The Tonic

Are You Ready For Olympic Fever?

2011-12-07T22:03:00.007Z

The year of the London Olympics, 2012 is almost upon us and a lot of businesses are thinking seriously about increasing the level of Wellbeing initiatives they offer staff members.
You may be planning new wellbeing initiatives at your workplace for next year. Take advantage of 'Olympics Fever' and let us help you adopt the perfect approach that will increase morale, engagement and above all, performance.

If you're stuck for Wellbeing ideas for 2012, here are a few suggestions of solutions that successfully focus people's minds and help them adopt positive wellbeing behaviours for the short, medium and long term.

Set up your own company 'Olympics'. This can be a single event as simple as a pedometer challenge or a series of team events such as 5-a-side football, netball, swimming or running. Prizes and recognition for winners is always a great incentive all round.

Encourage staff to enter charity events during 2012 and keep a record of individual achievements and the total amount of money raised by your people for good causes. Making wellbeing a collaborative venture and a company value can really change the culture in your offices.

Set up a forum where individuals and teams can commit to their biggest wellbeing challenge of the year. Whether this be to run a marathon, climb a mountain, lose weight, lower blood pressure, sleep better or improve work-life balance, creating an environment where people can share ideas, motivate each other and experience a sense of common purpose will make a huge difference to the results they achieve.

Once you have your key ideas in place, a brilliant way to spur staff on to great success is to provide them with regular motivation and accountability in the form of wellbeing workshops or 1-2-1 coaching.

Just the lightest of touches to keep people on track month by month makes a huge difference over the course of a year.

If you're interested in new wellbeing initiatives for olympic year, we can set them up for you. All you need to do is let us know what services you'd like to offer staff and when you'd like to get started.

Here's some Feedback we got from participants at recent events...

"The day went extremely well and your team made the day absolutely perfect. From the feedback I have received from staff they all enjoyed it and are looking forward to the next one."

"We had an absolutely fabulous day here and the feedback has been excellent! I am proposing to hold another day in a month's time. Many thanks to you, your team for a fantastic day."

For more information on our workshops CLICK HERE

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What Makes a Good Year For You?

2011-12-07T19:39:00.005Z

With the Olympics taking place in London in 2012 and athletes looking forward to what could be the biggest year of their lives, it got us thinking about how we can help all our clients perform to the peak of their potential more often.

We did some research amongst our clients to discover what were the stand out moments of 2011, 2010 and previous years, only to find out that many of them could only call to mind a couple of major life achievements within the last 10 years.

So, how about you? If you had to list your major successes of the recent years, what would they be?

Chances are your list might include finding a new partner, getting married, earning a promotion, having a child, completing a sporting event or making a key contribution to society. But have you managed something notable every year? And can you remember how good these achievements made you feel? Wouldn't you like to experience these positive feelings of success and fulfillment more often?

We believe that every year should be marked with notable progress on life's journey, so we devised a workshop to help people establish what they would most like to achieve with their health and wellness in 2012, and then make a clear plan to ensure they are able to fulfill their ambitions.

During the workshop we focus on developing a number of highlight moments for the coming year and then we show participants how to guarantee their goals come to fruition.

So what about you? What will your greatest achievements be for next year? In what ways do you want your organisation to flourish through 2012?

Get in touch if you'd like us to help your staff make plans for their best wellness year ever and ensure they are fully equipped with the right attitudes and strategies to make their plans a reality. Full details of the workshop can be found at www.The-TonicWorkshops.com

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How to Make 2012 Your Best Year Ever

2011-12-07T19:07:00.002Z

Our workshop 'Gold Medal Wellness for 2012: The Peak of Performance' is being rolled out across the country and is receiving great reviews.

