Performance Management v Employee Wellbeing
05 January 2010
A recent healthcare study has indicated that over 10 million employees admit their financial worries are affecting their performance at work, and that this is preventing them from performing at their best.
The study also indicates that 1.4 million employees have taken time off work in the past 12 months as they struggle to cope with their personal finances.
It is also reported that a fifth of 18-24 year olds drink alcohol to take their mind off their financial concerns.
Employers need employees to be performing at their best to ensure that their business is not affected, but how can you tackle sickness absence levels and provide assistance to employees to help them with their financial worries?
The first step is to be able to identify employees whose performance has deteriorated and attempt to establish why this is. Attempting to address this in a heavy handed manner is likely to only cause more concerns and further impact on the employee’s performance. Through offering any advice or assistance you may be able to help the employee either set out a plan to resolve their personal problems or put them into contact with someone that can help.
A good source of advice and guidance is through an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), these are becoming more and more prominent in companies, where managers can point employees in the direction of professional advisors to assist them on a variety of issues.
If you would like to know more about EAP’s and how to set one up then please contact your account manager or visit our EAP webpage.