Be Healthy at Work

March 7, 2012

APA Announces 2012 Psychologically Healthy Workplace Award Winners and Workplace Survey Results

Half of all employees who say they do not feel valued at work report that they intend to look for a new job in the next year, according to a survey by the American Psychological Association (APA).
Conducted online among 1,714 adults between January 12 and 19, 2012 on behalf of the APA by Harris Interactive, the survey found that employees who feel valued are more likely to report better physical and mental health, as well as higher levels of engagement, satisfaction and motivation, compared to those who do not feel valued by their employers.
Almost all employees (93 percent) who reported feeling valued said that they are motivated to do their best at work and 88 percent reported feeling engaged. This compares to just 33 percent and 38 percent, respectively, of those who said they do not feel valued. Among employees who feel valued, just one in five (21 percent) said they intend to look for a new job in the next year (vs. 50 percent of those who said that they do not feel valued).
A variety of factors were linked to feeling undervalued at work, including having fewer opportunities for involvement in decision making (24 percent vs. 84 percent), being less satisfied with the potential for growth and advancement (9 percent vs. 70 percent), having fewer opportunities to use flexible work arrangements (20 percent vs. 59 percent) and being less likely to say they are receiving adequate monetary compensation (18 percent vs. 69 percent) and non-monetary rewards (16 percent vs. 65 percent). Overall, more than one in five (21 percent) working Americans said they do not feel valued by their employers.

Stress at Work

Many Americans continue to report chronic work stress, with two out of five employees (41 percent) reporting that they typically feel tense or stressed out during the workday. Commonly cited causes of work stress include low salaries (46 percent), lack of opportunities for growth or advancement (41 percent), too heavy a workload (41 percent), long hours (37 percent) and unclear job expectations (35 percent).

Psychologically Healthy Workplaces

Despite ongoing business challenges and employment issues that are clearly ripe for improvement, according to the American Psychological Association some employers have seized the opportunity to create a healthy culture where employees and the organization can thrive. In recognition of those employers who understand the link between employee well-being and organizational performance, the American Psychological Association will recognize 11 organizations at its seventh annual Psychologically Healthy Workplace Awards ceremony in Washington, DC on Saturday March 10.
The employers who will receive the American Psychological Association’s 2012 Psychologically Healthy Workplace Award are:

• Noble-Davis Consulting (Ohio)
• ReMed Recovery Care Centers (Pennsylvania)
• Certified Angus Beef (Ohio)
• College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia
• Coconino County (Arizona)

These employers reported an average turnover rate of just 11 percent in 2011 – significantly less than the national average of 36 percent, as estimated by the U.S. Department of Labor. Surveys completed by the winning organizations show that only 24 percent of employees reported experiencing chronic work stress compared to 41 percent nationally, and 80 percent of employees reported being satisfied with their job vs. 70 percent in the general population. Additionally, 78 percent of employees said they would recommend their organization to others as a good place to work compared to 63 percent, and only 14 percent said they intend to seek employment elsewhere within the next year, compared to 28 percent nationally.
“The business world is in the midst of a sea change,” says David W. Ballard, PsyD, MBA, head of APA’s Psychologically Healthy Workplace Program. “Successful organizations have learned that high performance and sustainable results require attention to the relationships among employee, organization, customer and community. Forward-thinking employers such as our 2012 award winners are taking steps to create a positive organizational culture where employees feel valued and, in turn, help drive bottom-line results.”
The Psychologically Healthy Workplace Awards are designed to recognize organizations for their efforts to foster employee well-being while enhancing organizational performance. The program has both local- and national-level components. APA’s PHWA spans North America and is designed to showcase the very best from among the winners recognized by APA’s affiliated state, provincial and territorial psychological associations.
Nominees are selected from a pool of previous local winners and evaluated on their workplace practices in the areas of employee involvement, health and safety, employee growth and development, work-life balance and employee recognition. Additional factors that are considered include employee attitudes and opinions; the role of communication in the organization; and the benefits realized in terms of both employee health and organizational performance. Awards are given to for-profit and not-for-profit organizations as well as government, military and educational institutions.

