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Gearing down
A glance at current stress-management activity across the pharmaceutical world reveals much about the pressures that build up in a recession, as well as the direction that enlightened management is taking to combat them.
The pharmaceutical industry is liable to generate unusually high levels of workplace stress, due to the significant degree of individual responsibility and the big implications for thousands of employees and millions of hospital patients.
Being an industry integral to medicine and public health, the management of change – with its inherent stress potential – becomes even more important than usual. For example, the announcement of the acquisition of Wyeth by Pfizer will, no doubt, reflect a supreme test of change management, in merging large teams from different backgrounds, breaking the news of redundancy and selecting new young leaders who are willing to embrace new methods with enthusiasm, not reluctance.
The pharmaceutical industry is quicker than most to acknowledge stress management as valuable for formal executive training, employee counselling and round-the-clock employee assistance programmes. Many firms go further and issue a corporate stress policy, declaring certain stress levels to be officially harmful and defining the correct response actions to employee stress.
There is an increasing tendency to think 'preventive'. Lundbeck has stated its belief that good management style may be more effective than what it calls the 'temporary stress initiative', and AstraZeneca UK's Balanced Living Charter proclaims the company's commitment to the physical and psychological well-being of its employees and to improving their work-life balance. A healthy corporate culture is essential in obviating stress-related problems in the workplace that can cause anything from a minor disruption to a fatal accident. Pre-emptive action to minimise stress is a key factor in a good working environment.
These two basic approaches to stress management, remedial and preventive, can be likened to the two ways to limit speed when driving down a steep hill. You can wait till you're at the speed limit and then brake hard, which is always a negative action and bad for the car, or you can start by changing down calmly through the gears, allowing the engine to control the speed smoothly, as it is designed to do.
Unfortunately, most stress management interventions are like jamming on the brakes to avoid a crisis. However, an established healthy workplace culture will control stress in a more gentle, natural way, like that gearbox steadily taking the pressure in its stride; it takes a proactive approach that looks ahead.
Elements
When people come together with a shared purpose, they form a culture. Each cultural environment provides a unique set of standards, which asserts a particular atmosphere, instantly noticeable to the newcomer. A stress-resistant working culture comes down to five basic elements.
1) Creative motivation
When a high performer leaves, it is probably not because of the money. This may have been the fixed point they found easiest to blame, along with a momentary impulsive urge for some new luxuries. But what was the real dissatisfaction behind this? Was it a feeling of being taken for granted, with no active appreciation, no heart-warming response, no glory? Being overworked or underworked? Managers need to monitor this work balance with care.
Or perhaps it was being denied further training that would make them attractive to the competition? Employers who can anticipate a grievance and then take pre-emptive action are a very special group.
2) Communication
Dialogue is key. Any transcript of a board meeting or phone-call (or even the average e-mail) reveals how many opportunities are missed for effective dialogue that engages and involves the other person. Clearly, good communication skills make a huge impact on workplace culture.
Stress experts now see non-verbal dialogue as an area with unexplored potential. This encompasses effective listening as an active problem-solving/team-building skill, the formal study of body language and its vocabulary, silent cues that can stimulate revealing questions or answers from reluctant interviewees, plus how to use and interpret silence itself; the unspoken dialogue that may be full of meaning.
3) Spirit of enterprise
Creativity is the lifeblood of any company. It leads to innovation, which in turn leads to competitive edge. Good ideas can come from anywhere, so to invite suggestions only from those in departments officially identified with creativity is to cut off a big potential supply of new thinking. All team members should be encouraged to absorb themselves fully in outstanding problems, and contribute fresh slants of insight. Whether or not these lead directly to solutions, it will deepen their involvement with the company's agenda and enrich their role.
4) Common dignity
The next point is dignity. There is a valuable art in being able to command respect without having to pull rank. 'First among equals' is a favourite theme of today's management manuals. Organisations will always need differentials, of course, and teams understand that senior employees are entitled to privileges. However, having separate canteens is not the way to do it. That style belongs to the hierarchical culture that no longer wins business or attracts talent. Credibility is a primary factor that commands respect, backed by force of character that can ultimately assert authority.
5) Corporate inspiration
Team members need to feel that they are working for an organisation that is not only successful, but that is inspirational; where others would seek to work if they had the opportunity. Its name and image should suggest distinction, both internally and externally. The user benefits of the company's products and services should be made known to all employees, however junior. There should also be clear evidence of high ethical standards in all of the company's dealings. Increasingly, this extends to social responsibility in the outside world. In commercial competition, employees should still feel that they have integrity.
The bottom-line figures are stark and unmistakeable. Work-related stress, depression and anxiety account for around 10.5 million lost working days every year, costing the UK about £3.7bn, exclusive of the increasing compensation element. One in five workers say they feel extremely stressed at work. Three-quarters of executives say that stress adversely affects their health, happiness and home life, as well as work performance. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) says that stress is likely to become the most dangerous risk to business in the early part of the 21st century.
So while you're generally promoting healthy workplace culture, in pursuit of the five principles outlined above, consider specific actions you can take to identify and combat excessive workplace pressures before they harden into stress. Industry is increasingly adopting stress awareness as a formal agenda and whole corporate teams are responding with enthusiasm to all manner of seminars, workshops and training courses on this subject. Within this area, one recent mini-trend is revealing; the popularity of the boardroom briefing that addresses top management who would usually leave stress management to the HR department. When influential executives decide to absorb the anti-stress message, there will be healthier workplaces everywhere.
The Author
Carole Spiers is an author and consultant on corporate stress management and employee well-being.
To comment on this article, email pm@pmlive.com
