Productivity at work can get greatly affected by your health. Paying attention to how health affects our work-life can provide clues for taking proactive and preventive steps towards improving our productivity.

Illness affects the team

When a person is sick, it affects productivity. Results of ill-health on work are

• Days off from work
• Time off to go to the doctor or for other medical appointments
• Reduced concentration
• Poor attention to detail that affects accuracy and safety.

This behaviour can adversely affect team efforts. Further, if the illness is contagious, others can get sick too.

Degree of physical illness

If a person is too sick to work or the condition is infectious, s/he most certainly should stay home or see a doctor to avoid infecting others. This would help in getting rest and returning to health/work as soon as possible. Some chronic illnesses and ailments are not so contagious/serious as to prevent the person from working; however, due to the illness, s/he may not work at his/her best. Seasonal allergies, chronic back pain, headaches — especially migraines— and other ailments contribute hugely to loss of employee productivity.

Mental health

An often-overlooked health aspect is mental health. Many people suffer symptoms such as anxiety, depression, stress, and confused thinking, which influence them in all areas of life including work. These symptoms may or may not qualify strictly as a mental illness but they do impact work adversely.

Depressed feelings of hopelessness, sadness, grief, and apathy affect work by slowing a person down. Some symptoms are:

• Loss of concentration and focus
• Reduced drive to do your best
• Lack of attention to detail
• Disregard about output or final outcomes
• Weariness

All these symptoms can seriously affect a your performance and also that of those with whom you interact. Anxiety often contributes to loss of sleep, lack of care at work, hurried and incomplete projects that do not reflect the actual skill and/or talent of the person.

OCD

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or OCD is characterised by having obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviours such as counting, ritualised behaviour, and unreasonable fear of germs that causes excessive avoidance. This kind of behaviour can take hours out of a person’s day, thereby diminishing completion of desired and required tasks. Of course, other anxiety issues can have an adverse effect on work output and workplace interactions. Social anxiety prevents us from interacting normally with co-workers, employers, managers, and the public and hence we may not be able to reach our full potential.

Stress

Stress negatively affects nearly all aspects of our work and reduces our output. As we know, stress reduces the quality of life in the here and now.  Our physical health is affected by stress as much as our physical health can lead to stress. There are many ways to deal with stress, anxiety, and depression, but we should consult with mental health professionals for proper guidance. As for the physical illnesses that we don’t have much control over, we must see a doctor.

Prevention is better…

Prevention is very important as it is clearly under our control. Getting enough sleep is primary; 7 – 8 hours of sleep is considered optimal for good health and an efficient immune system. If you are ill or recovering from an illness, sleep even more depending on the indications from your body. Eating lots of fruits and vegetables fuels our immune system and keeps us alert and vibrant. Exercise keeps a body toned, strong, and healthy. Even as little as 30 minutes a day of moderately vigorous movement show very effective health benefits.  If recovering from an illness or injury, consult your doctor for recommended rehabilitation strategies.

Hygiene

Another aspect of prevention is the avoidance of infection. To avoid infecting others, cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze. Wash your hands thoroughly with hot water and soap, often. Sickness starts if you touch your eyes, nose or mouth after touching an infected surface. The highest number of germs is found at places like the computer keyboard or the telephone. Clean them with a disinfectant wipe or spray, once a week.

Family concerns

Very often, caretakers experience an increase in stress as they worry about their loved one who is ill. Short-term illnesses can often be absorbed into our daily stress—a mother may worry about her child who has a bit of cold but she takes it in her stride. But when the illness is chronic or severe, the attention required makes concentrating at work very difficult.

For a working parent

In my private practice, I have counselled many parents of children with special needs. The child’s chronic illness severely affects the quality of life of these parents. It is in this time that they most desperately need their work. Primary reason is the financial support. Also, work is a welcome diversion from the constant stress of dealing with illness. When faced with helplessness in resolving medical issues of a family member, people focus on an area of mastery such as their profession to deal with the situation.

Elderly care

Many of us have to take care of elderly parents, and this brings different set of challenges associated with illnesses of old age. These caretakers have to take responsibility for their aging parents, and in some ways, it is similar to taking care of a sick child. When the demands of dealing with an ill family member begin to affect workplace performance, we must seek help and support.

Parting shot

We discussed the benefits of taking care of oneself for prevention of illness, but the same advice holds for regaining strength and vitality if a loved one is sick. Sleep well, eat right, and get plenty of exercise to be your best.

This was first published in the July 2009 issue of Complete Wellbeing.

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Why mix family with business?

Loyalty

The number one reason for hiring family members in a business is loyalty. When they hire a family member, they also have the knowledge of the person’s family history, unlike in the case of a stranger. There is a trust that family members will not hurt or betray each other because of the common investment.

Marrying family and business needs

All businesses have jobs and tasks to be completed, and employees to be paid. If the employee is a family member, the wages remain in the family. In some cases, this is extremely important. A family member may work for less than the prevailing market rate, making the business more profitable. At times, a family member is hired for a job so that s/he earns money and not just receives it as a gift. This also helps the person to build his/her character.

How should a family business be run?

