The second part on how workplace issues can be costing you, in terms
of productivity and health. What really resonated with me in reading the
Yahoo! Personal Finance article was that the cost of bad workplace
situations doesn’t rest with the individual alone, it can cost the
business huge amounts of money. So the following instances are ones a
business would do well to address, as well as individual employees.
Workplace Incivility
Hospitality is a fast-paced, sometimes stressful industry. It’s not
unusual for someone to get a bit snappy during the really busy parts of
the day, only to revert to their normal selves when things quieten down.
It’s a fine line between the occasional venting of stress, which you
can forgive, and people who are unable to remain civil and professional.
Confrontation in a workplace, as opposed to a calm discussion, can be
like poison. Productivity lowers, morale takes a hit. Research has shown
that those kinds of tensions in a workplace have been estimated to cost
US businesses $300 billion per annum in lost productivity.
Ouch
I used never to think of workplace injury, except within the manual
labour industries. Then I started my first full-time office job, and
within a couple of months, I was drowning in headaches and consequent
lethargy. For so long, it was just one of those things, a bad patch. I
didn’t even associate it with work, until I one day happened to notice
my chair. The thing barely held together, let alone provided any support
for the 40+ hours a week I was sitting on it. I certainly lost
productivity on those days. Repetitive stress injuries and chronic pain
are as present in office jobs as in any other industry. Talk to your
boss about proper ergonomic equipment, maybe even look up some exercises
you can do to minimise RSI. They should take notice- after all, its
just a workplace compensation preventative.
The Firing Line
Times are without a doubt a bit tight. In my town, people have
started losing their part-time jobs and, if things continue this way,
full-time work might take a hit as well. For people left behind after a
round of layoffs, there’s no sigh of relief. Research shows it’s viewed
as a temporary reprieve, as opposed to a long-term endorsement of their
job security. And instead of overperforming, nihilism sets in and we do
the least possible on the job. Strategies could include discussing the
problem with your boss, or thinking of new ways to make yourself
indispensable at your place of employment.
Shift It
Shift work does terrible things to the body. It rearranges all of
your patterns- I know people who haven’t worked shift work in years who
still don’t sleep regularly. It alters your metabolism, putting you at a
heightened risk of diseases like diabetes. All that said, for a lot of
people, shift work is the nature of the beast. It is your job. The only
strategies I could think of is to insist on regular shifts- life becomes
far easier to cope with if there are routines. Similarly, insist that
you have one day off where you haven’t worked a shift the night before; a
common complaint is that you tend to sleep away all your time off, and
it’s important to get a chance to spend time on you and with your loved
ones.
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