Employees who take part in a ten-minute mindfulness session are more likely to generate original ideas, new research from Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) reveals.

Researchers Emma Schootstra, Dirk Deichmann and Evgenia Dolgova found that employees who participated in guided mindfulness meditation for just ten minutes, generated a 22% wider range of ideas, compared to those who took part in fake meditation, or just “relaxed”.

Participants of the study were asked to present as many business ideas for the use of drones as they could within a limited time. One third had a guided meditation session, one third had a fake meditation session, and one third were just told to “relax and let their thoughts flow freely”. Although all three groups produced roughly the same number of ideas, the group that took part in guided mindfulness meditation produced significantly more inventive uses for drones, such as washing windows, extinguishing fires and even feeding giraffes.

According to the researchers, mindfulness essentially removes our innate “fight or flight” response, meaning that meditating participants feel significantly less restless, nervous and irritated, allowing them to focus on being creative.

“Creativity has traditionally been the responsibility of research and development departments; however, it is now vital for company survival that employees at all levels contribute to organisational innovation.” says Deichmann

This research provides managers with a cost-effective way to increase creativity in the workplace.

“Mindfulness meditation is not only an effective creativity booster, it is affordable, accessible and easy to organise in the work place: all it needs is a quiet place, a comfortable chair and access to one of the many mindfulness exercises that can be found online or in apps.” says Evgenia Dolgova

The thesis is available on the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) website.

The song says, ‘Tis the season to be jolly!’  However, this is often not the case.  One in 20 people say they find Christmas “more stressful than a burglary*.

Small business owners and their staff often feel the weight of Christmas even more profoundly than others, and left untreated stress can contribute to more serious conditions such as anxiety and depression.

Christine Husbands, managing director, RedArc cautions: 

“Small business owner managers particularly feel the pressure at this time of year with fewer working days; the extra workload; various cold and flu bugs affecting staff; and employees trying to use up leftover annual leave. By the time the twenty-fifth arrives, many are too exhausted or unwell to actually enjoy it.”

Husbands believes that the additional stressors leading up to Christmas can tip people over the edge.  Unfortunately, once mental health problems take hold, they often have long-lasting effects.

Getting early professional support for conditions like stress and depression is important, however getting help on the NHS is increasingly difficult.   While counselling and other therapies are available on the NHS, waiting lists can be very long and the condition will more than likely deteriorate during the wait.

Mental health support is not something Santa is likely to bring in his sack, however small business owners and their staff could find unexpected support as part of a policy they pay for already.  RedArc, a company that offers mental health support to groups such as membership organisations, insurance policyholders and employees is urging small businesses to read the small print of their insurance documents and professional memberships to see what membership benefits they could have access to, possibly even without making a claim.

Often business protection policies (life insurance, critical illness insurance, income protection and private medical insurance) and professional memberships (such as trade associations or groups) include added value benefits such as a telephone helpline, counselling or holistic therapies as part of the policy or membership.  These benefits are often under-utilised – but could prove an unexpected source of support.  You pay for them anyway – so why not make use of them?  

Husbands explains: 

“The pressure to cope under all circumstances is a burden that many business owners feel strongly and particularly at Christmas – but they don’t have to ‘just cope’, free support is usually available via existing policies and memberships.” 

“However, if business owners can’t access support and would like to put something similar in place they should look carefully at the differing options, as there is plenty of choice available. For example, services can range from a light-touch helpline for a one-off telephone call through to long-term support from a dedicated nurse; some purely offer counselling and others make a clinical assessment to determine the most appropriate therapy which could be counselling, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), psychotherapy or others. Some will offer support for the owner manager only as the key person within the business, others will extend the support to all employees.”

RedArc are keen to stress their own Christmas message:

“The fallout from stress and other mental health conditions doesn’t need to be an unwanted Christmas visitor – it can be managed, and managed well – helping you get back to business as usual.”

