In one of my favorite new age books, The Alchemist, author Paulo Coelho discusses four obstacles to realizing the journey towards our Personal Legend:
- The first obstacle is resignation to failure. We’re told from childhood onward that everything we want to do is impossible. In many cases, we’re the ones telling ourselves this – and we believe it!
- The second obstacle is misunderstood love. Says Coelho, “We know what we want to do, but are afraid of hurting those around us by abandoning everything in order to pursue our dream.” In a sense, we’re afraid to change because the people around us might not love us as much if we do. For example, they might view us as a threat, mirror our own inadequacies, or break away from the norm or culture. Coelho encourages us to accept that love is a stimulus; that the people who truly love us want the best for us: to be worthy of the miracle of life.
- The third obstacle is the fear of failure. According to Coelho, “We warriors of light must be prepared to have patience in difficult times and to know that the Universe is conspiring in our favor, even though we might not understand how.” In my personal experience, when we follow our passions we get what we ask for – just not when or how we expect it. There is no journey without roadblocks, setbacks, and challenges. This is what strengthens us. Our character is no different than our muscles: You use it or you lose it.
- Finally, there’s the obstacle of self-sabotage. As Oscar Wilde said: “Each man kills the thing he loves.” According to Coelho, the mere possibility of getting what we want fills our souls with guilt. We ask ourselves, “Who am I to be so fortunate when there are so many people in pain? Do I somehow think that I’m now better than other people because of my success?’ The ancient Greek term was hubris. When we become too full of ourselves and our accomplishments, the end is near. That’s why the journey is never about arriving, but traveling forever. Says Coelho, “I’ve known a lot of people who, when their personal calling was within their grasp, went on to commit a series of stupid mistakes and never reach their goal – when it was only a step away.” I know many of those people too.
When you think about your career, where have these obstacles shown up? Where do you have personal doubts about your ability to accomplish your Personal Legend? Who or what is attempting to hold you back from meeting these goals – or is this a story of your own making? Are you willing to accept that the journey toward success is guaranteed to come with more suffering than for those who are willing to simply be comfortable? Finally, are you willing to find joy in your success without the need to sabotage it?
Here are some Coelho quotes from The Alchemist:
- “If someone isn’t what others want them to be, the others become angry. Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.”
- “There is one great truth on this planet: whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it’s because that desire originated in the soul of the universe. It’s your mission on earth.”
- “To realize one’s destiny is a person’s only real obligation.”
- “The only reason why each day feels the same as the next is because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises.”
- “I’m an adventurer, looking for treasure.”
- “Making a decision is only the beginning of things. When you make a decision, you’re really diving into a strong current that will carry you to places you had never dreamed of when you first made the decision.”
- “When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person to realize his dream”
- “Every search begins with good beginner’s luck. Every search ends with the victors being tested severely.”
- “When you possess great treasures within you, and try to tell others about them, you are seldom believed.”
- “When something evolves, so does everything around it as well.”
- “When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too.”
- “The world’s greatest lie is that we lose control of our own lives and must let them be controlled by fate.”
- “Be worthy of the miracle of life.”
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Benefits experts have usually focused on the role of management in implementing programs that improve employees’ flexibility in balancing their life and work. However, researchers are now calling on workers to take the primary responsibility for a creating more flexible daily life by making small, shifts in their everyday behavior.
For example, a survey by Cali Williams Yost, author of Tweak It: Make What Matters to You Happen Every Day,” found that nearly 75% of employees believe that work-life flexibility is only possible if their employer and/or boss provide it. Adds Brad Harrington, Ph.D., executive director of the Boston College Center for Work and Family, “ultimately it’s the individual who must solve this problem, determine their fit, and manage the process of achieving it.
Although more companies are offering flexibility programs and policies that help employees manage such life transitions such as parenthood and illness, Yost and Harrington point out that many workers find it unrealistic to work regularly from home, revise their daily schedule, or use other flexibility options. Even so, they argue, this doesn’t make work-life balance a lost cause.