* 'Very useful, very insightful with lots of practical examples to achieving ones goals'

* 'Really inspiring session. I feel like I have achievable goals. Very constructive'

* 'Very thought provoking and leads you through a process to allow you to achieve your goals'

The workshop will help staff:

* Explore their top health and wellness priorities

* Decide what would create balance in their life and make them happy

* Understand how they can fast track progress with all their aims and objectives for 2012

The benefits for the organisation include:

* Motivated staff ready to achieve success in all areas of life

* Improved personal responsibility and results translating into professional success

* A business full of optimistic, forward planning individuals

Here's what some recent participants in the workshop have to say about it:

"Great - another hour out of a busy schedule that has helped me see a way forward to a frustration that's been hanging around since September!"

"Really good workshop in a suitable amount of time. Very useful"

"Very timely as I need to make some real changes"

"Good to take time out to reflect / reframe / reconnect with where I want to go

It was good to revisit the methodologies and to put into words my goals"

**Special Offer**

Make a booking for this workshop before January 31st 2012 and we'll include a follow up workshop to revisit participant objectives at a reduced cost of 50%.

Email us now on info@the-tonic.com to let us know when would be best for you to schedule your workshops.

Workshop Details:

Workshops last for 60-minutes
Workshops can accomodate up to 20 participants
Gold Medal Wellness for 2012 costs £495.00
Your follow up workshop will be charged at £247.50
Bookings must be made before January 31st 2012.
Workshops will be scheduled between January and June 2012.

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Increasing Engagement in your Organisation

2011-11-14T20:42:00.000Z

It's fair to say that when it comes to wellness initiatives in the workplace, not everyone is keen to get involved. In fact, a common complaint from those who design wellness programmes is that, initially at least, the interest comes from those who are already taking steps to take care of themselves physically and mentally, and that the individuals in the business who would really benefit are nowhere to be seen.

How to make wellness appeal to everyone

Make it very clear that the benefits of your initiatives are as much about the individual as they are about the organisation. Who could refuse the idea of learning skills and strategies during work time that enable them to perform more effectively in every area of their life?

Many people will be looking for the quickest excuses they can find to opt out of wellness. You could set up 20 great initiatives but the fact that your on-site restaurant sells chips is enough for some people to interpret the wellness message as inconsistent and discredit everything you are trying to achieve.

There are three things that will help here.

1) Spend a little time anticipating all possible objections that staff may come up with to your wellness initiative and offer options and alternatives in as many situations as you can. Always be flexible with your approach.

2) Be consistent in all your communications that your programme is all about education, informed choice and personal responsibility. This will send a very strong message to your staff that you expect them to rise to the occasion.

3) Be patient. Remember that not everyone will rise to the challenge right away but if you gradually remove their objections, one by one they'll come on board and begin to make changes.

Appeal to vanity
Encourage everyone in the business to ask themselves, which of their wellbeing behaviours would they like their team or their colleagues to emulate? The opportunity to be seen as a positive role model often creates stronger motivation to do the right thing than the notion of change for the sake of change.

If you'd like some help with setting up the most effective initiatives for your organisation, just give us a call on 020 8995 1302.

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Wellness & Personal Performance: Lessons from the world of sport

2011-11-01T20:53:00.001Z

Just like athletes, we all want to perform at our best in our chosen field. Here are some key pointers that are crucial to peak athletic performance and that can be invaluable for all those wanting to make the most effective lifestyle choices and get great physical and mental results every day.

Establish your training goals
Do not waste a moment of training time wandering aimlessly around the gym or the park. Set your self some clear exercise objectives be it an event, a charity venture, or improvements in health or fitness indicators such as blood pressure, cholesterol or body fat. Decide exactly what you want from your exercise, make a plan to achieve it by a specific date and then execute your plan, starting right away.

Food is energy: garbage in, garbage out
Athletes are not comforted by comfort food, they are comforted by success. Take a leaf out of their book and judge everything that you consume against the questions, ‘will what I’m about to eat or drink give me energy or rob me of energy? Will this item make my day run easier or will it make my life more difficult?’

