Looking for more productivity out of your employees? Be flexible, according to a British study that found that holding workers to a fixed 9-to-5 routine does little to enhance their physical or mental health. By allowing employees to telecommute, offering them flex-time and occasional work-from-home opportunities, managers should get more and better work out of their staff, concluded the study performed at England’s Durham University.

 

“More flexibility in work schedules has the potential to promote healthier workplaces and improve work practices,” notes study co-author Clare Bambra, who studied close to 16,000 people who had flexible work environments. Workplace stress, the researchers noted, was tied to conditions like depression, hypertension, anxiety and even heart disease, and could exacerbate health conditions for employees. Less control — and a little more freedom — ultimately was good for people and the companies they worked for, determined the study, which included data from workers not only in the United States but also the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Denmark, Finland and Australia.

 

“Flexible working initiatives, which equip the worker with more choice or control, such as self-scheduling of work hours or gradual or phased retirement are likely to have positive effects on health and well-being,” Bambra said on the website medguru.com.

 

 

Workplace wellness programs may have long-lasting health impact

Considering a workplace wellness program designed to help employees get fit and improve their health? For those who are overweight and struggling, the benefits of such a diet and exercise program are long-lasting, adding a boost to companies where healthier employees add to a healthier bottom line, according to findings presented at the American Heart Association’s 2010 Conference on Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism in San Francisco.

Research from Massachusetts General Hospital, tracking more than 700 participants, found that a year after such a company wellness program was implemented, those employees who had followed an initial three-month diet and exercise plan had lowered their blood pressure and cholesterol levels significantly. Body mass indexes, which measure levels of body fat and obesity, also fell for those who had joined the program.

 

 

Let them tweet, surf, friend and post While most managers don’t want employees surfing the Web during work, limiting access to social media doesn’t necessarily help employees be more productive.   Research on this emerging area of office protocol is not wholly conclusive, however. While one survey from Nucleus Research found that having access to Facebook and MySpace, for example, cut employee productivity by 1.5 percent, another study suggests that social networking online, in small doses, gives workers a welcome break and thus improves their well-being and desire to get things done.   Professor Brent Coker of the University of Melbourne in Australia studied 300 workers and determined that those employees who took small breaks were 9 percent more productive on the job.   “It gives them a chance to reset their concentration,” Coker said.   Other studies have found that some workers believe social networking sites provide valuable access points to network with colleagues and business associates, allowing them to better communicate on the job. According to the Nucleus study, nearly half of all employees access Facebook daily while on the job.   But a word of warning for heavy surfers: Be careful what personal details are posted to sites like Twitter, where flippant comments can get workers into hot water. Employers and colleagues “following” your tweets —“up all night partying, skipping work,” for example — now have evidence that could be used against those whose cyber-posts expose questionable behaviors. Those with social networking accounts need to be mindful that co-workers and even bosses may also be “friends” monitoring their sites. Team spirit: Office sports pools allow employees to ‘exercize their camaraderie’ A story published in Florida’s Tampa Tribune suggests that “March Madness” is good for office morale, allowing employees to engage with each other in an atmosphere of camaraderie focused on teams.   About 35 million Americans like to join office sports polls, according to research by Nielsen Media. While it might seem like a distraction, allowing it in moderation seems to be a good thing, at least one management consultant told the Tribune.   “Even though workers wasting work time on March Madness could cost the nation’s employers as much as $1.8 billion during the first week of the tournament alone, it’s only a blip on the total productivity radar,” John Challenger of Challenger, Gray & Christmas said.   “In this economy, when many employees are under stress over fear of losing their jobs, this annual little distraction outweighs any potential negatives,” Challenger argued.   “The workplace has changed, and with downsizing and employees coming and going more frequently, there are fewer opportunities for bonding. Getting workers engaged is worth all the money lost during March Madness,” he said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Millennials expect more money, vacation

Hiring and managing Millennial-generation employees may be a different ballgame than dealing with workers from the Baby Boom era or even Generation X. Millennials value vacation time and money far more than previous generations, a disconnect from those born decades earlier where work-life ethic had more focus.

 

According to the Associated Press, those born in the early 1980s and later put a higher focus on time spent away from work than their older counterparts. They value jobs more for the money they earn and where it can take them up the corporate ladder, rather than opportunities to learn new skills.

 

San Diego State University psychology Professor Jean Twenge, in a report published in the Journal of Management, analyzed generational differences in work attitudes. She told the AP that while younger employees had high personal expectations for on-the-job perks, most were running into the wall of economic reality as the sagging economy has limited job opportunities and reduced salaries and benefits.

 

“High expectations are colliding with reality and leading to a lot of disappointment and dissatisfaction,” she said.

 

But contrary to some media accounts, a joint study released in March from Michigan State University and the University of Western Ontario contradicts the impression that today’s new and youthful job seekers are slackers. Don’t call them Generation E — for entitlement. A three-decade scientific analysis of close to a half-million high school seniors, published in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science by MSU’s Bren Donnellan and UWO’s Kali Trzesniewski, found that youth are just as happy and satisfied — and no more egotistical — than their older peers. Their study contradicts reports that suggest Millennials are spoiled and self-indulgent.

 

“We concluded that, more often than not, kids these days are about the same as they were back in the mid-1970s,” MSU’s Donnellan said. “Kids today are like they were 30 years ago — they’re trying to find their place in the world, they’re trying to carve out an identity, and it can be difficult,” he added. “But lots of research shows that the stereotypes of all groups are much more overdrawn than the reality.”

 

Andrea Billups is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in People Magazine, Readers Digest and The Washington Times.