December 31, 2009
The European Working Time Directive (EWTD) has placed a check on working hours for most UK employees since 1998, but only since August 2009 has the legislation been applied to trainee doctors. The hours that this group works in the early stages of a career in medicine have long been considered an endemic problem. So, on the surface, a cap on hours looks like a welcome change but, perhaps surprisingly, the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) has opposed the move for several reasons. First among them is the claim that it is actually putting patients at risk because reducing hours means the number of handovers between doctors increases. More handovers means more potential for important information to be ‘lost’ or for mistakes to be made. The RCS believes that there has also been a detrimental effect on the progress of the training of junior doctors because they are not getting the required number of hours of experience – as a result, future patients are at risk. Finally, they argue that many doctors are now simply working extra ‘hidden’ hours to fill the gaps anyway – this shows the power of the long hours culture that has existed for years and undermines the benefits that were intended by the EWTD in the first place.
While the risk to patient safety is obviously the immediate concern, there is something else that this situation highlights. That is the importance of tailoring work improvement initiatives to the job role or sector they affect. The EWTD has a laudable aim – to protect employees from overload and consequently stress – but in this instance it’s not working. The intentions were good, as doctors were expected to perform better when working shorter shifts. But, in reality, the change has resulted in doctors being under pressure to work extra ‘hidden’ hours with the fear of being under-trained hanging over them. The overall result is not likely to be positive for anyone’s well-being.
To be clear, no one’s saying we should ignore the hours that junior doctors work. In my view, this example shows the importance of working closely with those in the job when planning significant changes. Organisations run employee focus groups after a staff survey to create solutions / actions because they understand that those doing the job know what works best. It’s the same here – while reducing hours may be important generally, it’s perfectly feasible that there are broader, more important factors to be addressed in this instance. The fact is that when it comes to employee well-being there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution. Sticking to a fixed series of steps or a blanket prescription is not the way to optimise well-being. We must make sure that interventions are appropriate and proportionate, while trying hard to anticipate both positive and negative outcomes. Most importantly, we should always involve those who will be affected.
You can read more about Doctors’ hours at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8302053.stm
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Absenteeism, economy, Engagement, health, job satisfaction, Leadership, Management, Motivation, NHS, Personal Resilience, pressure, Productivity, Public Sector, reward and recognition, Stress, Well-being | Tagged: autonomy, control, doctor's hours, doctors, employee engagement, Engagement, Flexible Working, government, HR, improving well-being, leaders, Leadership, Management, managers, morale, motivated, Motivation, NHS, NHS hours, performance, Personal Resilience, Positive psychology, pressure, psychological well-being, Public Sector, recognition, resilience, Robertson Cooper, staff, staff retention, support, Talent, Well-being, Work overload, work-life balance, workforce sustainability | 
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Posted by Cary Cooper
December 24, 2009
A couple of weeks ago I heard my first Christmas song of 2009 on the radio and, love them or hate them, you can’t avoid them at this time of year. It prompted me to have a look at the research into how music influences our thoughts, feelings and behaviours, and in turn our well-being.
The relationship between music and these measurable outcomes is fairly complicated. However, some of the most established research findings demonstrate the link between music and physiological responses. For example, slow, quiet music tends to encourage relaxation and reduce anxiety, and in contrast, stimulating music tends to increase arousal levels which have obvious links to well-being.
Other evidence suggests that music can manipulate our mood. How exactly this works is still not clear, but one of the central ideas from Saarikallio and Erkkila’s work is that music distracts the mind from unpleasant thoughts (other options include entertainment, discharge of emotion and ‘finding solace’). This suggests that sometimes if you feel a bit low, it pays to avoid the temptation to play slow sad music as it is likely to make you feel worse. Instead we should try listening to an uplifting or cheerful song to improve our energy levels and emotional well-being.
On top of some of these general responses to listening to music, there are also powerful individual differences in terms of how we respond to music according to our preferences and the ways in which our life experience has involved music. However, evidence suggests that music can affect our thoughts, feelings and physiological responses whether or not we like the music – think about the way that music is used in films and on TV to create a certain mood. Imagine a film without music.
So how can music be used in the workplace to improve mood and well-being? Certainly one of the best uses is at an individual level, where people might listen to music, e.g. through their MP3 player, for a short while to lift or soothe their mood. This could have an impact on the way to and from work as well – by choosing music that is matched to the kind of challenges you are facing you can create the right psychological state to ensure that you cope effectively. It’s harder to think of practical uses at the organisational or team level. However, finding certain tasks that are not adversely affected by having music on in the background may be worth exploring. Think about how everyone gathers together around Christmas songs in the office at this time of year – it would be great to extend this feeling to encompass other times of year. Of course, music could distract some people from doing their job to the best of their ability, but managed properly it could also unlock new levels of teamworking, performance and well-being.