Read more about APA’s 2012 Psychologically Healthy Workplace Award winners here.

In addition to the PHWA winners, nine organizations will receive Best Practices Honors for a single program or policy that contributes to a psychologically healthy work environment and meets the unique needs of the organization and its employees. The honorees are:

• Certified Angus Beef (Ohio)
• Chimes Delaware, Newark Vocational Facility
• College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia
• Cross, Gunter, Witherspoon & Galchus (Arkansas)
• Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, Northwest (Oregon)
• Koinonia Homes (Ohio)
• Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota, LSS Financial Counseling Service
• Orion Associates (Minnesota)
• ReMed Recovery Care Centers (Pennsylvania)

Read more about APA’s 2012 Best Practices honorees here.

“The 2012 Psychologically Healthy Workplace Award winners have implemented programs and policies that enhance functioning for both employee and employer,” says Norman B. Anderson, PhD, chief executive officer of the American Psychological Association. “Their efforts demonstrate the power of a healthy work environment and prove that any type of organization can create a psychologically healthy workplace.”

Download a copy of the complete 2012 Psychologically Healthy Workplace Awards and Best Practices Honors magazine here.

About the Survey

The Stress in the Workplace survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of the American Psychological Association between January 12 and January 19, 2012 among 1,714 adults aged 18-plus who reside in the U.S. and are employed full-time or part-time or are self-employed. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.
A full methodology and more information about the 2012 PHWA winners and Best Practices honorees is available here. Organizations interested in learning more about creating a psychologically healthy workplace or applying for an award in their state, province or territory can visit www.phwa.org.

Enjoy the Spring Showers

Spring is here & I hope everyone is enjoying the unusual Spring and even Summer like weather we are having. I have been seeing more people outside lately - running, walking, cycling, and even pulling weeds. it is a great time to get outside, dust off the winter blahs and begin to see the sunshine. But, don't forget to hydrate.

What?

Yes, hydration is very important even this time of year.  You need to drink plenty of water during all of your physical activities despite the weather not being as high as those intense summer months. Here is why water works - a recent Nurses' Health Study shows an increased in hypertension among those who drink sweetened beverages - diet or regular. In a similar study, the French research institute INSERM reports that people who DON’T drink at least 2 cups of water a day are more likely to have high blood sugar - which is a risk for pre-diabetes. So, just because we are getting into warmer temperatures doesn't mean you can forget to refresh yourself with water.

 Leave the soda on the shelf in the super market, try picking up some H20. And to naturally sweeten your water try freezing fruit (grapes, berries, etc.) and then chuck those frozen blocks of fruit into your water.

And please - as you are trying to stay hydrated - consider the environment.  Please try to use reusable water bottles if you can. It saves you money, as well as, the environment. If you can't - then please recycle your plastic water bottles! Keep them out of our landfills and oceans!

According to National Geographic: 

In 1976 Americans drank an average of 1.6 gallons of bottled water every year. Roughly 30 years later consumption increased to 30 gallons per person, according to the Earth Policy Institute --- despite the fact that bottled water can cost anywhere from 240 to 10,000 times more than tap water, which is brought right to your home for pennies a gallon. Bottled water also creates its own share of pollution --- the production of plastic bottles requires millions of barrels of oil per year and the transportation of bottled water from its source to stores releases thousands of tons of carbon dioxide.

Americans drink more bottled water than any other nation, purchasing an impressive 29 billion bottles every year. Making all the plastic for those bottles uses 17 million barrels of crude oil annually. That is equivalent to the fuel needed to keep 1 million vehicles on the road for 12 months. If you were to fill one quarter of a plastic water bottle with oil, you would be looking at roughly the amount used to produce that bottle.