New figures from Specsavers Corporate Eyecare suggest there is a serious lack of compliance with the Health and Safety Display Screen Equipment regulations.

While the research, undertaken among over 500 senior decision makers from UK companies, shows a willingness towards providing DSE eyecare, it reveals a little as 10% of employers are fully complying with the regulations.

The regulations state that employers must provide all screen users with tests and glasses, if required solely for DSE use. However, more than a third of employers (39%) do not provide any eyecare at all for screen users. Almost a third, (30%) provide eye tests for all, but not glasses. 14% provide eye tests for some and 7% provide the full requirements – eyecare and glasses – but only for some screen users. This means that 61% of employers are at least providing some level of eyecare, but just 10% are fully complying with the regulations. 

The research shows that employers on average class around 68% of their employees as screen users. This falls to a minimum of 55% in Wales and reaches a maximum of 77% in Yorkshire and Humberside. Screen users are at the lowest (42% of employees) in the food and drink industry, and the percentage of screen users is at its highest in the media, at 94%. With, on average, only 10% of these employees receiving eyecare fully compliant with the DSE regulations, a great many people are potentially missing out significantly.   

Jim Lythgow, director of strategic alliances for Specsavers Corporate Eyecare, said:

‘The good news is that there is an overall willingness to provide eyecare but this is not to the extent as required by law. We believe there are two vital elements in increasing the number of employers complying with the DSE regulations: the first is to ensure they are educated about the full requirements of the legislation; the second is to make DSE eyecare as simple and cost effective as possible to procure.’

Specsavers Corporate Eyecare has worked hard to raise the profile of the DSE eyecare. Its website includes a knowledge bank for employers and useful tools, like downloadable posters, to communicate benefits to employees. With simplicity being the key to eyecare procurement, Specsavers has created an online eyecare management system, where employers can purchase, distribute and manage eyecare eVouchers with just a few clicks of a button.

To view the online resources, find out more information, or purchase eyecare eVouchers visit www.specsavers.co.uk/corporate

More information on the Health and Safety (display screen equipment) Regulations can be found at www.hse.gov.uk

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has reviewed half a decade of statistics about the health of its members and identified that just three conditions make up over half of the initial referrals to its medical care and advice service FSB Care. These conditions are:

• orthopaedic issues relating to the musculoskeletal system (35%);
• mental health issues (17%); and
• cancer (6%)

FSB, which is the UK’s biggest business group, also warns that stress is often underlying or an accompanying factor when physical conditions present, and so the number of people supported for mental health issues is more acute than data shows.

Offering the small business community increased advice and resources relating to wellbeing to prevent illness has been a recent focus for FSB.

Mike Cherry, FSB National Chairman, said:

“Being ill and needing to take time off work is a huge fear for anyone running their own business. Nobody can wave a magic wand or promise an elixir but our members are guaranteed that there will be a medical expert on the end of the phone who can support them through difficult times when they need it.”

Small business owners are just as susceptible as everyone else to musculoskeletal disorders, according to Christine Husbands of RedArc, the service provider of FSB Care:

”Too many hours spent slumped in front of a computer and a too-sedentary lifestyle caused by long working hours can lead to such problems. Added to the fact that stress can increase our sensitivity to pain, it’s easy to see why orthopaedic issues are top of the reasons why FSB members look for support.”

 Business owners present with all the same issues and illnesses as many of the rest of the population but the difference is that they usually have less time to deal with them, which in turn means things can quickly escalate. Small business owners are particularly reluctant to go for early health checks and often have difficultly coming to terms with how they will manage their condition and their business. It can be those who seem to be the most robust or those who are putting on the best front that actually need the most support.

Image credit: https://health.clevelandclinic.or

As well as being Europe’s leading entertainment and communications business Sky is also a role model for employee benefits and wellbeing. To aid with communication and education, Sky has held a number of benefits fairs, to which Specsavers Corporate Eyecare has been invited.

