Slowlutions™ at Work
Employee Retention & Workplace Stress
Slowlutions may sound like a silly word, but workplace stress management can have a positive effect on employee well-being. Slowlutions™ serve as personalized, brief, no-cost wellness opportunities. Work-based Slowlutions can range from regular brief meditations in one’s office or walks around the block, to policies that encourage use of vacations, flextime and mental health days.
A New York Times survey of employed people looking for new jobs found that workplace stress played a role in 75% of the job seekers’ decisions to look for other work. Managers wishing to enhance employee retention create win-win situations by encouraging employees to regularly use Slowlutions™ – any activity, done briefly at work, that helps workers slow down from stress and revitalize themselves.
Only 51% of workers in a recent Day-Timers survey reported feeling extremely or very productive while on the job, down 32 percentage points from 1994. Since 1994, workplace technologies have changed drastically.
Name Withheld
Director of Purchasing, CA
Multi-tasking between information technologies quickly leaves workers feeling overwhelmed and like they have to strain to think creatively. Indeed, a 2004 survey by ComPsych found that 67% of employees reported high workplace stress, with feelings of fatigue and being out of control. And leaving the workplace behind is now a greater challenge as employees bring laptops and other portable technologies home with them.
When I consult with businesses on workplace Slowlutions™, I emphasize how simple most Slowlutions are, and how the return on investment is more than favorable.
Joe Colopy
CEO, Bronto Software, Inc.
After practicing Slowlutions, employees return to their tasks with cortisol and other stress hormones diminished and good-feeling endorphins on the upsurge. The result? Greater employee productivity. Enhanced morale. Employee retention.
Encouraging the use of Slowlutions has the secondary benefit of promoting trust and the atmosphere of flexibility that the newest wave of workers, the Gen Xers, have rated a ‘top 10’ essential consideration at work. In fact, in a 2005 study by Spherion, 60% of workers rated time and flexibility as very important influences on employee retention.
Workplace Stress & Managers
Slowlutions™ are a low-cost, high-yield tool for managers. Daniel Goleman, the author of Emotional Intelligence, has confirmed through his research what I believe to be a powerful Slowlutions™- based management technique; Goleman has discovered that the most effective managers use humor as a means to lead and motivate.
The appropriate use of humor, respectful listening, taking the pulse of the prevailing employee culture, clear delineation of tasks – all these are the hallmarks of good managers. All require an attentiveness and clarity of thought that no manager will achieve if he or she doesn’t take time to bring their own stress level down. Consider the following:
Scenario: A manager, rushed and upset, barely looks at an employee when flagged down by him in the hallway.
| Result: | Important cues are missed and the manager does not take in the
seriousness of what she’s being told. |
Scenario: Keyed up from a nonstop workday, a manager interrupts frequently in a meeting he is leading.
| Result: | Employees walk away feeling unheard, and confused about their next assignments. |
Scenario: Facing a deadline to choose between competing product roll-out proposals, a tense, fatigued manager is unable to apply his most rigorous, creative thought to the decision.
| Result: | The selected roll-out campaign runs into problems which could have been foreseen. |
Now, imagine that each manager had taken a brief Slowlutions™ break before the above scenarios took place. It’s easy to see that the outcomes would stand a better chance of being much more positive for the organization. A potential crisis averted. Less wasted work time due to confusion. A smoother product launch.
John W. Mallard, Jr.
President & CEO, Cardinal State Bank
In my Slowlutions Business Consulting I emphasize that imagination, creativity and the ability to relate effectively are increasingly prized because they are qualities beyond the scope of computers. Thinking outside the box and selling the resulting ideas are fundamentally hindered by workplace stress, making Slowlutions™ a necessity, not a luxury, for creative, forward-thinking businesses large and small.
Consider Slowlutions™ consulting today for your business. And read my upcoming book, The Little Book of Slowing Down, which covers business and personal Slowlutions.
Slowlutions™: The power of slowing down
to enhance quality of life and business success.