Recycling

The recycling rate for those 29 billion bottles of water is low; only about 13 percent end up in the recycling stream where they are turned into products like fleece clothing, carpeting, decking, playground equipment and new containers and bottles. In 2005, that meant approximately 2 million tons of water bottles ended up in U.S. landfills, according to the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Plastic bottles take centuries to decompose and if they are incinerated, toxic byproducts, such as chlorine gas and ash containing heavy metals, are released into the atmosphere.

 

Employees want more recognition, growth opportunities

Monitor Magazine - May 2011, Vol 42, No. 5, pg. 12

Although 69 percent of employees are satisfied with their jobs overall, fewer are satisfied with the recognition practices of their employer (46 percent) or opportunities for growth (44 percent), according to new data from APA’s Stress in America survey.

to see the survey in better detail go to: http://www.apa.org/monitor/2011/05/employees.aspx

How does your boss measure your character?

Monitor Magazine – In Brief

May 2011, Vol 42, No. 5, pg. 15

Bosses look more favorably upon humble, honest employees, according to Baylor University researchers. The psychologists examined supervisors’ employee ratings of 269 people working in the health-care industry at 25 different companies and surveyed the employees on a variety of personal traits. The researchers found that employees who self-reported higher levels of honesty and humility — defined in the study as showing fairness, avoiding greed and being sincere and modest — had the highest employee ratings from their supervisors. This suggests that companies should put a lot of emphasis on these traits when hiring employees, the researchers say. (Personality and Individual Differences, Vol. 50, No. 6)

What Makes You Successful?

Check out this article from the Harvard Business Review.  This article was written by Heidi Grant Halvorson, Ph.D. is a motivational psychologist and author of the HBR Single Nine Things Successful People Do Differently and the book Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals (Hudson Street Press, 2011).

Heidi discusses many of the great tools and resources which have been discussed in my blog throughout 2011 and now in 2012. What are some of the tools and resources you use to be successful? Please feel free to share your ideas and comments below!

Nine Things Successful People Do Differently

Why have you been so successful in reaching some of your goals, but not others? If you aren't sure, you are far from alone in your confusion. It turns out that even brilliant, highly accomplished people are pretty lousy when it comes to understanding why they succeed or fail. The intuitive answer — that you are born predisposed to certain talents and lacking in others — is really just one small piece of the puzzle. In fact, decades of research on achievement suggests that successful people reach their goals not simply because of who they are, but more often because of what they do.

1. Get specific. When you set yourself a goal, try to be as specific as possible. "Lose 5 pounds" is a better goal than "lose some weight," because it gives you a clear idea of what success looks like. Knowing exactly what you want to achieve keeps you motivated until you get there. Also, think about the specific actions that need to be taken to reach your goal. Just promising you'll "eat less" or "sleep more" is too vague — be clear and precise. "I'll be in bed by 10pm on weeknights" leaves no room for doubt about what you need to do, and whether or not you've actually done it.

2. Seize the moment to act on your goals. Given how busy most of us are, and how many goals we are juggling at once, it's not surprising that we routinely miss opportunities to act on a goal because we simply fail to notice them. Did you really have no time to work out today? No chance at any point to return that phone call? Achieving your goal means grabbing hold of these opportunities before they slip through your fingers.

To seize the moment, decide when and where you will take each action you want to take, in advance. Again, be as specific as possible (e.g., "If it's Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, I'll work out for 30 minutes before work.") Studies show that this kind of planning will help your brain to detect and seize the opportunity when it arises, increasing your chances of success by roughly 300%.

3. Know exactly how far you have left to go. Achieving any goal also requires honest and regular monitoring of your progress — if not by others, then by you yourself. If you don't know how well you are doing, you can't adjust your behavior or your strategies accordingly. Check your progress frequently — weekly, or even daily, depending on the goal.

4. Be a realistic optimist. When you are setting a goal, by all means engage in lots of positive thinking about how likely you are to achieve it. Believing in your ability to succeed is enormously helpful for creating and sustaining your motivation. But whatever you do, don't underestimate how difficult it will be to reach your goal. Most goals worth achieving require time, planning, effort, and persistence. Studies show that thinking things will come to you easily and effortlessly leaves you ill-prepared for the journey ahead, and significantly increases the odds of failure.