Laura Butler, key accounts manager, and her team from Specsavers Corporate Eyecare attended the first benefits fair at Sky’s Isleworth site, which has in excess of 6,000 employees. This was followed by similar fairs in Dunfermline and Livingstone, where Sky employs 3,500 and 4,000 people respectively.  

‘We take a vision screener to all sites,’ explains Laura, “which enables us to test visual acuity – sight over distance. This provides a good indication of whether an employee should be referred for a full eye examination with their local optician. For drivers, there are other important factors in whether their eyesight is adequate, including peripheral vision and the ability to focus between near and far objects. The purpose of the exercise is, however, to raise awareness of the benefits of eyecare and to encourage employees to have their eyesight and eye health checked regularly.’

Sky holds regular benefits fairs to communicate their benefits packages and to make sure employees are aware of the value they are adding. Input from Specsavers was welcomed as eyecare has so many wider benefits, of which their employees may otherwise be unaware.

With more than 700 stores nationwide, Specsavers Corporate Eyecare is ideal for a multi-sited business like Sky, as there is always an optician based locally and conveniently for employees. Attending wellbeing events such as those at Sky enables Specsavers Corporate Eyecare to add value to its offering by showing the worth of eyecare, It is also often an opportunity to show drivers in particular how their eyesight may have deteriorated without them even realising.

For more information visit www.specsavers.co.uk/corporate

While wellbeing benefits being included as part of group risk are on the rise, Group Risk Development (GRiD), the industry body for the group risk protection sector, is urging employers to make sure that any group risk benefits they offer (employer-sponsored life assurance, income protection and critical illness protection products) don’t exacerbate any gender pay differences.

The issue

The suite of group risk benefits generally offers financial pay-outs as a multiple or percentage of salary. Typically, group life benefits are paid as a lump sum, or as a survivor’s pension, group income protection benefits are payable via payroll as reduced salary and group critical illness benefits are paid as a lump sum. Employers need to be aware that any differences in the salaries they pay will be reflected in any financial payments made from the group risk benefits they offer, i.e. if salaries are lower, financial benefits will be lower.

Katharine Moxham, spokesperson for GRiD says:

‘We’re hearing a lot of debate about the gender pay gap, and we believe that a crucial area that isn’t being discussed is the impact on employee benefits, and group risk benefits in particular. Group risk benefits have long been recognised by employers as providing a financial lifeline when most needed, at times of ill-health, disability and death. Many employers are looking hard at how they pay men and women, and it’s important they realise that there is generally a direct correlation between salaries and group risk benefits. Any differences don’t just affect take-home pay, but any financial pay-outs from these benefits too.’

Group risk benefits are some of the most cost-effective benefits that can be offered, with costs from just 0.5% of payroll. However, research* from GRiD shows that their cost is routinely over-estimated. With some employers doubtless in a situation where they’re going to be reviewing, if not increasing, salaries for some of their workforce, providing group risk benefits will be some of the most affordable costs they’ll need to budget for.

Moxham continues: ‘Group risk benefits are some of the most valued by staff, and it’s important that employers that offer them, communicate them effectively to their staff. Remuneration packages are going to be scrutinised, and good-news stories will help engender loyalty and improve engagement.’

The average Brit walks fewer than 1,000 steps per day, just ONE TENTH of the recommended number, according to new research.

A nation-wide study of Brits has revealed the true extent to which our lifestyles have become sedentary, with almost 1,000 emerging as the average steps taken per person in the UK, despite advice from doctors and health experts to take at least 10,000 steps daily.

And when it comes to going to the gym or working out – Brits have all the excuses, with being unable to find our earphones, being too unfit to work-out and something good on the telly among the most common excuses Brits give for not wanting to go to the gym, according to a new study.

Worryingly, of those polled, nearly two thirds (65 percent) said they take their health for granted and need to look after their body a bit more, while 19 percent said they always get their partner and colleagues to fetch things for them.

