The latest survey conducted by the Scientific Institute of health insurer AOK (WIdO) highlights just how much crises impact health and performance at work. Managers and assistance programmes within companies can help.
Major life events impact the mental performance of employees. WIdO conducted a telephone survey of 2,000 workers to find out what sort of impact this has on their jobs.
One in every two respondents to the survey reported having experienced a crisis, be that an illness in the family, conflicts, divorce or the death of a close relative. 80.8% of these employees reported that this had a significant impact on their lives as a whole and on their mental and physical well-being. Two thirds reported that it also had an impact on their professional lives.
"Major events in our personal lives obviously have an impact on our mental fitness at work, too. We don't leave all our personal issues at the door when we come to work. Everyone knows that – these are issues that follow us around all day long," says Dr Hansjörg Becker, Founder and Owner of INSITE. "And this is exactly where companies can get involved and help take the strain off their employees. By giving their employees a powerful tool like an employee assistance programme so that they can regain control and boost their performance themselves."
An Employee Assistance Programmes (EAP) offers employees fast access to a professional network of advisors. Psychologists, solicitors, doctors and care advisors are all part of this network, offering their expertise to support and help users take a step back and look at their situation from the outside.
According to Helmut Schröder, editor of the Fehlzeiten-Reports (Absence Reports), the systems of support that previously existed in people's social environments will continue to decrease as mobility rises, causing changes to traditional connections. In addition, demographic change will contribute to an ageing workforce. This will inevitably lead to an increase in major life events, such as illnesses or the death of a partner. Companies that want to keep healthy and high-performing employees will therefore increasingly look at how to manage critical personal situations.
The Absence Reports list "Arranging professional external assistance" as one of the most important things a company can to do provide support – in addition to measures such as meetings with line managers.
"Managers, in particular, should make themselves aware of how they can help their employees in these tough situations. Healthy management also means broaching the subject with an employee, getting them to voice their concerns and directing them to in-house assistance programmes where necessary. This is one of the building blocks we talk about in our Healthy Management seminar", says Hansjörg Becker of INSITE.
Read more about the study and the Absence Reports 2017 here
http://aok-bv.de/presse/pressemitteilungen/2017/index_19250.html
