Work-Life-Balance & Stress Management as Organisational Task - Corporate Health Management for People & Organisations

Under the term corporate Health Management many organisations are trying to tackle topics like health, stress management, prevention and self-leadership of staff. This has a good reason, as we live in a time of burnout and higher stress levels in our daily work.

While we appreciate that these topics are gaining attention on an individual level, we want to redirect your attention higher up, to a birds-eye view to look at organisational health. As in the long run it won’t help to work on the symptoms while neglecting the causes.

Many corporations see themselves facing a higher competitive pressure. It becomes increasingly important to achieve more in less time. Next to optimising processes it is expected that the people in organisations become faster and more efficient. Unfortunately, this often happens beyond personal boundaries. And many employees will try and hold out rising demands and achieve more in less time.

But how is this actually possible? Why can’t people simply stay within a work rhythm and pace which can keep them healthy in the long run? In our organisations, we repeat behavioural patterns that we bring along from our own family contexts. If people have incorporated a high level of loyalty at home, they will also be loyal to their companies. When they have learnt to define their value through achievements (e.g. when they were rewarded for good marks in school and punished for bad ones) they may also want to be acknowledged for achievements in their organisations. This becomes critical when the performance pressure won’t ease over time and individuals start to overstep their own boundaries. Generally, our organism is responsible for making us aware of such situations that exhaust us. But some of us have become masters of neglecting physical and emotional symptoms. Constant headaches are ignored and sleep disorders accepted.

This ability to endure is very important in situations of danger and crises – but it is not meant for the long run. If we continue, our organism will at some stage pull the emergency brake and we get seriously ill.

So what can organisations do to avoid this? Create healthy work conditions! And how will you still remain competitive? Maybe it is time to let go of old mind-sets. Healthy and happy colleagues are more productive and creative in the long run. There are no standard solutions. Every organization will find its own possibilities and solutions for a healthy leadership and cooperation. We believe, it is important to let the employees decide what is possible for them in their current life situation and how they can best contribute their strengths and competences. And this needs to be reflected with the employer and the team to create common solutions. In our view, it is necessary to remain coherent to be able to remain sound as people, organisations and society.