cali Williams Yost, MBA, Work+Life Fit, Inc.

Knowing how to take the lead, reach out, and use work-life resources and flexibility to manage the fit between work and life is a modern skill set we all need, but few of us have. This interactive workshop will cover the trends that have converged over the last two decades that radically transformed work and life and why individuals need to partner with their employer and learn to actively manage their work+life fit. Participants will also explore the tools individuals need to manage their fit, how to deliver those tools and skills to employees, and metrics to measure success.

Employer Experiences: Lessons from Award-Winning Organizations
Helen F. Graham Cancer Center

Any type of organization, large or small, for-profit or not-for-profit, can create a workplace that fosters employee well-being while enhancing organizational performance. This session will use a case example from the Cancer Care Management Department at Christiana Care Health System's Helen F. Graham Cancer Center to demonstrate the application of psychologically healthy workplace principles in a real-world setting. Special attention will be given to the importance of custom tailoring workplace practices to meet the unique needs of an organization and its workforce, employee and organizational outcomes, practical considerations for employers and practitioners and lessons learned.

Register Early and Save

Pre-Conference Training - $150
Main Conference - $399

Eventbrite - Work & Well-Being 2013: Chicago

When

Pre-Conference Training
Thursday, April 25, 2013, 8:30 am to 12:30 pm

Main Conference
Thursday, April 25, 2013, 1:30 pm - Friday, April 26, 2013, 5:30 pm

Hotel Information and Reservations

The Westin O'Hare
6100 North River Road
Rosemont, IL 60018
Phone: (847) 698-6000

Group rate of $169 + tax (for single, double, triple or quad occupancy) available until April 3, 2013

Click here to make your hotel reservations

Can't make it to our Chicago event?

Join us in San Francisco in September for our fall conference, with a different line-up of speakers and sessions.

Special thanks to the following organizations for their support:

Health Enhancement Research Organization
Illinois Psychological Association
International Association for Worksite Health Promotion
Midwest Business Group on Health
Sodexo

Also:

For questions about the Work & Well-Being 2013 conferences, including sponsorship opportunities, please email us or call (202) 336-5900.

]]> http://www.apaexcellence.org/resources/goodcompany/blog/2013/03/full-programming-announced-for.php http://www.apaexcellence.org/resources/goodcompany/blog/2013/03/full-programming-announced-for.php 2013 Behavior Change Conference Health Promotion Incentives Leadership Safety Talent Technology Well-Being Wellness Work-Life Workplace Thu, 14 Mar 2013 22:06:58 -0500 Putting the Squeeze on Work Stress With 65 percent of U.S. employees citing work as a significant source of stress and more than one-third reporting that they typically feel tense or stressed out during the work day, work stress can affect both individual well-being and organizational performance. To hear more about people's experiences at work and how they cope with the stressors they face on the job, we hit the streets for a continuation of the Psychologically Healthy Workplace Program's interview series. This time, we took a friend with us.

To learn more about work stress, visit www.apaexcellence.org/workstress.

]]> http://www.apaexcellence.org/resources/goodcompany/blog/2013/03/putting-the-squeeze-on-stress.php http://www.apaexcellence.org/resources/goodcompany/blog/2013/03/putting-the-squeeze-on-stress.php American Psychological Association APA Humor Interviews Job Demands Motivation PHWP Psychologically Healthy Workplace Recognition Reward Stress Video Well-Being Wellness Work-Life Thu, 14 Mar 2013 05:48:22 -0500 Three Leadership Lessons of Sequestration i-am-not-listening-sm.jpg

The Washington Business Journal recently ran an article titled Bruised and battered: Five business lessons of sequestration. Since I'm stuck at home due to Winter Storm Saturn and taking a beating from deadlines, school closings and technology challenges, I thought I'd offer a few of my own business tips from the sequester.

Before I do, if you'll indulge me, I have a little rant I need to get out of my system. "Winter Storm Saturn"? When exactly did we start naming snowstorms? Take a look at the 2012-2013 list. Euclid? I was battered by the elements back in geometry class, so don't need any more proof of his destructiveness (look it up, non-math geeks). Khan? Well, I guess Ricardo Montalbán was in Neptune's Daughter, and that planet is only separated from Saturn by the source of this whole storm-naming idea. I know...sophomoric humor, but that brings us full circle to 10th grade geometry and sources of unnecessary pain.