Similarly, the research showed the average Brit is sedentary for up to six and a half hours a day, with one in five describing themselves as ‘very lazy’.

Ten percent of Brits think there is little point in doing exercise of any sort because Christmas is around the corner and nearly one in twenty won’t go and work-out if it’s happy hour in their local pub.

The study was commissioned to help raise funds to find a much-needed cure for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy – a muscle wasting disease that effects 1 in 3500 Brits – with most boys only living until their mid-twenties.

Alex Smith, the founder of Harrison’s Fund, whose son was diagnosed with the disease in 2011 said: “We can all relate to that feeling of not wanting to drag ourselves to the gym – especially on these cold nights. But people suffering with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy simply don’t have that option. Muscle degeneration is an inevitability and something we are raising awareness and funds to try to cure.

“What we’re saying with this campaign is simply, don’t take your muscles for granted. if you’re going to skip the gym this week, then why not get a better excuse. As is clear from these statistics, we can all struggle to get motivated – so why not make a good excuse this week and help turn a little bit of laziness into hope for someone else.”

Three in ten said they will use any old excuse for getting out of exercise with a popular excuse being that their phone is flat so they won’t have any music to listen to.

But a confident one in twenty reckon they look great anyway so they don’t need to bother with the gym and many said they don’t want to get too buff.

Not surprisingly then, the average Brit gets of a gym session at least four times in a typical month.

Three in ten of the 1,500 adults polled said they have not got much use out of their gym gear and sports equipment – with the average adult confessing to wasting £176 on unused gym memberships and high-end workout gear.

According to the study, one in five claim they “always” take the lift rather than the stairs, while a quarter of Brits will always park as close to the shops as they can in a bid to reduce the distance they need to walk.

While the majority drive to work, more than one in ten (11 percent) said they would rather miss their bus or train than pick up speed and run to catch it.

To get a good excuse to skip the gym today and help Harrison’s Fund fund a cure for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy visit www.gymexcuses.com

TOP EXCUSES TO GET OUT OF EXERCISING

1. Too tired
2. Too cold to venture outside
3. I’m so unfit, I won’t be able to do anything
4. I’ve got the start of a cold, so I don’t want to make it worse
5. It’s winter so no one sees my body anyway
6. My favourite TV show is on
7. Christmas is around the corner so there’s little point
8. I’m too hungry
9. I want to be thinner before I go to the gym
10. There is no point because I’ve stuffed my face today
11. My gym buddy can’t make it, so I won’t go alone
12. I look great anyway, so I don’t need to go
13. I need to help the kids with their homework
14. Gym gear is in the wash
15. The dog can’t stay home alone
16. Need to be rested for a big night out
17. I ran for the bus today so that’s my exercise for the day
18. It’s happy hour in the pub
19. Gym gear is too tight
20. My friends are in worse shape than me so that’s ok
21. I can’t find my earphones
22. My phone is out of charge, so I have no music
23. I don’t want to get too ripped

The London Psychiatry Centre (TLPC) of Harley Street has partnered with leading provider of private medical services, LycaHealth, to offer repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS), the ground-breaking and highly effective treatment for depression and anxiety, at Canary Wharf.

Rankings from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) show that Britain is one of the most depressed countries in Europe, and a recent survey showed that 34% of British workers are dealing with anxiety, depression or stress (PwC). This partnership brings the UK’s most experienced and pioneering team in rTMS to those who work in some of the most high pressured and stressful environments in the UK.