1 Comment | Motivation, Uncategorized, Well-being | Tagged: Christmas, Erkkila, mood, music, Saarikallio, Well-being | Permalink
Posted by Cary Cooper
December 18, 2009
In the last year or so several important reports have been produced that focus on well-being at work. These reports all make the point that high levels of employee well-being are associated with beneficial outcomes for the organisation, including improved customer satisfaction, better productivity and lower sickness-absence levels. One of these reports is Dr Steve Boorman’s review of the health and well-being of staff in the National Health Service www.nhshealthandwellbeing.org. The interim version of Steve’s report contains a great deal of useful information, including the striking finding that indicators of staff health and well-being are linked to MRSA infection rates in hospitals!
This report and others, such as the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines www.nice.org.uk also stress the important impact that management and leadership have on employees’ mental well-being. In fact, there is a great deal of evidence that shows how managers can affect the well-being of employees – in some quite extreme ways, including the discovery of links to psychiatric illnesses and cardiovascular problems.
All of this makes me wonder about two things. The first one is why it is that more Boards and top teams don’t take decisive action to improve the well-being of their workforce. Of course there are many organisations, such as AstraZeneca, Unilever and GlaxoSmithKline that already have great programmes for employee well-being but across the board things could be better.
So, in the light of the overwhelming evidence, why don’t all top teams prioritise employee well-being? It could be for many reasons. Perhaps they are not aware of the evidence; perhaps their HR/Occupational Health Directors are not influential or strong enough; perhaps they are aware of but don’t believe the evidence; or perhaps they would like to take action but are not sure how to improve well-being cost-effectively. I suspect that the reasons may be a combination of all of these things.
The second thing I have been reflecting on is just how much we depend on managers and leaders and how much we expect of them. It seems that almost every problem in organisational life, particularly the ones that relate to people, seem to be the responsibility of managers. So the diagnosis is simple – it’s all caused by the managers, right?! The solution is more of a problem. I don’t disagree with the point that managers have a significant impact on the well-being of their workforce – the evidence is too strong to disagree. What concerns me is whether managers are really able to deal with everything that’s on their plate, or are these increasing expectations just making it more and more difficult for them – and probably having a serious negative impact on their own well-being?
A significant trend I’ve observed and heard from the personal reports of younger people in the workforce is that when managerial and supervisory opportunities open up, they are reluctant to take them. They see the huge extra demands that come with relatively little extra reward – hardly the way to create a vibrant talent pipeline in our economy!
1 Comment | Leadership, Management, pressure | Tagged: managers, National Health Service, National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence, NHS, Steve Boorman, Well-being | Permalink
Posted by Cary Cooper
December 17, 2009
I recently posted about my concern that we’re not doing enough to ensure that our children get sufficient exercise (not to mention ourselves!). Taking the physical benefits as a given, I focused particularly on the beneficial effects for our psychological well-being – something which can often be overlooked. As we enter the holiday period exercise is often something that goes out the window, only to reappear in a fit of guilt in January! It’s also a time when we traditionally indulge in terms of what we eat, but over the longer term there is also an important link to our psychological well-being to consider.
The relationship between nutrition and our psychological health is, in fact, continually being studied but it is often not particularly visible to most of the population. The importance of eating well is the focus of many TV shows and news items, but usually it is the physical benefits that are emphasised. Most of us know what we should eat and what we should try to avoid, but understand less about the psychological impact of food. But whose responsibility is it to find out about and source the right foods? Is it solely down to the individual or are other parties involved?
Many large organisations provide healthy eating options and initiatives to promote healthy eating – this is great, but is it enough? To what extent should employers be taking an interest in changing what is essentially an individual choice? In my opinion organisations definitely should take an interest – by making sure that nutritious foods are available and starting the education process if they provide food services. After all, they will benefit as well as the employee. The problems with how we eat today (e.g. the obesity epidemic and fast food culture) can only be solved if everyone takes responsibility and the right food education is available.
Individual responsibility is important here, but we are only human and sometimes we need a bit of help. There are organisations out there whose very business it is to influence us to consume things that aren’t so good for our health by spending billions on advertising. In western economies this is inevitable – they are businesses and they need us to buy their products. They do this because it works, but sometimes they cross the line and government and health-related agencies need to resist the onslaught for the benefit of the population at large. A recent example, from my native California, illustrates the way to go and concerns a group of family doctors who resigned their membership from the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) after it announced a partnership with Coca-Cola to promote healthy eating.
Advertising is a part of life these days, but sometimes it’s important to stick to the pure health message with no other agenda involved. Health is always more important than money and wealth creation.