So, what have we learned from the latest political stalemate, other than there is no royal road to bipartisanship? Here are my "Three Leadership Lessons of Sequestration."

  1. Negotiation is about compromise. That's Business 101. While you obviously want to achieve a favorable outcome for yourself, you shouldn't expect to dig in your heels and demand that the other side bend over backwards while you refuse to give an inch. Negotiation is built on a foundation of trust. If you enter into it in bad faith, you're derailing the process before it even has a chance.
  2. It's okay to disagree, but you still have to get the job done. Productive conflict can improve your results, but if you don't look for common ground, you'll leave everyone adrift. Just because another person or organization doesn't agree with every one of your positions, don't make the mistake of assuming that there are no common interests you could pursue more effectively through collaboration.
  3. Small changes at the top disproportionately affect the rest of the organization. Have pay and benefits been frozen or slashed for your workforce over the past few years? How many employees could have gotten that cost of living increase if you hadn't fought so hard to retain those bonuses for your senior management team? Shaving a little bit off for top earners may be just a few percentage points, but for employees at a lower pay grade, many of whom say they aren't adequately compensated to begin with, that money can make a big difference.

As Jill Aitoro points out in the WBJ article that inspired this post, "Lessons typically come in retrospect." So, in closing, here's a bonus one for you. Don't chase the latest fad or buzzword. "Snowquester"? I'm a big fan of word play and even I think that's trying too hard.

Photo Credit: ©iStockphoto.com/matka_Wariatka

]]> http://www.apaexcellence.org/resources/goodcompany/blog/2013/03/three-leadership-lessons-of-se.php http://www.apaexcellence.org/resources/goodcompany/blog/2013/03/three-leadership-lessons-of-se.php Benefits Collaboration Compensation Conflict Leadership Negotiation Politics Tips Trust Wed, 06 Mar 2013 14:49:36 -0500 Pre-Conference Training: Best Practices in Critical Incident Response for the Workplace
Bob-VandePol-180x270.jpg
Join Crisis Care Network President Bob VandePol for the pre-conference training session at our 2013 Work & Well-Being Conference in Chicago.

Thursday, April 25, 2013
8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

The Westin O'Hare
Chicago, IL

When tragedy strikes the workplace, behavioral health professionals play an important role in onsite consultation aimed to facilitate individual and organizational resilience and return-to-productivity. Business leaders increasingly value strategic application of Psychological First Aid principles for their employee groups as a means of mitigating both the human and financial costs associated with critical incidents. This session will address practical strategies for applying evidence-based practices to the delivery of services in a way that empowers leaders, work groups and individual employees.

This session will cover:

  • The prevalence of critical incidents
  • Individual and organizational impacts
  • The history of Critical Incident Response
  • Introduction to Psychological First Aid principles
  • Small- and large-group training and exercises
  • Mass disaster response
  • Promoting personal resilience
  • Providing consultation to organizations that request critical incident response services 
  • Delivering services that are consistent with corporate culture and business objectives

For more information about the conference, or to register online, click here.

About the Presenter

Bob VandePol, MSW serves as President of Crisis Care Network, the largest provider of Critical Incident Response Services to the workplace. Crisis Care Network responds 1,000 times per month following workplace tragedies to facilitate employee/organizational return to productivity. He consults with corporations, insurers, EAPs and behavioral health professionals regarding how to manage the behavioral risks inherent in workplace tragedies. Active as a keynote speaker, Mr. VandePol has published and been quoted in business and clinical journals, co-authored book chapters addressing workplace response to tragedy and has been featured in video training series. He managed CCN’s Command Center in Manhattan after the 2001 terrorist attacks and has led numerous leadership summits/consultations following Hurricane Katrina, the Virginia Tech tragedy and other large-scale events regarding how employers could lead organizational recovery during crises. Mr. VandePol is a board member for the National Behavioral Consortium and co-chairs the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention’s Workplace Taskforce.

]]> http://www.apaexcellence.org/resources/goodcompany/blog/2013/03/preconference-training-best-pr.php http://www.apaexcellence.org/resources/goodcompany/blog/2013/03/preconference-training-best-pr.php APA Conference Consultants Crisis Disaster Performance Productivity Psychology Resilience Training Wed, 06 Mar 2013 11:15:33 -0500