Stressed out
by Glenn RittHow we balance work and home can determine a business’ bottom line. Dr. John Allen clearly loves his work, but he is staggered by statistics he recently encountered that place him very much in the minority. A Gallup Poll found that less than three in 10 workers nationwide really enjoy their jobs.
The implication for productivity is apparent, said the Sandwich health psychologist. But what truly fascinates him is a major cause for such dissatisfaction – the imbalance between work and home.
Gallup found that 90 percent of employees polled consider work/life benefits as important to them as health insurance. Six of 10 employees surveyed by the Work/Family Directions Study said the key reason they accepted their current position was its effect on their personal and family life.
Louis Harris and Associates found that people who feel their work/life balance has improved over the last five years are more satisfied on the job, have more loyalty toward their employer and are more trusting of the company.
Each finding impacts employee retention, said Allen, a conviction shared by dozens of other human resources managers, consultants and health experts interviewed by Cape Business.
The work/life balance is no less important on Cape Cod than anyplace else, from New York City to Chicago to Los Angeles, they said. In some ways, it may be even more critical here for several reasons:
It is harder to recruit good employees on the Cape because of the high cost of housing and our relatively lower pay scales.
Fewer businesses, on average, can afford full-scale health insurance benefits here, making it even more important to respect employees’ pressures at home.
Most young families must hold at least two jobs – and sometimes more – to afford the Cape, creating major stress to coordinate schedules.
Day-care services are scarce and often too expensive, especially for single-parent households. It may come as a surprise to many that Cape Cod has the largest percentage of single heads of households in the entire state, said Bill Cole, human resources director for the town of Barnstable.
Older workers increasingly will be in demand to make up for younger employees leaving the Cape because of high housing prices. They will seek more flexibility at work to accommodate their semi-retired lifestyles.
“The days are gone when you could expect employees to make the job their highest priority and plan the rest of their lives around their work,” said Bob Lenburg, president of Human Resources Group, a Madison, Wis., consultancy. “Conversely, employers who don’t adjust to this new reality may find themselves on the short end of attracting talented people,” he warned.
His conclusion was strongly echoed by a panel of human resources managers representing Cape businesses ranging across health care, town government, banking, insurance, technology and transportation.
“The Cape is no longer laid-back,” said Tom Dennison, general manager of Shepley Wood Products, whose position includes human resources duties. “There is less of a gap between work and home than ever before.”
The panel identified several key strategies employers could implement at little to no cost.
It begins with open communications between employer and employee, with attention paid to how the business’ priorities mesh with the workers’ priorities.
“I think the best way to begin a ‘family-friendly’ environment is to institute an Employee Assistance Program,” said Carole Aimone, vice president of human resources for Rogers & Gray Insurance Agency. This independent referral source tells employees the company really cares about pressures often emanating from home, not work.
“Be flexible,” advised Pat Archambault, vice president of human resources for Cape Cod Cooperative Bank. That sounds simple, but it means listening to an employee’s needs or taking the time to observe behavior that suggests stress. Flexible scheduling allows workers to vary the times they begin and end their day. Nationwide, this practice is very much on the rise, nearly doubling over six years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Many on the panel identified reduced workweeks and job sharing, which together can accommodate the lives of two productive employees – each with extensive pressures and responsibilities at home.
This arrangement is different from two part-time jobs; it is a single position shared by two equally skilled employees that often creates productivity exceeding that of a single worker.
They also encouraged telecommuting, which is increasingly possible with the rapid expansion of DSL, wireless Internet and cable modem installations across the Cape. There may be as many as 130 million teleworkers worldwide, according to some estimates. They include those who work at home two to three days a week or others allowed to do so because of special, short-term circumstances such as a sick child or a blizzard that forces school to close for a week.
Other cost-effective strategies identified by the panel include:
Establishing wellness programs that include chiropractic visits, health fairs, subsidies to join health clubs, in-office seminars and massage treatments.
Celebrating employees. “You can recognize them in ways that are very cost-effective,” said Aimone. “Give them movie tickets, bring in lunch to the office, give out telephone or gas cards.” It contributes to a workplace that is more fun and less stressful.
Emphasizing time management techniques. Rogers & Gray encourages managers to make a priority list each day and tackle the most important items.
In addition, some employers are looking to establish day-care services for their employees. Others are experimenting with time-saving benefits and concierge services such as picking up dry cleaning at the office, creating workout facilities or offering health club memberships – all to alleviate the pressure of family responsibilities and allow employees to better focus on work.
