MCE Employee Wellbeing News

In his recent column for the Daily Telegraph, Lord Sugar (best known through the TV Series The Apprentice) implored small and independent business owners to return to the basics of business. All you need to balance the books he said, is a pencil and paper.

Indeed in today’s world of profit and budget forecasts, turnover underwritten by credit and all number of Excel sheets predicting business for the coming 24 months, it is easy to get lost in the fact that a business remains at the very bottom line exactly that; a business.

Lord Sugar was quoted that as he started out, he simply had weekly targets. He knew how much rent he had to pay and if he hadn’t met his overheads by the end of the week then he would have to work twice as hard the following week.

Today Auto Windshields went into administration. Another casualty in a long line of recent businesses which have become victims of our poor economic climate. It is easy to say that they were the victim of circumstance or just plain unlucky. However the truth is that just as with the banking crisis 18 months ago, it is the businesses which are built upon solid foundations which will prevail.

Often that solid foundation takes more time, patience and in some cases opportunities perceived at being lost. However, the financial security on which every business should be formed will in the end be the difference between those companies which succeed and those which fall aside.

Swapping budget forecasts for pencil and paper never hurt anyone (or business) for just one day.

Feeling lethargic? Despite being the beginning of the year, many of us will feel like we don’t want to start back again. Here are some tips for beating the back to work blues…

Eating Breakfast
The stereotypical way of losing those pounds gained over Christmas is to skip meals. However, low blood sugar levels can affect your energy and mood. Instead, try eating porridge. It’s low-fat, filling and warm, rich in mood-friendly B vitamins (iron and zinc) and keeps blood glucose levels steady.

Exercise and Sleep
Rather than trying to catchup on lost sleep post-Christmas with lie-ins, try 30 minutes of daily exercise. This could be anything from a brisk walk to a short swimming session. It’s another way to tackle any weight gain you’ll notice in January too.

Sleep experts advise that establishing a regular pattern of seven to eight hours per night. So keep your bedtime and waking times consistent to reset your body clock.

Mood Foods
Research has suggested that omega-3 fatty acids can block some of the chemicals that trigger low moods. To combat this, try eating oily fish such as salmon, sardines, mackerel or tuna, flaxseed oil, nuts or seeds. Other studies have also linked low moods to diets low in folate. So try stocking up on cabbage, broccoli and sprouts to beat the January blues.

Socialising
January is typically the month of the year where everyone stops going out. However, countless studies have linked psychological wellbeing to socialising. So this year, do something different – get out and join a club, volunteer for a charity or meet those friends you missed over Christmas.

Holidays
Plan ahead. Look at your year and see when you can get away. Feeling like you’re ready to bounce back? Try booking your holiday for mid-summer or late autumn. Otherwise an early spring break could be just what you and your workplace(!) need…

Have you ever been rejected for a job because of being ‘over qualified’?

Increasingly, prospective employee’s are being told that they are not suited for the job because their qualifications exceed the expectations of employers. Recently, a vetinary student from Bristol was rejected for a summer job at Tesco’s because she was told that her A-level grades and Masters Degree were “much more than the store was expecting from their applicants”.

Is this a deliberate attempt by managers to implement a system that encourages people only of a certain ‘calibre’ to work in their stores?

From an employers perspective, it is often true that applicants whose qualifications exceed the job specification leave the post quicker and seek employment elsewhere. However, it is also true that employees who are satisfied with their work surroundings, ease of getting to work and the fact that they have some stability to pay their rent will become long serving and loyal to the company they work for.

Qualifications therefore do provide some insight into an applicants ability, but they don’t provide insight into the individual situation. There are many examples of teachers giving up their teaching profession for whatever reason and returning as Teaching Assistants simply because they would rather work on an individual basis with children rather than take responsibility for a whole class.

Sometimes the most qualified people do want a job with set hours 9 to 5 so that they can come home every night to their family, or get more involved in voluntary community work.

Chris Buttress, a local government partner at PwC Accountants has predicted that up to half of the expected 490,000 public sector job losses resulting from the cuts in last week’s budget would come from councils.

He said that the local financial authorities are facing “the perfect storm”.

The fear is that the massive cost cutting measures introduced will not only affect the employees themselves, but also the front-line services such as child protection and care for the elderly. Despite government assurances that this will not be the case, it seems hard to imagine a situation where removing almost half a million jobs will not have some impact on the service provided.

Other services that are likely to be directly affected are public libraries and leisure centres as well as the police force. Firm KPMG has estimated that over 18,000 officers are likely to lose their jobs over the next 4 years.

It seems likely that these cuts will also directly affect areas which already have high unemployment rates. In Newcastle-upon-Tyne over 18% of students with 3 A-levels still cannot find employment. The knock-on effect is that the basic qualifications for jobs is pushed higher with more employees exceeding the qualification standard for their job.

It’s often thought that there can be nothing worse than job losses and redundancies in the workplace. From an employee’s perspective that is probably true, but for the employer the issue can spread even further.

From a company’s perspective often it is the fear of job cuts that can not only exaggerate problems, but also derail any plans a company may have for development.

With the extraordinary cuts issued by Chancellor George Osborne earlier this week, it is no great secret that there will be massive job losses in the public sector. Indeed anyone who has been following this will know that these job cuts have been expected for some time. But sometimes the longer an issue rumbles on over employees heads, the even greater the issue of redundancy becomes.

Employees who are under the impression (whether rightly or wrongly) that their job is on the line can do one of a number of things. Some prefer to put their head down, shy away from any decisions which might place blame on them and give anyone a further excuse for sending them on their way. Others may take an advant garde approach to life, believing their number is up so they might as well see either what they can achieve or take the house down with them.