5. Focus on getting better, rather than being good. Believing you have the ability to reach your goals is important, but so is believing you can get the ability. Many of us believe that our intelligence, our personality, and our physical aptitudes are fixed — that no matter what we do, we won't improve. As a result, we focus on goals that are all about proving ourselves, rather than developing and acquiring new skills.

Fortunately, decades of research suggest that the belief in fixed ability is completely wrong — abilities of all kinds are profoundly malleable. Embracing the fact that you can change will allow you to make better choices, and reach your fullest potential. People whose goals are about getting better, rather than being good, take difficulty in stride, and appreciate the journey as much as the destination.

6. Have grit. Grit is a willingness to commit to long-term goals, and to persist in the face of difficulty. Studies show that gritty people obtain more education in their lifetime, and earn higher college GPAs. Grit predicts which cadets will stick out their first grueling year at West Point. In fact, grit even predicts which round contestants will make it to at the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

The good news is, if you aren't particularly gritty now, there is something you can do about it. People who lack grit more often than not believe that they just don't have the innate abilities successful people have. If that describes your own thinking .... well, there's no way to put this nicely: you are wrong. As I mentioned earlier, effort, planning, persistence, and good strategies are what it really takes to succeed. Embracing this knowledge will not only help you see yourself and your goals more accurately, but also do wonders for your grit.

7. Build your willpower muscle. Your self-control "muscle" is just like the other muscles in your body — when it doesn't get much exercise, it becomes weaker over time. But when you give it regular workouts by putting it to good use, it will grow stronger and stronger, and better able to help you successfully reach your goals.

To build willpower, take on a challenge that requires you to do something you'd honestly rather not do. Give up high-fat snacks, do 100 sit-ups a day, stand up straight when you catch yourself slouching, try to learn a new skill. When you find yourself wanting to give in, give up, or just not bother — don't. Start with just one activity, and make a plan for how you will deal with troubles when they occur ("If I have a craving for a snack, I will eat one piece of fresh or three pieces of dried fruit.") It will be hard in the beginning, but it will get easier, and that's the whole point. As your strength grows, you can take on more challenges and step-up your self-control workout.

8. Don't tempt fate. No matter how strong your willpower muscle becomes, it's important to always respect the fact that it is limited, and if you overtax it you will temporarily run out of steam. Don't try to take on two challenging tasks at once, if you can help it (like quitting smoking and dieting at the same time). And don't put yourself in harm's way — many people are overly-confident in their ability to resist temptation, and as a result they put themselves in situations where temptations abound. Successful people know not to make reaching a goal harder than it already is.

9. Focus on what you will do, not what you won't do. Do you want to successfully lose weight, quit smoking, or put a lid on your bad temper? Then plan how you will replace bad habits with good ones, rather than focusing only on the bad habits themselves. Research on thought suppression (e.g., "Don't think about white bears!") has shown that trying to avoid a thought makes it even more active in your mind. The same holds true when it comes to behavior — by trying not to engage in a bad habit, our habits get strengthened rather than broken.

If you want to change your ways, ask yourself, What will I do instead? For example, if you are trying to gain control of your temper and stop flying off the handle, you might make a plan like "If I am starting to feel angry, then I will take three deep breaths to calm down." By using deep breathing as a replacement for giving in to your anger, your bad habit will get worn away over time until it disappears completely.

It is my hope that, after reading about the nine things successful people do differently, you have gained some insight into all the things you have been doing right all along. Even more important, I hope are able to identify the mistakes that have derailed you, and use that knowledge to your advantage from now on. Remember, you don't need to become a different person to become a more successful one. It's never what you are, but what you do.

Heidi Grant Halvorson, Ph.D. is a motivational psychologist, and author of the new book Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goal (Hudson Street Press, 2011). She is also an expert blogger on motivation and leadership for Fast Company and Psychology Today. 

