Welcome to the February/March 2013 edition of In Equilibrium

Although there’s still snow around in some parts of the country, there are also the optimistic signs of spring with darkness falling that little bit later, buds appearing on the trees and welcome clumps of white snowdrops appearing in the gardens.  All giving us hope that better weather may be just around the corner.

Whatever the weather, we hope you’ll enjoy the latest edition of In Equilibrium which includes :

* A thought-provoking stress management tip for a happier life

* An “Ask the Expert” Question and Answer which looks at the topic of presenteeism

* Some useful resources for the areas of Mental Health in the Workplace and Health and Wellbeing

* News of why March 1st is an important date on the calendars of many employees around the country!

In Equilibrium News

New Testimonial
We have received a welcome testimonial from an Account Manager at Bright Horizons Family Solutions following the Developing Personal Resilience course we ran for them.

“I have actually found myself in the middle of a very tight deadline again with no advance warning, but I am keeping positive talk in my mind, creating boundaries, and accepting my control limits.  It’s amazing how much better I am feeling than usual, and how pro-actively I am managing the team as a result.”

Testimonials from other clients are available in alphabetical order on our website here …

Recent Blog Articles
We thought we’d draw your attention to two recent articles which have been posted on our blog in case they are of interest:

The first highlights the benefit of resilience training courses for social workers and includes some excellent feedback which we have recently received.

The second is a reminder that we can provide Keynote speakers for your conferences and/or health and wellbeing day or event. 

New Website
As anyone who is involved in their company website will know, website maintenance is a bit like painting the Forth Road Bridge.  So we just wanted to reiterate that if you ever have difficulty finding resources which you were used to seeing on our old website or should annoyingly not be able to click through to the article you want, please drop us an email and we will be able to send you a direct link (as well as research and correct the source of the problem!).

Stress Management Tip

Have a great dream!

Check out 10 keys to happier living and then put them into practice.

Read our stress management tip here …

Ask The Expert

We answer a question from a reader on the subject of presenteeism.

Question

I feel pressured to go into work when feeling unwell. I am not sick very often but sometimes suffer from the odd cold or stomach ache. There are a number of people in my team who are off sick more often than me, but my Department seems to have a culture of people working long hours. Our Head of Department seems to think that the longer we are in the office, the more hardworking and committed we are. The economic climate is not too good and there are not that many large employers in my area. If I lose my job, it will be very difficult to find another comparable job locally and I do not want to re- locate just now due to my kids being settled in their schools.

Answer

In Equilibrium consultant, Tejal Fatania, considers why the writer feels pressurised, looks at some factors they may want to think about and suggests a number of practical steps they could take to improve their situation.

Read his answer here …

If you found Tejal’s answer helpful, you may be interested in the following courses:

Stress Management Training for Managers

Stress Management Techniques

Developing Personal Resilience

Amanda’s Column

Amanda discovers that you can learn as much in short, sharp bursts as you can in one, albeit sleepy, very long lesson!

Read Amanda’s column here …

Resources

In this edition we feature two external resources for the areas of Mental Health in the Workplace and Health & Wellbeing

Quotations

“Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines.”
Robert H. Schuller, Author, Motivational Speaker, Pastor and Televangelist, (1926 – )

“To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.”
Bertrand Russell, British Philosopher, (1872 – 1970)

News from the Outside

Click here to see a selection of links to articles which have appeared recently in the areas of diversity, work and wellbeing that you may find of interest.

Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter.  We are always delighted to hear from our readers, so if you would like to share your comments or suggestions with us, please don’t hesitate to contact us at : [email protected].