Sleep, rest and recovery are all components of optimum performance
Athletes always build in plenty of recovery time as part of their training routine because they know this is when the body and mind grow stronger. Good sleep is also vital so here’s some advice on how to get a great night’s sleep:

How to Sleep like a Baby

Eat Your Way to a Good Night's Sleep

Eat Your Way to a Good Night's Sleep (part 2)

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Office Stress Management Tips

2011-10-04T16:21:00.005+01:00

It's fascinating to read what annoys people in the office but really not that surprising. It can be difficult when you're busy and under pressure to find the patience to deal with the quirky habits and behaviour of other people.

LinkedIn recently compiled a survey of the most common 'Office Annoyances' around the world. You can read the results in this link:

WORKPLACE PET PEEVES

Here are 3 top tips to help you manage stress in the office and stay calm throughout the day.

1. Remember the stress response is natural. In the old days we dealt with it by fighting or fleeing, both of which can be difficult in the office.

The next best thing is to channel your stress into positive activity - step out of the situation and immerse yourself in a demanding project or take a short break for some physical movement. You'll instantly feel much calmer

2. Don't aggravate stressful situations by putting your body under additional physical stress. Limit your intake of caffeine and sugary snacks and you'll feel in a much better position to handle whatever your day throws at you, including annoying co-workers.

3. Develop a mantra that helps you put things in perspective. A complaining colleague may be annoying at times but can be used to your advantage.
Instead of getting frustrated at them complaining, reassure yourself that while they're moaning, you can get busy achieving success and pushing your career to new heights.

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Top Wellbeing Tips for September (Part 3)

2011-09-20T18:14:00.004+01:00

3) Be honest with yourself

Ask yourself what has prevented you in the past from achieving all the results you say you’d like with your health and wellbeing. It could be time, work, family commitments or a busy social life.

Now come up with three suggestions for working around each of your reasons for not achieving success. If you are really, truly committed to achieving your goals, creating options to work around your barriers and then getting on with doing so should be an easy process.

If you’re struggling to find solutions, you may need to have another think about how much you really want the objectives you say you want.

If your wellbeing objectives aren’t that important to you, make a note to revisit them in 4-weeks. If they are a top priority, start taking action right now.

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Top Wellbeing Tips for September (Part 2)

2011-09-20T17:55:00.004+01:00

2) Set goals and then achieve them

More people set personal development goals in September than in January. It’s a great time to take stock and think about the results you’d like to experience with your wellbeing in relation to the actions you currently take to help you achieve these results, or the new actions you are willing to take to ensure you reach your goals.

Here’s a 5-step plan to guarantee you get what you want from living a healthy life.

i) Avoid thinking of healthy living as something you feel you ought to do and instead view it as something you want to do.

ii) Decide, right now, what you want from your personal wellbeing. Do you want to get fitter, tone up, lose weight, feel more energy, reduce stress levels or sleep better?

iii) Decide when you want to experience your chosen results

iv) Write down three actions you can take today that will move you towards your objective in the chosen time frame. Make the first one an immediate action and set a time to take the other two actions.

v) Write down three actions for tomorrow and repeat this process every day. Get into the habit of taking a few minutes every day to review your progress from the previous day and use what you learn to create your action plan for today and tomorrow.

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Top Wellbeing Tips for September (Part 1)

2011-09-20T17:26:00.007+01:00

1) Regular wellbeing for consistent results

Summer may be over but don't leave it until next spring to remember about looking and feeling great. A few simple, consistent actions over the autumn / winter months will ensure you stay in good shape and avoid any last minute panic when you book your holiday. Our advice would be:

i) Avoid having a summer routine and a winter routine for eating.

If you do, this usually means people eat less but more healthily in summer, and then eat more but less healthily in winter. For consistent, positive results with your energy and your weight, eat the right food in the right quantity throughout the year.

ii) Develop a summer routine and a winter routine for your exercise.

Many people tell us they feel good in the summer but their exercise routine is mostly outdoors meaning that during the winter months they park it and wait until spring to get active again.