The Color of Food

What Color Veggie is Best for You?

Now that we are all over the chocolate coma from Valentine ’s Day, it’s time to get back on track with our daily food routine. I’m sure you’ve all heard that it is good to ‘eat the rainbow’. Well, that’s true to a degree. Yes, eating the colorful foods are the most nutritious. But, don’t leave out the pale foods either. White fruits and vegetables can provide protection again stroke. According to researchers recently published in the journal Stroke – people who eat the most white fruits and veggies have the lowest risk of stroke.  Apples, pears, and those fruits and veggies with skins that are rick in protective flavonoid quercetin are just as good as the other colors of the rainbow.

Now cruciferous vegetables – like kale – seem to enhance the function of the immune cells in our skin and stomach. According to the journal Cell, this is particularly important because it’s the cells – especially the ones in the skin – that form the body’s first line of defense against germs that cause cold and flu symptoms.  And since Punxsutawney Phil says winter is still upon us for several more weeks, trying to fight or avoid the flu and cold symptoms typically becomes paramount this time of year.  Aside from adding anti-bacterial hand wash to our daily routine, add some more greens to your daily meal plan.

Go green to fight the flu and add a little more white fruits and veggies to lower your risk of stroke. See, colors do make a difference in our life. Your elementary art teacher was truly onto something!

Health & Black History Month

Looking at Our Health from a Different Cultural Perspective

African American women have the highest obesity rates in the USA. But, there is some good news to this fact – they also have very strong friendships.  Prime Time Sister Circles use this close bond to help fight the weight issues.  The health-focused groups meet weekly so women can cheer one another toward better habits. Within 3 months, weight loss averages were around 6 pounds and hypertension dropped nearly 50%!! Next up: Women’s Circles for all races. Got to www.gastonandporter.org to learn more.

Talk to you friends or even set-up your own “Meet-up” group to help fight obesity and the diseases that are a result of weight gain (hypertension, Type II diabetes, high cholesterol, depression, and more…) in your neck of the woods.

Another good thing about these groups – they help you to work at your own pace. New research from Penn State University shows that women who exercise at a moderate intensity are more likely to benefit in the long run. Researchers compared groups of women who exercised at various paces.  Women who exercised at a more moderate pace were about twice as likely to feel energized and confident about exercising regularly vs. women who exercised at a more vigorous or intense pace. The upshot: the most effective workout is the one you’ll do for the long haul.

So, maybe skip to coffee break at 3pm and get a group of ladies together to just walk around the block, climb a few stair cases, or do some sort of moderate activity to get that heart pumping!

Performance Article from the Harvard Bussiness Review

Check out this great article from the Harvard Business Review (online - http://hbr.org/2012/01/creating-sustainable-performance/ar/1)

Creating Sustainable Performance

Creating Sustainable Performanby Gretchen Spreitzer and Christine Porath

Idea in Brief
Research has shown that managers can take four measures to help employees thrive at work. All four are necessary to promote a culture of vitality and learning. Provide decision-making discretion. Facebook employees are encouraged to “move fast and break things”—they have lots of leeway to solve problems on their own. Share information.Workers at Zingerman’s restaurants—right down to the busboys—get up-to-the-minute feedback on every aspect of the business, from customer satisfaction ratings to the number of dirty mugs in the sink. Minimize incivility. Leaders at Caiman Consulting attribute the firm’s 95% retention rate to a culture in which background checks look for a reputation for civility. Offer performance feedback.The mortgage finance company Quicken Loans has dashboards showing continually updated data on individual and team performance against When the economy’s in terrible shape, when any of us is lucky to have a job—let alone one that’s financially and intellectually rewarding—worrying about whether or not your employees are happy might seem a little over the top. But in our research into what makes for a consistently high-performing workforce, we’ve found good reason to care: Happy employees produce more than unhappy ones over the long term. They routinely show up at work, they’re less likely to quit, they go above and beyond the call of duty, and they attract people who are just as committed to the job. Moreover, they’re not sprinters; they’re more like marathon runners, in it for the long haul.

