A. Coaching is partnering with clients in
a thought-provoking and creative process that
inspires them to maximize their personal and
professional potential. Professional coaches provide an ongoing
partnership designed to help clients produce
fulfilling results in their personal and
professional lives. Coaches help people improve
their performances and enhance the quality of
their lives. Coaches are trained to listen, to observe
and to customize their approach to individual
client needs. They seek to elicit solutions and
strategies from the client; they believe the
client is naturally creative and resourceful.
The coach’s job is to provide support to enhance
the skills, resources, and creativity that the
client already has.
Q.
What is presenteeism? A. Presenteeism
is defined as lost productivity that occurs when
employees come to work sick, injured, stressed
or burned-out there is a drain on productivity
and affects more than the individual. It may be
a bigger issue for businesses than absenteeism.
The workers may be contagious and spread to
others having a negative domino effect.
There is a second layer to presenteeism.
Workers that feel pressure to perform because of
job insecurity put in extra hours and in the end
they sabotage themselves with losing their
health and not producing to the level that they
are striving for. Research conducted at the Cornell
Institute for Health and Productivity Studies
estimates that on-the-job productivity losses
from presenteeism may be as high as 60 percent
of the total cost of worker illness. Those
conditions leading to the most significant
productivity losses include:
Headaches
Allergies
Arthritis
Asthma
Diabetes
Mental health issues
Caregiving for those who are ill
In a 1999 MetLife Healthcare The expenses
associated with these types of productivity
losses surpass medical costs in general in some
instances. While not going to work for one or
two days when ill may seem initially like a
significant impediment to “getting the job
done,”examination of the costs associated with
this behavior highlights the benefit of rest and
self-care to minimize exacerbation of symptoms
and passing illness on to others. Work-sites
that offer on-site medical care and educate
their employees on self-care measures may
minimize the impact of presenteeism thereby
enhancing productivity.
Q.
What is presenteeism costing my
company? A. It is estimated that
presenteeism costs companies $150 billion
annually.
In 1999, the Employers Health Coalition
of Tampa, Fla. analyzed 17 diseases and found
that lost productivity from presenteeism was 7.5
times greater than productivity loss from
absenteeism. For specific problems, like
allergies, arthritis, heart disease,
hypertension, migraines, and neck or back pain,
the ratio was more than 15 to
1.
Q.
Why do people come to work sick
anyway? A. Many employees do not have
paid sick days and they cannot afford to miss
the day of work. Others feel to pressured to
miss a day of work.
Q.
Is there a cure for presenteeism? A.
Yes, there is an array of steps a company can
take to alleviate the problem and stop the drain
of dollars.
Assess what is the issue
Bring in professionals to assist
staff
Have a health fair to address many of the
health issues that are present
Invest in health initiatives and increase
productivity potentially increasing profits by
10%
Q.
What is consulting? A.
Consulting-brings specialized expertise and very
often sets the agenda for the relationship.
Gathers information to come up with
recommendations.
Q.
What is a health fair? A. A health
fair is an event that includes brief table topic
talks, brief employee health assessments, blood
pressure screenings, and more. The health fair
is a proven way to determine employee interest
in various wellness topics and to create
excitement and enrollment.
Q.
What are the outcomes of a wellness
program? A. Many. some are tangible
and obvious, others are intangible and not as
clear to recognize. However, healthy employees
benefit your company in many ways
Decrease in corporate costs
Decrease in health care costs
Increase in productivity
Increase in profitability
Retention of good employees
Q.
How does stress affect my organization?
A. A stressed employee will not work
to their potential and their productivity will
be down. Approximately 80% of Doctors visits are
stress related. If not handled it will increase
your companies health care costs on a continual
basis.