In many cases, small businesses can earn a reputation for being family-friendly by maintaining an open attitude, said Lenburg. Allow employees to cover for each other during children’s dentist appointments and other personal needs as long as they can do so equitably. Offer an understanding nod when your employee’s son needs to hang out near dad’s desk for a half-hour until another caregiver can swing by to pick him up.
“You don’t have to make some national list of 100 best employers to be recognized as a family-friendly workplace,” Lenburg said.
Ignoring the problem at the risk of your bottom line
Viewing home life as something separate from work is burying your head in the sand. A study by Northwestern National Life Insurance Company found that seven of 10 workers reported that stress decreased productivity, provoked health problems and caused missed days of work. Seven in 10 workers experienced three or more stress-related illnesses somewhat or very often.
The U.S. Department of Labor has found that 75 percent of employees with children under the age of 18 tended to family issues during work hours. Elder-care issues often require similar attention.
Other studies show that one-third of working mothers with children under 12 had a sick child within the last three months. Half of them stayed home to care for the child; the other half came to work worried and unfocused. A Bureau of National Affairs survey that found two-thirds of respondents with elder-care responsibilities reported feeling exhausted at work because of caregiver duties at home.
Addressing these problems at work may take time and money, but study after study confirms that the benefits to a business outweigh the costs. DuPont, for example, found that among 18,000 employees, those using stress-management programs to balance home and work were 45 percent more likely to “go the extra mile” to ensure the company’s success than those not using the programs.
Work-family conflict increases the likelihood an employee may quit, report many human resources directors on the Cape and beyond. That can be very costly – as much as 150 percent to 200 percent of the departing employee’s salary.
The irony, said RHCI’s Allen, is that small business owners are sometimes so stressed themselves that they do not have time to worry about their employees’ work/life balance. Or they rationalize the situation, saying that if the boss can handle stress, so can the workers.
But that will come back to haunt the bottom line. A national survey by Prevention magazine reported that 75 percent to 90 percent of all visits to primary care physicians are for stress-related problems, with three of every four people experiencing “great stress” at least one day a week. Those visits contribute to the high cost of health insurance premiums.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics have researched how much time is lost at the workplace due to employees missing work to deal with stress and anxiety disorders.
The median number of days away from work for anxiety, stress and neurotic disorders was 25 – substantially greater than the median of six for all nonfatal injury and illness cases.
Employees under age 45 accounted for the majority of cases. Workers aged 25 to 34 accounted for 25.5 percent of the cases, and workers aged 35 to 44 accounted for 28.2 percent.
Female employees accounted for the majority of anxiety, stress and neurotic disorder cases during a 10-year period.
Technical, sales and administrative support along with managerial and professional specialty occupations constituted 63.5 percent of anxiety, stress and neurotic disorder cases.
A two-way street
What do Cape Codders want from their workplace? Allen has developed a list of five key factors: A level of pay and benefits that values the job, a good boss, collegiality among co-workers, an ability to feel part of the business and a chance to participate in the community through work.
Each of these elements contributes to the balance between work and home and tends to alleviate stress, he said. “People need to feel some creative outlet at work. They need to be recognized for their skill or talent. They don’t want to have to punch the clock, and they prefer flexibility.”
The employer must understand that employees who feel good about their work represent the number one resource of the business, Allen emphasized. “That human talent will make or break the company.”
At the same time, the burden to address stress is “not just the responsibility of the employer,” he said. Workers must take responsibility too, and “be proactive and tackle our own stressors.”
Allen is among a growing number of health-care professionals who believe two trends are contributing to mounting stress and the growing challenge of balancing home and work. They are the Cape’s dramatic population increase and the revolutionary advent of technology.
“Just because you may have moved to the Cape from Boston or New York doesn’t mean you have left your old habits behind,” he said. “Not only is it likely you will get caught up in the same pace of life you experienced elsewhere, but you may influence others who have lived here a long time to try to keep up with you.”
Add to that the ability – and temptation – to connect to the Internet at high speeds and conduct work by cell phone anytime, anywhere, and the old balances break down.
“Sometimes, you just have to shut it all off – the phones, the computer – and go to the beach, literally or figuratively,” said Allen, who maintains his own perspective of the business world by dealing so intimately with the lives of Cape Codders whose worlds have suddenly been stolen by accident or illness.
“Every day I work with stroke or heart attack victims who say, ‘I wish I had more time to spend with my family.’ They never talk about dollars or promotions.”
Glenn Ritt Glenn Ritt is editor and co-publisher of Cape Business Publishing LLC. He is the former publisher of Cape Cod Community Newspapers and editor of The Bergen Record in New Jersey. 
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