That's 6 months of the year when you're missing out on burning calories and feeling great, so have a think about what your weather resistant exercise options are for October to March and make sure you make the most of every month of the year.

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A simple, effective, value for money wellness solution

2011-05-25T09:37:00.006+01:00

The best wellness solutions are relevant, timely and cost-effective. I've read many times that wellness programmes are expensive, complicated to administer and suffer from a lack or participation making them poor value for money, but this really needn't be the case.

If you're looking to get started with a wellness programme, or you want to inject new life into your current programme, all you need to do is:

1) Introduce new initiatives that get fast results

2) Offer them to a wide audience so that you achieve maximum participation, and ensure participation by those who will make best use of the initiative

3) Demonstrate value for money

One suggestion would be a short course telephone lifestyle coaching programme - these programmes are flexible, targeted and deliver dramatic results in a short space of time. They are are also easy to manage if you set them up as follows:

1) A programme can consist of as little as an advanced questionnaire followed by two 15-minute coaching calls

2) The programme is advertised to staff

3) Staff sign up when they feel the programme would be most useful to them

Using this model, we've achieved some amazing results for our clients including fundamental attitude and behaviour change that has a dramatic impact on the personal and professional lives of those who take part. Here's a couple of examples. Wouldn't you like your business to be buzzing with positive people like these?

I found the programme really useful and helpful. I have lost a stone since the start of the programme but far more importantly than that I feel so much healthier in myself and much more active. I really enjoy going to gym something I never thought I would say!

Also, my diet has changed completely since the start of the programme; I have cut down the number of cups of coffee I drink replacing them with water; I am much more aware of my diet and make healthier choices every day.

I think that overall, I have made the changes to my life that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

My approach to eating has changed & this has had a very positive affect on my energy levels. I’m also sleeping better. Its great to be able to discuss things with an objective person who is completely non-judgemental. I think it makes you more honest as a result which in turn gives better results. I really enjoyed the programme. Thanks for all your help!

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Wellness Programmes an Increasing Priority

2011-05-19T12:11:00.006+01:00

According to a survey in HR Magazine, 47% of multinationals plan to implement a global workforce health strategy over the next two years.

Read the full article here HR Magazine

This is great news and, combined with the fact that planning wellness programmes is becoming ever more strategic and long-term - something we've been working on with our clients for years - the quality of initiatives and the potential benefits for staff and returns for the business are set to go from strength to strength.

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Motivation, Accountability & Fantastic Wellness Results

2011-05-10T10:45:00.006+01:00

This morning I delivered a presentation to a group I haven't seen for 8-weeks. Since we met last, every single one of them has made positive changes to either their exercise routine, their diet, or their approach to rest, recovery and work-life balance.

And they've had some amazing results including completing a marathon, losing up to 18 pounds, experiencing more energy and feeling calmer and more productive.

They all agreed that knowing we were meeting today focused their mind over the last few weeks and kept them on track with doing the right thing.

So, I'm thinking a lot about motivation and accountability and how to guarantee great results with wellness.

The simplest way to achieve this through your wellness programme is to follow 3 easy steps:

1. Organise a selection of initiatives to raise awareness of successful wellness strategies. These can be health awareness events, presentations, workshops or lunch & learn sessions.

2. Provide the resources necessary for people to act quickly and consistently on their chosen wellness priorities. This includes access to information, experts, healthy food and a supportive business environment

3. Provide time-frames and make it clear when everyone will have the opportunity to report back on the progress they have made. Those taking part will immediately begin thinking about the results they'd like to achieve and the appropriate action to achieve these results will soon follow.

Given a fixed time-frame, individuals will achieve some amazing wellness changes which will boost energy and productivity throughout the business and enhance the reputation of your wellness programme.

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5 tips for increasing staff results with wellness

2011-03-30T09:44:00.009+01:00

Yesterday we highlighted the top 5 ways in which any organisation can instantly improve staff engagement with wellness programmes.

