It’s back to work – but are you really there?

After the holiday break it can be challenging to settle back into a work routine. Clive Leach stresses the importance of balancing both wellbeing and engagement for sustainable success in work and study.

It’s the New Year, and most of us are back to work and school starts again soon. We have hopefully got through the 6th January ‘blue Monday’ – apparently the most depressing day of the year, when a combination of holiday aftermath, worry over debt, already failed New Year’s resolutions and a general lack of motivation all conspire to undermine our sense of purpose and wellbeing.

Perhaps then this is a good time to think about how engaged we really are in our working lives. Looking around we see everyone back in, but is everybody really there?

If we believe the wealth of recent research on employee engagement the answer is probably that only about 3 out of 10 people really are ‘present’ and fully engaged at work. The chances are that of the seven who remain, two are actively disengaged, creating negativity and potentially dragging the organisation backwards; whilst the other five may be spending time ruminating about the sad state of the world, worrying about impending cuts or organisational change, or plodding along daydreaming about a preferred future rather than being positively focussed on the tasks, challenges and opportunities at hand.

These alarming figures mean that 70% of employees may not be as productive as they could be. Similar principles apply in many schools and colleges for both teachers and students.

Now, don’t forget that this is about the people who are actually AT work or school. The costs of absenteeism through stress and general ill-health are widely known and addressed in HR policies and education strategies. But absenteeism is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to lost productivity or impact on academic results. What we are looking at here is PRESENTEEISM which is 1.5 times more prevalent than absenteeism and at much greater cost.

Presenteeism is the lack of active engagement by employees (or students) through being at work or school when physically sick, experiencing mental stress such as work or study related worry, anxiety, conflict, lack of control or fear of job loss, dealing personal issues and concerns, boredom, lack of purpose, goal focus or effort.

But presenteeism is NOT just about people worrying about their problems or spending too much time on Facebook.

Many employees and students appear fully engaged and they have enormous loyalty to their schools, organisations, staff and customers. They are passionate about their work or study and may consistently put in extra hours, even when they are sick and really need to rest. The constant attention to work email and internet outside of hours is a real problem for high flyers. Some people genuinely believe they are indispensable and that their organisation cannot function without them. This can all have serious impact upon the individuals’ mental and physical health, their family and social relationships and their overall quality of life.

Above is an example of ‘unstable’ engagement. It takes place in the absence of wellbeing and results in eventual burnout, serious underperformance, increased presenteeism and high turnover or dropout. So to tackle presenteeism, organisations need to focus on how to develop sustainable ongoing engagement. Research shows this only takes place when there is an equal focus on engagement and wellbeing.

The good news is that there are increasing numbers of success stories where employees and students’ lives have been transformed. From local councils, state and independent schools to government departments and multi-national corporations, organisations are benefiting from significant increases in civic pride, productivity, academic performance, profitability, quality of service delivery and customer or client satisfaction.

As a coach I’m grateful to be working with key players within the corporate, government and education sectors to raise awareness of wellbeing and engagement strategies amongst executives and managers to shake off the ‘soft and fluffy image’ and demonstrate the evidence-base. Practical positive psychology based interventions, including strengths assessments and coaching are being used to increase wellbeing and build resilience in leadership teams, managers, teachers and students so they can focus on their strengths, build positive relationships and sense of purpose and become better able to deal with the inevitable change and challenges work, study and life bring.

The ‘Well-being & Engagement Framework’ devised by Tony Grant at the University of Sydney Coaching Psychology Unit now underpins all my work. It’s a great eye opener for people. I know from personal experience and from my work as a coach that whether you are a leader, executive, head teacher, parent or student, understanding the need to build and balance the ability to be highly engaged, stretched and challenged with the capacity to look after yourself really is the key to living a successful and flourishing life. Make 2014 the year you get the balance right!