For more information on the AAFP story see http://cchealth.org/groups/health_services/aafp_protest.php
3 Comments | Community, health, healthy eating, job satisfaction, Management, Motivation, Productivity, Stress, Well-being | Tagged: employee engagement, Engagement, happiness, health promotin and productivity, health promotion, healthy eating, HR, improving well-being, lifestyle eating, morale, motivated, physical well-being, Positive psychology, productive, psychological well-being, Robertson Cooper, Well-being | Permalink
Posted by Cary Cooper
December 15, 2009
The Autumn results of the CIPD’s Employee Outlook survey reveal that job satisfaction has dipped to a score of 37, compared with 48 in the summer and 46 six months ago in the spring. This survey comprises a representative sample of 2,000 UK employees; job satisfaction has decreased in all sectors and within all organisation sizes.
At the same time the proportion of people reporting they feel under excessive pressure at work has increased over the last six months; with 42% of employees feeling under pressure either ‘every day’ or ‘once or twice a week’ compared with a figure of 38% in the spring. More employees also said they have seen increases in stress and conflict at work.
Of course, a major reason for these gloomy results is likely to be the recession. However, it’s worth remembering that the recession was already affecting many workers in the spring, so what’s behind the delayed impact it has had on morale? Claire McCartney, the CIPD’s resourcing and talent planning adviser suggested:
“In the spring we interpreted high job satisfaction in the face of the recession as a ‘fixed grin’, where employees felt lucky just to have a job. In this quarter, the fixed grin is slipping and the temporary goodwill is being replaced with increasing frustration.”
Enjoying work is difficult in the face of increased stress and unmanageable workloads, especially when this is combined with factors such as faltering job security, frozen pay, reduced benefits and cut-backs in training. This survey underlines the importance of having a resilient workforce: for employees and employers alike, the fixed grin won’t work over the long-term and only real resilience, underpinned by high levels of psychological well-being, will do.
Resilience is a personal capability that can be developed – it is driven by both our personality and skills. It has many facets, including our confidence, our purposefulness, the extent to which we are able to adapt and the social support mechanisms we can access. When an individual understands these aspects of resilience and where their own natural strengths and skills lie it can help focus personal control, as well as how he/she engages with the business. In turn, organisations need to ensure they are co-ordinating efforts to build, develop and maintain resilience across the board – by taking a strategic view of people development and encouraging the right kind of leadership. If that happens we may see the CIPD reporting better job satisfaction scores in the Spring.
Leave a Comment » | economy, Engagement, job satisfaction, Leadership, Motivation, Personal Resilience, pressure, Productivity, reward and recognition, Stress, Well-being | Tagged: buidling resilience, CIPD, developing resilience, development, employee engagement, Flexible Working, government, happiness, improving well-being, job satisfaction, leaders, motivated, performance, Personal Resilience, Positive psychology, pressure, productive, Productivity, Public Sector, recession, resilience, reward, Robertson Cooper, staff retention, Well-being, work-life balance, workforce sustainability | Permalink
Posted by Cary Cooper
December 14, 2009
Both the Conservative and Labour parties have now started to unveil their plans to cut national debt as part of the protracted lead-up to an election next year. With different emphases, the main contenders are both proposing a public sector pay freeze in 2011. Labour have focused on the top earners, while George Osborne presented plans at the Conservative’s autumn conference to freeze the pay of all public sector workers who earn more than £18,000 a year – meaning that more than 4 million people will forfeit any potential pay increase during 2011 and perhaps for longer.
The Conservatives have positioned their plan for creating savings as being based on honesty in relation to what’s required to initiate a recovery of public finances. After all, official estimates now show that the UK has racked up a debt of £805 billion, and they argue that this money has to be clawed back somehow. They are basically saying that they are prepared to face the debt head-on and put in place mechanisms to reduce the deficit significantly…despite how unpopular the methods may be with some groups of the British public.
One could argue that the Conservatives are not only looking for votes by employing this ‘upfront’ approach, but are also making an appeal to the altruistic side of public sector workers. But if this is the case, can the appeal be successful? Some public sector workers will undoubtedly argue that it was not them who created the debt problem – that it is mainly the fault of the private sector and the financial services sector in particular – and so why should they be the ones to help pay it back?
Labour also intends to use pay freezes to make savings, but their plan has been seen as less austere than the Conservative’s. George Osborne has taken a big risk here because he stands to alienate the majority by focusing the freeze on all staff who earn more than £18,000. At Royal Mail we have seen how employees can react badly to feelings of unfair pay and a lack of control over their jobs. The question will be whether public sector employees react equally negatively when they come to decide how to vote. Will they take the hit for the good of the country or simply vote for the party that will make them richest?
Millions of votes are at stake in the civil service and how they are cast will have an important influence on the result of the election. It’s a risky tactic to challenge people’s feelings of control, and only time will tell us if it pays off. The Conservatives will have to hope that there are enough people out there espousing the same moral responsibility to pay back Britain’s debt as they do.
Leave a Comment » | economy, Public Sector | Tagged: civil service, Conservative, election, George Osborne, Labour, national debt, pay freeze, Private Sector, Public Sector, Royal Mail | Permalink
Posted by Cary Cooper
