stress - Blogs - DPG Community2024-03-28T15:51:18Zhttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/blog/feed/tag/stressWorkplace drinking: where's the bar?https://community.dpgplc.co.uk/blog/workplace-drinking-where-s-the-bar2018-08-08T15:34:40.000Z2018-08-08T15:34:40.000ZSam Houltonhttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/members/SamHoulton<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/71221927?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p>It’s Friday. The time is 4:30 and its summer in Britain. There’s only one thing on your mind.</p><p> </p><p>The refreshing first sip of that crisp, cool beer or a chilled glass of rosé immediately after the bell tolls 5.</p><p> </p><p>This post-work ritual is a revered part of the working week, for good reason. It’s finally time to relax after working your little cotton socks off for 40 hours this week.</p><p> </p><p>Whilst unwinding at the end of the week is a great way to recharge before the next week hits, nobody would dream of mixing alcohol with work. <em>Would they?</em></p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.hrgrapevine.com/content/article/2018-08-08-detective-so-drunk-she-thought-work-had-finished-at-11am" rel="nofollow">An article published on the HR Grapevine by Beckett Frith</a> proved me wrong.</p><p> </p><p>According to the report, a detective for Merseyside Police clocked in for work so drunk ‘she thought she had finished her shift in just one hour’.</p><p> </p><p>To the untrained eye, this reeks of ‘whacky Facebook story’ that resulted in a dismissal. To an HR expert, this is a complex workplace crisis.</p><p> </p><p>When ex-Detective Constable Donna Montgomery showed up to her trial for driving with excess alcohol, her reasoning behind her misdemeanour was `workplace stress’. Montgomery claimed:</p><p> </p><p>“I had been off work for three months with work-related stress… I was upset by what had happened and I started to drink more. I could have a bottle of wine a night.”</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.alcoholconcern.org.uk/alcohol-statistics" rel="nofollow">With nearly 600,000 dependent drinkers in England</a> and serious medical conditions linked, it’s hard to avoid the dreary underlying issues within the story.</p><p> </p><p>But how should you deal with drinking in the workplace and the problems surrounding it?</p><p> </p><p>Firstly, you need to identify the signs of an employee with an alcohol problem. Natural HR have made <a href="https://www.naturalhr.com/blog/what-to-do-if-you-suspect-employee-has-alcohol-problem" rel="nofollow">a handy list</a> of the warning signs.</p><p> </p><p>Secondly, you need to approach the issue in a calm and collected manner, as to not draw too much attention to the individual and respect their privacy.</p><p> </p><p>The Society for Human Resource Management has some <a href="https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/employee-relations/pages/drunk-on-the-job-.aspx" rel="nofollow">really good information</a> on how to approach the situation carefully, discreetly and sensitively to avoid the issue turning into something more than it is.</p><p> </p><p>Whatever you do, always put the health and safety of your colleagues first.</p><p> </p><p>A great position to be in as an HR employee is one that is experienced and qualified to deal with situations such as this. For more information on how to get qualified, check out the <a href="https://www.dpgplc.co.uk/courses-qualifications/human-resources/" rel="nofollow">DPG website</a>.</p></div>Stress at work is good, apparently... sometimeshttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/blog/stress-at-work-is-good-apparently-sometimes2018-01-29T14:26:38.000Z2018-01-29T14:26:38.000ZGary Norrishttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/members/GaryNorris<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2217485?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p>Stress at work is good, apparently ... sometimes</p>
<p>This all depends on the mindset of the individual:</p>
<p><em>"For employees with a positive stress mindset, there was an association between expecting a larger workload and taking more proactive steps to cope... But for those with a negative stress mindset, this association was reversed"</em></p>
<p>So says the article 'What's your stress mindset?' at digest.bps.org.uk</p>
<p>I've radically shortened that paragraph from the original source as I really want you to want to read the full article. It talks about a recent study at the University of Mannheim led by Anne Casper, where it was shown that stress wasn't so much the pivotal factor in motivation and energy levels at work but more so the mindset the individual has towards stress. </p>
<p><em>"Casper and her colleagues said their new results show the benefits that could come from raising people’s awareness of the concept of stress mindset. Promisingly, they said there is <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23437923">some evidence</a> that people can be helped to develop a positive stress mindset."</em></p>
<p><a href="https://digest.bps.org.uk/2018/01/05/whats-your-stress-mindset/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Read the article on The British Psychological Society website be clicking here</a></p>
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<p>One of the things I appreciate about these BPS article is the critical thinking approach: towards the end of the articles there is generally an evaluation of the data where caveats and limitations are acknowledged. If I could make an additional recommendation to anyone <em>studying</em> at DPG it is to look at how they do this to evaluate any research they present. As students, having the ability to do this can make a huge difference to the standard of your submissions.</p>
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<p>P.S. Another thing I noticed is that, when I used the word 'stress' to search for an accompanying image to this post, almost all the images depict stress as a negative thing. Should that now change?</p>
<p>There were also a <em>lot</em> of images of fidget spinners, but let's not go there.</p>