So what does it mean to be happy in your job? It’s not about contentment, which connotes a degree of complacency. When we and our research partners at the Ross School of Business’s Center for Positive Organizational Scholarship started looking into the factors involved in sustainable individual and organizational performance, we found a better word: thriving. We think of a thriving workforce as one in which employees are not just satisfied and productive but also engaged in creating the future—the company’s and their own. Thriving employees have a bit of an edge—they are highly energized—but they know how to avoid burnout.

Thriving employees are highly energized, but they know how to avoid burnout.Across industries and job types, we found that people who fit our description of thriving demonstrated 16% better overall performance (as reported by their managers) and 125% less burnout (self-­reported) than their peers. They were 32% more committed to the organization and 46% more satisfied with their jobs. They also missed much less work and reported significantly fewer doctor visits, which meant health care savings and less lost time for the company.

We’ve identified two components of thriving. The first is vitality: the sense of being alive, passionate, and excited. Employees who experience vitality spark energy in themselves and others. Companies generate vitality by giving people the sense that what they do on a daily basis makes a difference.

The second component is learning: the growth that comes from gaining new knowledge and skills. Learning can bestow a technical advantage and status as an expert. Learning can also set in motion a virtuous cycle: People who are developing their abilities are likely to believe in their potential for further growth.

The two qualities work in concert; one without the other is unlikely to be sustainable and may even damage performance. Learning, for instance, creates momentum for a time, but without passion it can lead to burnout. What will I do with what I’ve learned? Why should I stick with this job? Vitality alone—even when you love the kudos you get for delivering results—can be deadening: When the work doesn’t give you opportunities to learn, it’s just the same thing over and over again.

The combination of vitality and learning leads to employees who deliver results and find ways to grow. Their work is rewarding not just because they successfully perform what’s expected of them today but also because they have a sense of where they and the company are headed. In short, they are thriving, and the energy they create is contagious.

Over the past seven years, we have been researching the nature of thriving in the workplace and the factors that enhance or inhibit it. Across several studies with our colleagues Cristina Gibson and Flannery Garnett, we surveyed or interviewed more than 1,200 white- and blue-collar employees in an array of industries, including higher education, health care, financial services, maritime, energy, and manufacturing. We also studied metrics reflecting energy, learning, and growth, based on information supplied by employees and bosses, along with retention rates, health, overall job performance, and organizational citizenship behaviors.

We developed a definition of thriving that breaks the concept into two factors: vitality—the sense that you’re energized and alive; and learning—the gaining of knowledge and skills. When you put the two together, the statistics are striking. For example, people who were high energy and high learning were 21% more effective as leaders than those who were only high energy. The outcomes on one measure in particular—health—were even more extreme. Those who were high energy and low learning were 54% worse when it came to health than those who were high in boHow Organizations Can Help Employees Thrive

Some employees thrive no matter the context. They naturally build vitality and learning into their jobs, and they inspire the people around them. A smart hiring manager will look for those people. But most employees are influenced by their environment. Even those predisposed to flourish can fold under pressure.

Idea in Brief

Research has shown that managers can take four measures to help employees thrive at work. All four are necessary to promote a culture of vitality and learning.

Provide decision-making discretion.

Facebook employees are encouraged to “move fast and break things”—they have lots of leeway to solve problems on their own.

Share information.

Workers at Zingerman’s restaurants—right down to the busboys—get up-to-the-minute feedback on every aspect of the business, from customer satisfaction ratings to the number of dirty mugs in the sink.

Minimize incivility.

Leaders at Caiman Consulting attribute the firm’s 95% retention rate to a culture in which background checks look for a reputation for civility.

Offer performance feedback.

The mortgage finance company Quicken Loans has dashboards showing continually updated data on individual and team performance against goals

Gretchen Spreitzer is a professor of management and organizations at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. Christine Porath is an assistant professor at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.