How Much Can Your Staff Handle?...The Limiting Factor Behind Sustainable Productivity Gains

The credit crunch is in full swing. Businesses are having to tighten their belts. Management has been forced to slash staff drastically in the hope of not drowning in this economic tsunami. As  management has been so preoccupied with trying to keep the business afloat there has been one vital area of the business that seem to be forgotten.

Most companies are now trying to boost flagging profits with a smaller workforce. What that means is that each member of your staff will be required to work with greater speed , efficiency and productivity than ever before. But what if your remaining staff can't physically, mentally or emotionally handle this increased workload? What will it cost your company in terms of absenteeism, workers compensation and skyrocketing health premiums if your company just wears out your employees to the point of illness, injury or burn out?

Some hard headed business pragmatists may bring out the old cliché, "Well if they can't handle the heat, then they should get out of the kitchen." If you take that approach, then your company will be hit by massive staff turnover because not many people would want to work in that type of kitchen.

It is not unreasonable for business to expect their employees to work harder through these tough economic conditions. To help your staff sustain this increased effectiveness and productivity without suffering the effects of burnout and other health and stress related conditions business needs to help improve their staff's capacity to handle a bigger load. This can be easily achieved through training.

It is pointless developing new systems and procedures to boost productivity and profits without concurrently providing your employees with holistic health and wellness and life balance programs for stools to enable them to sustain the higher workloads without their health or families breaking down under the strain.

To me an effective corporate health and life balance programs should not go down the same road as the many so-called corporate wellness programs that provide discounted gym memberships, a free flu jab and yearly physical. To me, those programs are more about illness detection than creating healthy, sustainable productivity improvements.

An effective corporate health and life balance program encourages companies to look at their employees as a form of brand promotion. Your brand can thrive in these tough economic times through the day to day vitality and energy expressed by happy, healthy, productive workers or it is certain to erode through the lethargy of a tired and stressed workforce.

Your company's long term sustainability and profitability isn't determined by your products or systems. It is determined by how much your staff can handle.