Follow a professional hierarchy

The family business can involve any family relation: husband-wife, parents-children, cousins, in-laws or even grandparents. These relationships can have a profound effect on the business, especially if the family order is not the same as the business order. For instance, a son being his parents superior can cause some tension and hurt feelings. Tension could also arise when the younger sibling is preferred over the older one for a leadership position. To avoid emotional family entanglements of this nature, accomplishments alone should be rewarded and each member must earn his/her position. Thus, it will be apparent to all family members that in the interest of the company, promotions or assignments are performance-based. Leadership of a family business should go to the most qualified member.

Match ability with business needs

To maximise success, matching skills and abilities of the family member with the needs of the business is critical. Failing which, business suffers because the requirements of the job are not met. In such circumstances, hiring a non-family member to fill the position is a good option. Getting an employee who may not be as loyal as a family member but has the expertise and efficiency for the job is a trade-off worth considering.

Maintain regular communication

Communication among family members can often be a blessing as they share so much in common. It is recommended that family members meet at least twice a month so that everyone feels heard and is kept up to date. Sharing of appropriate information unites the family and helps the business.

What should family businesses watch out for?

Family fights

The downside of a family business is that family dynamics can affect the business. A family quarrel, at times, can carry over to the business, affecting its daily operations or decisions. Family quarrels can be contained so that they do not affect the business, but when the fights become toxic, it can lead to huge losses. There are examples of businesses that have exploded because of negative family dynamics. Fighting for control, they lose the very thing they worked so hard to build.

Finally

When creating or guiding a family business, one is sharing with the world a belief that family is important and that through this business a family identity is shared. Being the leader is an awesome responsibility and  has many rewards too. Doing good work and producing a quality product is very rewarding.

The family business has the opportunity to provide employment as well as a shared experience. It most certainly can bring the family together in this common goal of success. By paying close attention to how each employee is treated, the business can draw out his/her best performance. The family business is filled with dynamic relationships and issues, and with effective leadership, the effort can bring great satisfaction and pride to all involved.

This was first published in the May 2009 issue of Complete Wellbeing.

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Closeness with colleagues

Drawing the line

It is only natural to develop personal relationships at work, because many of us spend more time with people at work than with our own families. Sometimes we feel the need to share personal information like some of the major events in our life with people at work. We share positive events like getting promoted, buying a new home or car, or getting married. But often we tend to share details of our lives that really have no place in the work setting like financial information, health issues, worries, and other personal details. We need to be careful about whom we share information with. This seems like simple advice and yet problems often arise because we end up trusting the wrong person with private information.

When we work closely with someone day in and day out, we often feel the need to share personal information with him or her. And sometimes we forget to be careful and fail to use common sense. When this happens, it is not about building our friendships—it is about getting our emotional needs met. At that point, it is important to realise that we need to try therapy. A therapist’s chair is the appropriate place to share the intimate details of our lives, not the workplace. A therapy is the ‘safe’ place to open up so that we may understand ourselves better. Sometimes family members, very close friends, and/or our spiritual leader can fulfil this need. Workplace is not for getting our emotional needs met and work colleagues are not our therapists.

Caution is key

It is important to evaluate our office friendships as well as the information we share, so that sharing does not become a source of embarrassment or a liability to our employment. The nature of workplace relationships and the information we have shared can sometimes cross boundaries causing collateral problems. Revealing too much about your private life can make others see you differently. Some unscrupulous people can—and do—use that information for their own purposes. Colleagues may not care about your privacy and share the information indiscriminately with others, or may try to hurt or sabotage your position at the workplace. Even bosses take all the information they know about you into account when making hiring, firing or promotion decisions. Your personal details could seriously affect the outcome of important decisions about you and your career.

How to choose friends at work

To determine that, first we need to understand how we develop friendships. We develop friendships based on four criteria.

1. Proximity: Most friendships start because of the place the friends share. Many friendships are so superficial that the only criteria for continued interactions are close proximity such as same workplace, school, or neighbourhood.
2. Shared activities: Shared activities such as hobbies or sports are a more invested type of friendship. Work can be in this category because of the specificity of our particular job or industry and because some companies encourage team building through these activities.
3. Specific interests: Specific interests such as history, religion, music begin to take friendships down a path of commonality that prompts more closeness or depth of friendship. These interests serve to tell us a lot about the inner being of the friend that we are getting closer to.
4. Values: Shared values develop the deepest forms of friendships because they support our worldview. The deepest and most rewarding friendships have a combination of these criteria. When we evaluate our friendships at work with these criteria, it helps us choose people whom we can trust.

Depending on the depth of the relationship we can also decide which bits of personal information we can share with them. We certainly wouldn’t share our financial information with a neighbour we hardly know. So why would we share personal information with those at work who have not met the standards for a more intimate and trusting friendship? It is important to be discriminate about relationships. We have to decide our friends at the workplace.

Trust: Do unto others

Trust is key. When you trust indiscriminately, then you are bound to be hurt and disappointed. Trust only those who have proved themselves to be trustworthy. How do we develop that trust? Trust goes both ways. Are you trustworthy? Be the kind of person you would want to trust. Especially at work, avoid gossip and only say things about a person that you would be willing to say to that person’s face. Do not share secrets or break the confidence of someone who has trusted you. Only through time and successive experiences can we build a reputation of trustworthiness. Now turn the perspective around and ask yourself, “Has this person I am about to share my information with, earned my trust?”

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