Reduce expenses, retain workers
An array of ideas may help employers be more successful
Stress for Success

When your employees grumble about workplace stress around the water fountain, what do they say? Not knowing can cost your organization dearly.

With low unemployment rates, retaining employees has never been more important. Which employees can you afford to lose? Is it easy to replace them? How much does it cost? What’s the annual increase for your workers’ compensation and health insurance? Can you hear your bottom line chipping away?

Because a happy worker is more productive and more likely to stay, many employers are experimenting with ideas to reduce employee stress. Here are some:
• Train all to do their jobs more efficiently and safely
• Stop your supervisory personnel from driving away your staff by providing them with management training.
• Facilitate work/life balance by having a team manage a particular job function vs. an individual. If an employee has her child’s soccer game to attend, for example, other team members could cover for her, a wonderful motivator.
• Everyone needs downtime from work so encourage employees to take weekends off and vacations. At Price Waterhouse Coopers if an employee sends an e-mail on a weekend, a pop-up screen reminds him, "It's the weekend and it's important to disconnect and allow others to do the same. Please send your e-mail at the beginning of the workweek."
• Flextime: flexible and creative scheduling helps employees balance their work and home responsibilities.
• Give more personal time. HomeBanc Mortgage Corporation in Atlanta gives employees an extra 24 hours they call "being there" time. Employees use the time whenever they need a couple hours to take care of personal responsibilities without using vacation time.
• Offer regular stress reduction training to all
• If that’s not sufficient offer individual stress coaching
• Concierge services pamper your employees and decrease their errand-running stress. Employees pay for the services, such as dry-cleaning, but not for the concierge service itself.
• On-site childcare addresses many parents’ biggest stressor. You can offer it year-round, during the summer when school’s out or before and after school hours.
• Serenity rooms offer stressed-out employees a few minutes of solitude, particularly helpful for those who work in cubicles where there's absolutely no privacy.
• Massage therapy is one of the best ways to reduce stress. HomeBanc sends massage therapists to each office monthly to offer free neck and shoulder massages. ARUP Laboratories subsidizes on-site massage where employees pay $5 for a 15-minute massage.
• Provide snacks or meals during particularly stressful times of the year, for example during tax season for accounting firms.
• Wellness initiatives such as subsidizing health club membership, nutrition advice, health screenings for cholesterol and blood pressure, financial incentives to those who quit smoking, and work time to exercise or meditate

A cost/benefit analysis can tell you if ideas that seem appropriate for your workers could actually save you money when compared to the high cost of turnover and increased insurance rates.

So what are you waiting for? With stress mounting in our frenzied workplace costing you every step of the way, how can you reduce stress in your organization?

Jacquelyn Ferguson, M. S., of InterAction Associates, is a trainer and a Stress Coach. E-mail her at www.jackieferguson.com or call 239-693-8111 for information about her workshops on this and other topics or to invite her to speak to your organization.