“Major life events matter,” says Yost, “but it’s the everyday routine we crave and where employees struggle the most with managing work-life fit. Employees themselves need to manage work-life as a daily practice. While this sounds counterintuitive, it starts by thinking small.” She encourages employees to “make small, consistent changes in how, when and where they manage their work and their lives… taking actions that over time build the foundation for a successful work-life fit that transforms their performance on and off the job.”
That’s sound advice to share with your workers
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You can’t eliminate the stress that your employees bring to work – but you can offer them these guidelines to help manage workplace stressors on their own:
- Prioritize, streamline, delegate, and discard. When facing a task, ask if it’s really necessary to do immediately.
- Break things up. Take two – to three – minute breaks every hour and commit to doing at least one fun thing every day.
- Make time. Build time into your schedule for creative expression, healthy eating, moderate daily exercise, hanging out with friends, and enjoying nature.
- Be on time. Build in cushion time between appointments to allow for traffic and the unexpected.
- Send negativity flying. If a co-worker is on the warpath, visualize an airplane with an ad banner over the person’s head, with each negative word floating up into the banner and out of view.
- Relax and watch what happens. Do mini-meditations or mindful breathing while you’re between tasks or in line at the cafeteria.
- Get essential nutrients. Go beyond vitamins and begin to think about daylight and laughter as integral parts of your daily life.
- Consider what you’re consuming. Sugar, caffeine, and alcohol can increase stress levels.
- Watch your words. Don’t let negative internal chatter and self-recrimination distract and demoralize you.
- Be kind. Do something nice for a different co-worker every day until it becomes second nature to reduce stress for others.
- Sleep on it. Sleep deprivation a major culprit in stress is Try to get restful, restorative slumber every night, and watch your stress level decline.
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The number of mid-market employers giving Group Health plan members incentives to participate in wellness programs has more than doubled since 2010, says a recent report by Fidelity Management and Research L.L.C.
The study found that more than three in four midsize businesses (77%) – those with fewer than 5,000 employees – offered employees monetary rewards tied to wellness activities and health management outcomes in 2011, compared with fewer than two in five (38%) that provided cash incentives in 2010. Overall, nearly nine in ten employers surveyed (86%) gave some type of incentive for wellness activities and/or outcomes in 2011, up from with 63% a year earlier.
The average value of incentives offered to employees and their dependents has also increased substantially. For the 2013 plan year, the average employee incentive value will reach $521, up from $460 in 2011; while the average incentive value for dependents will grow to $465 this year, from $390 in 2011.
Despite the rapid increase in mid-market businesses offering incentives for wellness program participation, they’re still less likely than larger employers to provide these rewards. The value of incentives also remains lower among midmarket employers than those given by larger businesses. Less than half of midsize firms (45%) offered inducements for healthy behavior worth $500 or more, compared with 50% of large employers and 68% of very large employers.
“As the cost of providing health care continues to increase, employers recognize one of the key ways to manage their company’s costs is to give incentives to their workforce for leading a healthier lifestyle,” says Adam Stavisky, Fidelity Senior Vice President/ Benefits Consulting.
If you’d like to implement, or a revise, an incentive program to help keep your workers stay more healthy – and, thus, more productive – just let us know. We’re here to help!
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Non-traditional voluntary employee benefits are becoming increasingly popular with workers because they address their real-world lifestyles and financial needs. If you’d like to offer your workers a benefit that can help them invest in their future, advance their careers – and make them more productive – all without costing you a dime, consider online learning programs.
According to a recent nationwide study by Harris Interactive, more than half (53%) of workers and their spouses surveyed would be at least “somewhat likely” to use educational services for themselves or their families through an employee purchase program.
While higher education has become essential to get ahead in today’s high-tech world, skyrocketing costs have made it increasingly difficult for workers to afford. More than nine in ten college students have taken out loans to earn their bachelors degree – and the value of student loan debt has topped $1 trillion ($300 billion more than credit card and auto loan debts combined)!
Many employers currently offer some form of tuition assistance for the continuing education of their workers. However, online learning can provide a more affordable and convenient alternative for your employees to fund their education and that of their family members (through tutoring programs and SAT/ACT preparation programs) while learning at their own speed. Workers would pay through convenient pain-free payroll deductions, providing a responsible way to budget, together with the opportunity to graduate free of debt. What’s more, the program won’t burden your employee benefits budget.