</div>Insights into Mindfulness Lightbulb Moments Cardshttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/blog/insights-into-mindfulness-lightbulb-moments-cards2016-02-19T08:22:58.000Z2016-02-19T08:22:58.000ZRobin Hillshttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/members/RobinHills<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2216785?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><div>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1357770?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1357770?profile=original" width="698" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p><span>“<em>Mindfulness is paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgementally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment.</em>” </span><span><strong>Jon Kabat-Zinn</strong>, Professor of Medicine Emeritus and creator of the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) programme </span><span> at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.</span></p>
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<p>Ei4Change has available Lightbulb Moments cards giving insights into various aspects of emotional intelligence. These have been well received as a valuable resource in education, training and coaching.</p>
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<p>A new set of 18 Lightbulb Moments cards – Insights into Mindfulness – has just been published.</p>
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<p>Lightbulb Moments are free to download from the Ei4Change website. You can access to all the Lightbulb Moments series and other free resources by clicking on the link.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a rel="nofollow" href="http://ei4change.com/resources/" target="_blank">http://ei4change.com/resources/</a></p>
</div></div>The Definition of Resiliencehttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/blog/the-definition-of-resilience2016-01-22T09:07:17.000Z2016-01-22T09:07:17.000ZRobin Hillshttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/members/RobinHills<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2216723?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1357706?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1357706?profile=original" width="277" class="align-center" height="267"></a></p>
<p>Resilience is very popular as a topic currently. Everyone is talking about how resilient they are as they cope with the stresses and strains of everyday life and the odd exceptional circumstance.</p>
<p><em><strong>But what is resilience?</strong></em></p>
<p>It is more than just "bouncing back"!</p>
<p>This video looks at where the term "resilience" came from and gives a realistic definition of resilience that can be used to explain what makes people resilient and how people deal with adverse situations.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">https://youtu.be/CO_yGtmkyS4</p>
<p>Enrol in my Skillshare class: "Develop your Emotional Resilience and Manage Stress."</p>
<p>Use this link below to get a free month of Premium Membership on Skillshare for unlimited access to hundreds of online classes.</p>
<p><a rel="nofollow" href="http://skl.sh/23iymif" target="_blank">http://skl.sh/23iymif</a></p></div>Wellbeing in the Workplacehttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/blog/well-being-in-the-workplace2015-11-13T13:53:16.000Z2015-11-13T13:53:16.000ZMike Collinshttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/members/MikeCollins<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2216658?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p></p>
<p>Wellbeing at work was highlighted as a key business issue at the CIPD’s latest annual conference. It was the topic of Professor Sir Cary Cooper’s, 50th anniversary professor of Organizational Psychology and Health at Manchester Business School, talk when he opened the conference.</p>
<p>Cooper made reference to a 2012 Chartered Management Institute report that he co-authored. Called ‘<a href="http://www.managers.org.uk/~/media/Images/Dans%20images/Quality_of_Working_Life_2012_ExecSummary.pdf" target="_blank">The Quality of Working Life 2012. Managers’ Wellbeing, Motivation and Productivity</a>’, the report is full of statistics that demonstrate high levels of workplace stress among managers. It is the seventh report in a series that started in 1997 and contains some important trends.</p>
<p>While there is lots of talk about and research into general levels of stress in the UK workforce, this research is interesting because it focuses on a less well documented area – the stress reported by managers and directors.</p>
<p>So what did the research tell us? Here are some key statistics:</p>
<p>– 46% of managers worked two hours per day over their contracted hours in 2012, compared to 38% in 2007. The average manager worked around 1.5 hours per day over contract, which equates to roughly extra 46 working days a year<br />
– 59% were concerned about the effects on their stress levels, with 56% being concerned about their psychological health<br />
– 42% of managers said they had good health, 37% satisfactory health and 21% poor health<br />
– However, 42% said they were suffering from symptoms of stress (an increase of 7% from 2007) and 18% reported depression (up 3% from 2007)<br />
– 43% of managers reported a culture of presenteeism (going to work when ill), compared to 32% in 2007.<br />
A sizeable chunk said that economic pressures had adversely affected the organizational culture in terms of employee wellbeing – 39% thought that senior management’s commitment to employee wellbeing had declined, a drop of 16% since 2007.</p>
<p>The report showed that when organizational change is effected badly, it undermines managers’ sense of their own wellbeing and their attitude to the organisation. Managers then display lower levels of engagement and productivity, a situation that has a ripple down effect through the organisation.</p>
