I have read a lot recently about managing stress. This is a really big issue not only for business, but the wider community. Importantly, it looks set to become a really big blip on HR’s radar if it’s not already
Stress looks set to become a really big blip on HR’s radar if it’s not already. Quite often, the stress that someone brings to work is not even related to work, but other issues such as the state of their finances.
I was less than impressed with a mate of mine recently when he passed on the following little piece of trivia: the first symptom that you are suffering from a stress-related illness most commonly experienced by men between the ages of 33 and 43 is death. You guessed it, I’m right in the hitting zone and he’s just successfully negotiated his way past it.
I’m not able to vouch for the veracity of that statement. However, laughing it off as a wind-up rings fairly hollow when you can readily identify the signs of stress in your everyday routine.
So perhaps it’s no wonder that my ears pricked up recently when I attended a group forum hosted by Paul Clitheroe who spoke on financial literacy, stress and its impact on workplace productivity.
Speaking at the SageCo Wisdom Circle, a six-monthly gathering of HR directors, diversity managers and business leaders, Clitheroe maintained that financial education was sorely lacking in Australia pretty much across the board. As chairman of the government-funded Financial Literacy Foundation Advisory Board, he said he had discovered that the most adept financial managers were people who were on a pension. If you have only a very small amount of money, you have no choice but to manage it very carefully.
Conversely, many high income earners were among the worst managers of their personal finances.
The definition of wealth creation doesn’t focus on the top-line revenue coming into a household or business, it depends on the outgoings. The simple rule of thumb, that so many fail to adhere to, is that your outgoings need to be less than your earnings.
Remember too that our average household debt levels are at record highs.
One of the real discoveries for organisations at the moment is that good financial management for their staff is not simply a costly employee benefit, but a productivity enhancer. An employee who’s not making ends meet is not going to have their mind focused entirely on the file in front of them.
