I have just read the article (with great interest and not a little disappointment) in People Management Magazine: Sickness absence returns to higher levels, finds CIPD  http://aq.be/e58e75

Isn’t it about time we took the issue of employee well-being seriously? It seems to me that we are still treating it as an add on or “nice to have”.  The reality is that unless you have people who actually turn up to work well enough to be able to do their jobs you are unlikely to be as successful! It’s that simple.

I remember an analogy made of Health Care – that it was focused upon pulling people out of the river, as they floated down stream and out into the ocean. The Health Service was frantically trying to net people as they floated by, but of course, missed a lot of them. The question raised was this – “Why doesn’t someone go upstream and find out what is making them fall in in the first place?”

This question is still relevant today, although I first read this in the early 1990’s! Oh dear, things do take a while to change. But why? Going back to corporate life, there are mountains of research that tell us that healthy people work better – and that’s if you couldn’t work it out for yourself!

If you look at the examples of excellent practice carried out by organizations you will see the following going hand-in-hand:

well-being – engagement – performance – profit

May I make a small suggestion? Just as a kicking off point. Why don’t we start by giving our employees one person’s job and not three!

More on “Stop them falling in the river” to come…..

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