<p>Also under the spotlight was leadership styles and how this impacts on managers. The research demonstrated that one of the strongest determinants of job satisfaction is the dominant leadership style in an organisation. High levels of job satisfaction are fostered by a sense of achievement, autonomy, the sense of a good career path and being part of a team. The four words that stand out as being important for managers are respect, autonomy, trust and achievement. That’s what motivates them. What demotivates them? High pressure and limited prospects.</p>
<p>The report found that the most common leadership styles reported were as follows:</p>
<p>– bureaucratic 45%, an increase of 5%<br />
– reactive 33%, a decrease of 4%<br />
– and authoritarian 30%, an increase of 1%</p>
<p>Moreover, the leadership styles associated with organizational growth and employee wellbeing were in the minority.</p>
<p>Other, more recent reports, talk of a prevailing culture of presenteeism (such as the CIPD report covered in a DPG <a href="https://www.dpgplc.co.uk/2015/10/presenteeism/" target="_blank">blog post</a> recently. It will be interesting to see what the CMI finds if and when it conducts its next piece of research into employee wellbeing and the effect on managers.</p>
<p><strong>What are your thoughts and experiences on the subject?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Be great to hear your views in the comments below </strong></p>
</div>What neuroscience can tell recruitershttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/blog/what-neuroscience-can-tell-recruiters2015-08-20T07:30:43.000Z2015-08-20T07:30:43.000ZRobin Hillshttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/members/RobinHills<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2216577?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><div>
<p><span>There has been a lot of talk about neuroscience recently. It is the latest flavour of the month but what does it really mean in the field of recruitment?</span></p>
<p><span>Neuroscience is more than just an understanding of which<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1357655?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1357655?profile=original" width="272" class="align-left" height="335"></a> parts of the brain become more active in certain situations. In fact, the more we find out about the workings of our most complex organ, the less we find that we truly understand. However, the research is uncovering new knowledge that can makes us better at recruiting to ensure that we place the right candidate in the right role at the right time.</span></p>
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<p><span>The outputs from brain research, social science and psychology can help recruiters to attract and retain new candidates and clients by helping to understanding more about motivation, personalities and behaviour and what drives them. All this can play a part in improving performance.</span></p>
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<p><span>A lot of the research is providing peer-reviewed evidence that supports many of the things that we have known or suspected for years. However, it is adding to our knowledge of what makes us tick as human beings. This means that we can now look at making changes in our behaviour that is proven to have more positive, sustainable outcomes in the long term.</span></p>
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<p><strong>Motivation</strong></p>
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<p><span>Motivation is vital in recruitment. However, it is not just about money. The motivation and reward systems in our brain drive us towards our goals with energy and enthusiasm. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter involved in generating feelings of pleasure. In business, if a happy environment full of rewarding experiences is created, our brains produce dopamine in the right areas so that we become more motivated to push ourselves. So trying to find out what produces those dopamine responses for individuals will help to determine what motivates them.</span></p>
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<p><strong>Stress</strong></p>
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<p><span>Cortisol has been found to accumulate in parts of the brain when a person is feeling stressed. It has become widely known as the stress hormone. High levels of cortisol for extended periods lead to high blood pressure (with the associated health issues), memory loss and possible depression. All of these are costly to the individual and the organisation. Good businesses need a healthy workforce, which starts with performance management that is consistent and transparent to avoid stress in the workplace.</span></p>
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<p><span>Recruiters may view a candidate’s history of working long hours as a positive indicator of commitment. In the future, however, recruiters may need to interpret a history of working long hours as a negative indicator suggesting a lack of balance and a consequent inability to think and perform effectively. This is, also, where consideration of a person’s motivational factors becomes critical. What is driving this behaviour?</span></p>
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<p><strong>Empathy and emotional involvement</strong></p>
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<p><span>Male and female brains are not only wired differently, they are infused with different combinations of neurotransmitters (such as oxytocin) and hormones (such as oestrogen, adrenaline, oxytocin). Oxytocin acts as a neurotransmitter and a hormone.</span></p>
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<p><span>Women have been shown through studies to be better at intuitive thinking involving people. When you talk, women are more emotionally involved and will listen more. Women are more naturally empathetic.</span></p>