According the the Centre for Urban Design and Mental Health, city dwellers have a 40% increased risk of depression compared to those based outside the City. The partnership between TLPC and LycaHealth brings the innovative treatment of rTMS to the densely clustered business district of Canary Wharf, where over 100,000 people work.

rTMS is an effective, drug-free, non-invasive and pain-free treatment for depression. rTMS uses magnetic pulses to stimulate areas of the brain that regulate mood. Of 44 centres in the US and Australia that have published rTMS treatment results for treatment-resistant depression, the remission rate is 29%. There are no published treatment outcomes available in the UK other than those from TLPC. At TLPC, remission rate for treatment-resistant depression with rTMS is over 60%, with 74.2% of women and 58% of men recovering in an average of 4.3 weeks. These results were published in peer reviewed publications, including a presentation at The Royal College of Psychiatrists annual meeting in August 2017. The CQC stated in its inspection report that TLPC pioneered rTMS in the UK.

Dr Andy Zamar, Consultant Psychiatrist and Medical Director of TLPC, said: “We are delighted to announce our partnership with LycaHealth, and bring our unique expertise with the very high success rate in rTMS at Harley Street to Canary Wharf. Our partnership represents this vision by not only extending the tailormade care packages available to our clients, but by making innovative treatments for depression accessible for those based in the City and the East London area. LycaHealth’s cutting-edge facilities, personal care and commitment to exceeding expectations, combined with our dedication to excellence is a natural fit.”

TLPC was a national adviser to The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in issuing guidance on rTMS treatment for depression (IPG542) and has been described by the CQCas ‘innovative’ and ‘pioneering’ in their contribution to mental health treatment and research in the UK. The CQC highlighted in its inspection report that:
“Feedback from patients was very positive about the service, with some patients describing life changing treatments, following years of unsuccessful treatments elsewhere.”

“Staff provided innovative treatments to patients who could not easily access these elsewhere. They published papers in medical journals, and contributed to innovations in mental health provision in the UK.”

“Patients received a range of treatments which were not available in other settings, including repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, and external trigeminal nerve stimulation. Patients spoke highly of the impact of these treatments following unsuccessful previous treatments with medicines.”

Research has shown that moving to a new home during childhood can be damaging to health and wellbeing, including mental health later in life. The Health Insurance Group believes this adds weight to its view that employers need to consider an employee’s family and dependants – as well as the employee themselves – when providing support during a placement overseas.

Highest risks for adolescents who relocate

The long-term study*, which followed 1.4m Danish children into adulthood, showed an increased likelihood of adverse outcomes in adulthood for individuals who had moved home in childhood, with the highest risks being among those who had moved frequently in early adolescence.

What can employers do to mitigate the risks?

Employers can help to mitigate these risks for employees and their families by looking at preventative measures to support mental and physical wellbeing at every stage of a move and return from an overseas assignment. This makes sound business sense too, as preventing any issues for both the employee and their dependants supports productivity and creates an environment where everyone gets the most out of an assignment.

Five Ways to Wellbeing

The mental health charity Mind** suggests ‘5 Ways to Wellbeing’, and The Health Insurance Group has shown how employers could use this as a framework for thinking about the best ways to support the family and encourage self-care. The five ways are Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Learn and Give.

In the context of caring for families overseas, the following are examples of how employers can support the wellbeing of staff and their dependants.

§  Connect – Encourage employees and family members to join local expat groups and local clubs, organise an expat buddy scheme so families can meet up with each other and share experiences including playdates for children of similar ages; advertise and encourage the use of employee assistance programme (EAP) support lines.

§  Be Active – Organise sporting events and encourage employees to get the whole family engaged in active pastimes, offer corporate gym discounts.

§  Take Notice – Provide access to mindfulness workshops or classes.

§  Learn – Provide opportunities for learning about the host culture and local language.

§  Give – Organise family-orientated fundraisers for local charities and volunteering opportunities that could include supporting other relocating employees as they arrive.

Sarah Dennis head of international, The Health Insurance Group says:

“For World Mental Health Day we want to remind employers of the importance of looking after the health and wellbeing of the children and families of the employees they send overseas. Expat positions offer great opportunities to see and live in another country, with proper support and care it can be a really positive experience for everyone. Looking after dependants is as important to a successful assignment as it is looking after the employee.”