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Insider News - January 24, 2005 - Jobwerx News - In today’s intensely competitive global environment, companies that support work-life balance practices and encourage their employees to manage their personal energy effectively will come out on top.

According to studies by the National Institute of Occupational Health, American businesses lose more that $300 billion a year due to absenteeism, employee turnover and workers’ compensation benefits directly resulting from overwork. Dr. Krista Kurth and Dr. Suzanne Adele Schmidt, authors of Running on Plenty at Work and co-owners of Renewal Resources (renewalatwork.com), tell us that even when employees show up to work, their exhaustion silently erodes corporate profits. "If people push through when they are tired, research shows it can take them up to five times longer than normal to get their work done, states Kurth."

Overwork also takes its toll on employee creativity. Bruce Van Horn, CEO of Yogaforbusiness.com (Yogaforbusiness.com) and author of Firm Footing in a Changing Marketplace, writes, "We need to be human beings, not human doers. Human doers risk turning their businesses into mindless commodity operations, with negative long-term consequences to the company and its competitiveness."

It's the ultimate win-win situation: by helping employees effectively manage their personal and professional priorities, organizations can increase productivity and creativity, as well as cut costs. Here are some ways for employers to help boost their bottom line by helping employees effectively manage their personal and professional priorities:

• Train managers to work with employees to co-design arrangements that foster better work-life integration. The challenge is to identify actual requirements of the job versus company traditions or the manager's personal preferences.
• Bring back lunch. Encourage everyone to regularly take at least 30 to 60 minutes for lunch away from the workplace.
• Encourage "productivity phases." The human brain needs a rest or shift in attention at least every 90 to 120 minutes. People who take productivity pauses return to the task at hand with renewed vigor and focus.
• Provide resources. Offer articles, books, brown-bag lunches and online seminars about stress and overwork, work-life balance and personal energy management. This will give employees the information they need to make better choices about balancing their energies across their work and life. Use the material in this article to begin designing your own seminar. Better yet, hire an expert to speak to your managers and employees or enroll them in appropriate training.
• Look for ways to sneak in a little fun. For example, if you have a cafeteria, you can transform lunchtimes into concert times inexpensively by inviting employees with musical instruments (and hopefully a modicum of talent) to play and/or sing for their colleagues.
• Consider providing employees training in relaxation methods, such as Yoga and meditation. These practices help strengthen the body and lower stress. Meditation, Van Horn points out is “the perfect vehicle to refresh physical and mental functioning and to enhance the emotional intelligence, which is a prerequisite for business building and developing entrepreneurial skills.”

Launch these initiatives today and start boosting your bottom-line!

Learn more at these AMA seminars:

. The Complete Training Course for Managers
. Coaching for Top Performance

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