Today we list the top 5 behaviour changes that individuals taking part in wellness programmes can make for instant and lasting results with their health, wellbeing and energy. The idea being that, if you're in charge of a wellness programme, these are key strategies and decisions that your initiatives will lead staff towards. Simple, healthy solutions to help staff climb any mountain...

Individual wellness strategies: instant action, lasting results

1. Change your attitude

Your wellbeing success is dependent on how seriously you value yourself. From this moment onwards, your wellbeing needs to be a top priority. Living a healthy life should not be an added bonus in your routine, it should be the bedrock of success in all other areas.

2. Make sure the timing is right

If you sense some hesitation around putting your wellbeing first, ask yourself what's stopping you, and then systematically remove or reframe each of these obstacles. For example, if you think you're too busy to be healthy, consider the long term implications of continuing your current routines. This will provide the motivation for instant action.

3. Make a list of the biggest personal incentives for living a healthy life

If you don't have plenty of good reasons to do the right thing, you'll come up with hundreds of good reasons (i.e. excuses) to do the wrong thing, and then you'll rationalise these behaviours. Be clear on what good wellness will provide you with including energy, focus, personal effectiveness, positive mood, confidence and a sense of achievement. What else can you add to this list? A long list of benefits will overcome any excuses or procrastination.

4. Change your behaviour

Start with the simple things. Get hydrated, eat regularly, watch your portion sized, get active today and protect your down time. One simple step at a time will lead to dramatic results. Simple steps will generate progress which will in turn generate further motivation.

5. Set yourself up for success

Decide on some healthy living objectives and some deadlines to meet these targets. Enter some events, team up with some colleagues to eat healthily, set some parameters around your relaxation time and decide what you'll do with this time. Whatever resources you feel have been lacking for wellness success in the past - gather them around you now and use them to keep you on track.

Remember, whether you're designing programmes that help others with wellbeing, or you're thinking aobut your own health, energy and performance, take action today for great results tomorrow.

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5 tips for increasing staff engagement with wellness

2011-03-29T10:34:00.005+01:00

The buzzwords for this year's World Health Day are 'no action today, no cure for tomorrow'.

These words couldn't be more relevant when it comes to the health and wellness of every single individual, within every single organisation around the world.

At The Tonic we're all about instant action to improve the health, performance and energy of everyone we work with. So today, here are the top 5 ways in which any organisation can instantly improve staff engagement with wellness programmes.

Tomorrow we'll post the top 5 individual wellbeing behaviour changes that create the greatest instant impact and provide the longest lasting results.

Make sure you and your business are taking action today to develop a healthy and engaged workforce for tomorrow.

1. Get people excited

Communicate the value to individuals within your business of your wellness initiatives, not the value to the organisation. Explain clearly the personal benefits they will experience if they take part.

2. Create something for everyone

A range of flexible initiative that are well subscribed is much more successful than a limited number of expensive, under-utilised interventions. Be creative with your wellbeing solutions.

3. Cultivate the desire to opt in rather than the desire to opt out

Start small and make your initiatives effective. Word will spread and everyone will want to take part. Before you know it you'll be managing a waiting list rather than spending time persuading people to come along to events

4. Keep it fresh, keep it simple.

Timing is a big part of staff adopting wellness change so make sure you send regular, consistent messages but keep the initiatives simple. Ongoing, straightforward initiatives will have a greater cummulative effect than fancy interventions that no-one understands. Think about awareness raising events and practical, useful workshops rather than complicated competitions or online surveys.

5. Appeal to groups and individuals

Think about the people and the teams within your business and target them accordingly. Some staff will prefer group initiatives, others will opt for interventions targeted at the individual. If you're not sure what people would respond to best, ask them.

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How to Help Staff Quit Smoking

2011-03-03T16:16:00.004Z

It's No Smoking Day on March 9th and, whilst we don't run any initiatives specifically related to quitting smoking, we have worked with many smokers who have chosen to give up cigarettes during, or very soon after taking part in, our general wellness programmes.There's a large element of timing involved in when people choose to give up smoking and you certainly can't put pressure on them to quit - it simply doesn't help and chances are they're already putting a good deal of pressure on themselves to stop.