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<p><span>Women’s ability to listen more effectively and read emotional cues has enormous implications for how businesses are run, especially in the crucial area of teamwork. According to recent studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, there is a positive correlation between the ability of teams to accomplish group tasks and the number of women on the team. The correlation between team success and gender was not the diversity of the team, but the actual percentage of women on the team. The more women on the team, the more effective the team, even when they worked online without face-to-face meetings.</span></p>
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<p><span>From this, recruiters may need to view the recruitment of more women as a workable strategy for creating stronger, more effective teams. Such a strategy is likely to become more important as social networking increases the amount of team activity in the workplace.</span></p>
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<p><strong>Learning</strong></p>
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<p><span>Good leaders and managers ensure their people will be given opportunities to develop and grow. Synapses in the brain grow and strengthen with new information, referred to as plasticity. However, neuroplasticity takes time and the system can be overloaded if too much information is delivered all at once. Research shows that we retain information better when we learn in in small regular doses interspersed with good, quality sleep. Training that combines a mixture of theory, reflection and practical activity and will allow the brain to assimilate and use the information well. In order to embed in the learning, the training needs to be relevant and built into working practice over a period of time.</span></p>
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<p><span>When a company is harnessing their employees’ individual personalities, goals, needs and abilities, in an employee-focused manner and communicate with them properly, the employees feel valued and valid, which helps to build a successful and intuitive working environment. This in turn empowers them and alleviates stressful situations reducing the levels of stress hormones such as cortisol, which can narrow their attention to any perceived threat, and opens them up to broader thinking, better problem solving and more creative thought.</span></p>
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<p><span><em>All this is very interesting but what does it mean in practice?</em> Certainly, from a recruitment perspective it means working with candidates in new ways to look at how they take in information, how they process information, how they work with emotions, what factors are motivators for them, how they interact with others, how they manage stress and their effective working practices.</span></p>
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<p><span>Another way of looking at this conundrum is to start focusing on emotional intelligence. This is how a person combines their thinking with their feelings in order to build quality working relationships and to make more effective decisions. The evidence is mounting that emotional intelligence is a more effective measure of success in work and life that is bringing in the new understanding supported by the evidence from neuroscience.</span></p>
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</div></div>How to Combat Employee Stresshttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/blog/how-to-combat-employee-stress2015-06-09T12:54:57.000Z2015-06-09T12:54:57.000ZDebora Figueiredohttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/members/DeboraFigueiredo<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2216515?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p>At DPG, we're all about health and well-being as we've now partnered with <a href="https://www.axappphealthcare.co.uk/dpg/" target="_blank">AXA PPP Healthcare</a>, so we thought this was a great infographic to share with our fellow DPG community members :-)</p>
<p>At some point or another, all of us will have experienced stress in the workplace, whether due to a tight deadline or an unusually heavy workload, for example. However, not everyone is equipped to deal with stress effectively. </p>
<p>Our friends at Unum have released a fantastic infographic which acts as a great resource to share with your employees to encourage them to deal with stress head-on and develop the skills to overcome it.</p>
<p>With tips on how to combat stress effectively like:</p>
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<li>breathing techniques</li>
<li>ideas on what to eat to give yourself a boost</li>
<li>how to relax during downtime</li>
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<p>Their new infographic aims to arm employees with everything they need to wave goodbye to stress.</p>
<p>Workplace well-being is now increasingly at the forefront of employers’ agendas. It is generally considered that for a business to function, it needs to ensure that its employees are healthy, happy and supported. However, health doesn’t just extend to the body, and employers should also take into consideration mental wellbeing, most notably how employees deal with stress.</p>
<p>Take a look at the infographic below and don’t forget to share it with your employees! <strong>Which techniques do you think are most effective when dealing with stress, or do you have any of your own?</strong></p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://blog.unum.co.uk/news-and-views/combat-employee-stress/?utm_campaign=blog-posts&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=18171606&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8xavdZddDeXvChwKcHhk3nr5ajDVceVmMOXEKQT9t8WB_8MOk5S6jEz1yPzIiZd6WMXCvoDjwxZLEGZgGcYTBk1Ij1fg&_hsmi=18171606"><img class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1357678?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></a></p>
<p>See the original article <a href="http://blog.unum.co.uk/news-and-views/combat-employee-stress/?utm_campaign=blog-posts&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=18171606&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8xavdZddDeXvChwKcHhk3nr5ajDVceVmMOXEKQT9t8WB_8MOk5S6jEz1yPzIiZd6WMXCvoDjwxZLEGZgGcYTBk1Ij1fg&_hsmi=18171606" target="_blank">here.</a></p></div>