To learn more about how you can offer this creative benefit to your workers, just give us a call.
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Although many women work through their pregnancies without difficulty, some of them with physically demanding jobs or complicated pregnancies might seek accommodation at some point. However, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) does not define pregnancy as a disability or disorder, but as a natural process related to reproduction.
If pregnancy is not a disability, are pregnant women entitled to accommodation? What about women with pregnancy-related impairments? Are they covered by the ADA Does the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) entitle pregnant women to the accommodations they need to continue working during pregnancy? Are there state laws that entitle pregnant women to accommodation? These are the types of questions are being examined by the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) and other women’s legal organizations. According to NWLC, both the ADA and the PDA often require reasonable accommodation for pregnancy.
Let’s start with the ADA. The regulations interpreting the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) state that pregnancy-related impairments can meet the definition of disability if they substantially limit a major life activity. Pregnant employees with impairments that meet the definition of disability will be entitled to an accommodation under the ADA. Because the ADAAA has broadened the definition of disability to include many temporary and less severe impairments, more workers with pregnancy-related impairments will now qualify for direct coverage.
In addition, the interaction between the PDA and the ADA will often result in a heightened duty to accommodate even pregnant employees who do not meet the ADA’s definition of disability. NWLC argues that the PDA requires employers to treat pregnant women at least as well as other employees with similar limitations in their ability to work. Because the ADA requires employers to accommodate a wider variety of medical conditions, pregnant women will often have similar limitations to people who are entitled to accommodations under the act – which means that they’ll be entitled to accommodations as well. For example, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has made it clear that the ADA requires reasonable accommodation of a temporary back injury that leaves an employee unable to lift 20 pounds for a few months. Because pregnant workers must be treated as well as employees with similar work limitations, a worker who has been instructed not to lift weights of more than 20 pounds because of her pregnancy must also be accommodated, according to NWLC.
To ensure that employers’ legal obligations to provide accommodations are unmistakable, the NWLC and a broad coalition of groups from the health, disability, and women’s rights communities are urging Congress to pass the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) – draft legislation which states that pregnant women are entitled to reasonable accommodations that can be provided without undue hardship to an employer. These are the same types of accommodations that are available to people with disabilities under the ADA. In addition, some state laws already give pregnant workers’ rights to workplace accommodations, as described in a recent report by Equal Rights Advocates.
Accommodating pregnant employees is also in the financial interest of employers. The NWLC provides several sound business reasons why employers should accommodate their pregnant employees in the same way that they do for workers with disabilities. Data show that the costs of these accommodations are likely to be minimal, and that providing them will have bottom- line benefits to the employer: including reduced workforce turnover, increased employee satisfaction and productivity, and lower Workers Compensation and other insurance costs.
Despite the legal and financial arguments, some employers are still not accommodating pregnant employees. This is why the EEOC recently identified “accommodating pregnancy-related limitations under the ADAAA and the PDA” as a priority area for itsenforcement efforts through 2016.
If you are an employee who was not accommodated during your pregnancy or you believe you were discriminated against on the basis of pregnancy, the NWLC would like you to share your story. Employers interested in sharing their experiences accommodating pregnant employees or in consulting about best practices are also invited to contact NWLC, at [email protected].
Keep in mind that when it comes to providing accommodation ideas, Job Accommodation Network (JAN) consultants will brainstorm accommodation ideas for anyone with any type of limitation, including limitations related to pregnancy, whether or not the ADA covers the condition. So, if you’re an employer trying to accommodate pregnant employees, or a pregnant employee looking for accommodation ideas to offer your employer, feel free to contact JAN for assistance!
-Linda Carter Batiste, J.D.,
Principal Consultant with comments from the National Women’s Law Center
P.S. Speaking of job accommodations, HRThatWorks members can join us for a joint webinar with JAN on Providing Accommodations for Employees with Mental Health Impairments, to be held March 20th at 1PM EST by going tohttps://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/324256449.
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