Here's how we achieve success in this area.

1) Focus on positives

There's little point repeating the negative consequences of smoking. Smokers are all too familiar with these. Instead send messages that focus on the positive elements of not smoking such as increased energy, better concentration, inner calm and a stronger immune system

2) Lay down a challenge

No one likes to feel they are operating below par in any area of life. Asking the general question of what would lead people to the greatest improvement with their health and wellbeing will usually steer smokers in the direction of giving up without you having to be too heavy handed with the message

3) Add accountability

People choose to stop smoking on our programmes because we provide a manageable time frame for them to work with. If they can stop for a couple of days, a week, a month or a couple of months over the duration of a modular programme, this can be enough to convince them they can become a non-smoker for the long-term.

March 9th is a good reminder to staff to be vigilant with their wellbeing habits Use No Smoking Day as part of your ongoing schedule of events and communications to ensure that healthy living is such a priority with employees that they'll always respond to opportunities to raise their game with their wellbeing.

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Changes to Exercise & Diet are Top Staff Wellbeing Objectives

2010-10-11T14:45:00.005+01:00

According to a recent survey conducted by us, when asked what their wellbeing priorities for change are, an overwhelming 39% of office workers expressed the desire to take more exercise, while 22% said they'd most like to eat more healthily as their top priority.

These preferences illustrate quite clearly what we've suspected for a long time - when it comes to energising and engaging staff and helping them tackle stress, simple wellbeing initiatives that get people active and eating better pay dividends.

Other popular objectives chosen by participants in the programmes provide further insight into how wellbeing interventions should be targeted:

Improve work-life balance
Improve my sleeping routine
Lose weight
Drink more water
Reduce caffeine intake
Make more time for myself
Reduce alcohol intake
Improve stress management
Stop smoking / reduce smoking
Make more time for my family

It's all pretty straightforward stuff but very worthwhile bearing in mind when you're considering which of the many wellbeing initiatives available to you will have the greatest impact for your staff.

Read more about our findings on the Employee Benefits Magazine Website

Email info@the-tonic.com to request a copy of the full Press Release on our Study

Solutions for Sleep Deprived Staff

2010-08-27T14:37:00.008+01:00

Here's an interesting idea from one company on how to help people deal with sleep issues.

Sleep deprived staff offered a siesta

The statistics in the article are quite frightening, particularly that 'the average worker has a weekly sleep debt of 12 hours - due to only getting an average six hours and 21 minutes sleep per night. This is one hour and 39 minutes below the recommended quota of eight hours sleep per night.'

There are many ways to ensure a good night's sleep - here are a few interesting links you might like to share with your colleagues to help them feel rested and energised throughout the day:

How to sleep like a baby

Eat your way to a great night's sleep - part 1

Eat your way to a great nights sleep - part 2

Sleeping your way to weight loss

How to stop feeling tired all the time

Sleep well!

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10 Professions with the Highest Levels of Depression

2010-08-04T02:20:00.003+01:00

Someone sent this to us today. It makes for worrying reading. It's one thing to find your job boring or stressful, but depressing? It's upsetting to know that some people find themselves in this position.

The 10 Professions with the Highest Levels of Depression

Nursing Home Employees and Childcare Providers
Food Service
Social Workers
Doctors and Nurses
Artists
Teachers
Secretaries and Administrative Support
Maintenance Workers
Financial Advisers
Lawyers

You can read the reasons why these professions are depressing by clicking on the full article. Here's hoping that employers in these sectors are forward thinking enough to take steps to address the wellbeing of their staff before things get too serious for affected employees.

Award Winning Wellbeing

2010-07-08T19:36:00.003+01:00

One of our clients - Amey - was recently 'Highly Commended' in the category of Most effective healthcare and wellbeing strategy for organisations with more than 1.000 staff at the Employee Benefits Awards in London.