Still others may simply stop working and focus on developing other sources of income, be that researching other jobs or working overtime after work hours.

The issue is that although it may be that only 20 redundancies out of a team of 100 may be necessary, the likelihood is that it will be the whole team who suffer. In the present climate, managing the “threat” of redundancy has to be one of the foremost issues many employers will face.

Ed Miliband’s close-run victory over his brother David has triggered real debate over whether his backing from Trade Unionists will hamper the Labour party in the future. This seems to have brought to a head the major divide in politics at the moment – should we cut the deficit, or should we spend our way out of recession?

Unite, whose members gave 40% of their vote to Ed Miliband and were his largest backer have called for an “alternative economic and industrial strategy” claiming that rapid reductions in spending is not essential to cutting our country’s deficit.

With a year of increased strike activity, it is a difficult balance to make. For the Trade Unions, their greatest weapon has always been the threat of strikes. However, with so many businesses in financial difficulty and uncertainty, it seems hard to imagine that if every business went on strike any real difference could be made. Many businesses face damaging their client base just as British Airways found out earlier this year. If customers are apathetic, then in the end it will be the employees who suffer.

Ed Miliband’s difficult job is to somehow stride the two horses – keeping the Trade Unions happy while at the same time appealing to the larger society.

With the divide widening on policy, it is in the interest of not only his party, but also the real people on the ground that is at stake. Probably the stakes have never been higher.

Recently featured in an article on BBC Asia was the Boteli Valve Group based in China. The Group have a monthly output of $5 million (£3 million), but the company’s director is more worried about the faith of his workers than the profit of his company.

Although the employees work under the customary symbols of the aetheist Chinese communist state, every Monday morning the senior managers get together and pray about the business. Once a week, members of staff are encouraged to attend an on-site Christian fellowship meeting, where they read the Bible and pray for each other.

Company director Weng-Jen Wau believes that as a result the attitudes of the workforce have been transformed.

Far from being a one-off, there are a growing number of businesses run by Christian entrepreneurs in one of China’s key enterprise zones. Their success is now being studied by the Chinese government. Professor Zhuo Xinping, Director of the Institute of World Religions, tells the BBC journalist that Chinese researchers are considering whether in Western history there is a link between economic prosperity and Protestant Christianity – and they are questioning what that might mean for today’s China.

Christian faith may sound like an unlikely component in China’s future economic success.

But the notion that newfound faith can inspire a workforce to increased levels of productivity is being taken seriously not only by Christian businessmen, but by China’s Communist – and officially atheist – leaders.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-10942954

The Bank of England has fuelled anxiety over UK recovery hopes after warning of a squeeze on households from slowing growth and high inflation, as well as uncertain international prospects.

Governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King said there was “great uncertainty” over the outlook for the US as well as the eurozone – the UK’s biggest trading partner – hampering efforts to build an export-led recovery.

The Bank of England in its quarterly report painted a grim picture of disposable incomes hit by the deficit-tackling measures, with some firms facing lower public sector demand following the cuts. This gloom comes after recent surveys showed a sharp slowdown in high-street sales, falling house prices and consumer confidence at its lowest for more than a year.

However, the forecast is not all gloom. The department store John Lewis has today agreed to advise public sector bodies on how to improve by involving their staff in their management.

Charlie Mayfield is quoted in today’s Daily Telegraph saying; “Whilst not a guaranteed solution to today’s challenges, the strengths of an employee-led model – such as an empowered and informed workforce and a close alignment of motivation between managers and employees – has helped us create a strong culture of trust, innovation and customer service.”.

An initial 12 “Pathfinder” projects have been announced by Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office minister. These include local mental health and children’s services.

Conflict is to be welcomed at times. It can reveal truth. It can lead to progress.

Conflict occurs when there is a clash of interests, there is the outward cause of the dispute, and under the surface the inward emotions it produces.

Sam Goldwyn put it like this, ‘ To every complex question there is always a simple answer and it’s always wrong!’

Dunn identifies the traditional responses to conflict, ’Fight or Flight’. He also asks is the conflict capable of resolution?

Humility is not a fashionable quality, but might lead an honest individual to ask the question ’to what extent am I responsible for the problem?’

If we’re prepared to ask that question it’s possible we can make progress. Begin by finding a good time to reflect, when you are at your best. Get things into context. Stand back. Ask someone who can help. This should be a person who you trust, but is not always going to say what you want to hear! As you seek to work through the conflict check out your mindset. Do you react ? Should you change that habit and become more responsive, more empathetic?

If you can begin to work on this process you may need to take stock of your emotions. Is fear impacting your reaction?

How can you be creative in this situation? Are there new solutions, ideas that could make a positive difference and break the cycle of conflict?

We have all seen the immense difference to results when a team is together pulling in the same direction compared to one that is not. We’ve seen this throughout the World Cup 2010 with France, Italy and sadly England.

It seems that regardless of how much Fabio Capello screamed from the touchline, the England players still gave lacklustre performances. Time and time again we have heard that the English squad has not been a happy camp. Were they bored in the training camp? Could they understand their manager? Was it a frustrated backlash against their manager’s refusal to let them play how they wanted to?

Regardless of how good the individual players are meant to be, individuals cannot win the World Cup on their own. The same applies to business. Businesses are formed of teams and the most successful businesses are often the ones who work best and communicate together.

Is your company winning as you would like? Is communication a problem? Or are frustrations and misunderstandings affecting performance?

Various surveys have often revealed that when employees were asked to sum up the key goals their employer was looking for from them, the answers given were considerably different to those given by the employers. A reason for frustration! And not hitting GOALS!