Congratulations to them and all the other prize winners and nominees which you can see here.

Another great reason to make wellbeing work in your office.

Getting Personal with Wellbeing

2010-07-08T19:18:00.003+01:00

Wellbeing at work succeeds best when it makes sense on an individual level. Make sure your initiatives cater for the needs of everyone. And we mean everyone...

Image by lululemon athletica Flickr

Competitive Wellbeing

2010-07-08T19:08:00.002+01:00

Ever wondered how to channel the competitive nature of your staff into successful wellbeing initiatives?

Here's an article on Competition and Your Wellbeing Programme that might help.

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Reduce Stress: Increase Productivity

2010-07-08T19:00:00.003+01:00

There's a great new wellness website where you can access a whole range of useful articles.

Here's a link to a piece I wrote on how to Reduce Stress & Increase Productivity.

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Boost profits with wellbeing

2010-06-22T14:21:00.003+01:00

Here's some evidence to support what we've suspected for a long time: There is a direct link between employers’ profitability and investing in issues such as the health and wellbeing of staff and ethical corporate behaviour.

These are the findings of research published by Business in the Community (BITC), a membership organisation with the remit of promoting corporate social responsibility (CSR).

A study undertaken for BITC by Ipsos Mori among 100 FTSE 100 companies found that those firms that actively worked to improve staff wellbeing and enforce workplace health policies saw a 10% boost to their financial performance. This was because they reaped the benefits of higher employee engagement, reduced absentee and attrition rates as well as enhanced corporate reputation.

So if your business is looking to boost its financial results, we can help you design an effective wellbeing programme.

Work is a pain in the back

2010-06-22T12:54:00.003+01:00

Half of employees say they suffer from back pain at least once a month, with more than a third (37%) blaming work as the contributing factor according to a survey of 8000 adults by back specialists Dynaspine.

We work with many people suffering with back pain and here are 2 ways in which we help them alleviate their symptoms in the long-term:

1) Reduce Stress

Successful exercise, nutrition and work-life balance strategies help reduce stress which often presents itself as pain or discomfort in the lower, middle, upper back or neck and shoulders

2) Balance Your Body

Exercise and Yoga sessions show people how to stretch properly to release tension. Pilates sessions teach how to sit, stand and move with good posture

By raising awareness of elements of a modern working life that could contribute to back pain and suggesting simple strategies for better ways of operating, we aim to reduce pain for individuals and and ultimately reduce the estimated £7 billion a year that absence through back pain costs businesses

Working overtime can seriously increase your risk of a heart attack

2010-06-22T12:23:00.003+01:00

Employees working overtime can increase their risk of heart attacks by as much as two thirds, new research reveals.

A recent study of 6,000 British civil servants, published in the European Heart Journal, suggests that people who regularly put in overtime increase their heart disease risk by nearly two thirds.

This is a frightening prospect but not that surprising given the extra hours that many people work and the ongoing stress associated with this.

As one of the areas we deal with is helping people to balance their work and life, we regularly come across people working 70+ hours most weeks.

If people want to reduce the hours they work - it should after all be the quality of the work you do rather than the quantity that counts - there are some simple strategies to adopt. Using these strategies I recently helped one individual reduce their weekly working hours from 65 to 35 without any reduction in results or success.

1) Set some limits. Decide how many hours a week of work is acceptable for you and schedule these hours in your diary. If you don't decide in advance how much work you'll be doing, work will expand to fill all available time you allow it

2) Delegate. You can only do so much with every hour that you work so take some time out to plan how you can be more strategic and set up new resources that you can rely on to save you time

3) Add balance. If you don't have good reasons to get out of the office or close your laptop you'll find yourself still stuck there way too long. Give yourself some good reasons to stop working - something social, sporty, family related or set aside some time for your favourite hobby - and you'll find that you get more done, more quickly so that you can move on to something more fun