Firms urged to promote staff wellbeing by ‘good work’

Debi youv'e made my mind up, the grass is greener on the other side,
Thank you all for your comments,

I agree with this article entirely and will always try to behave in this way towards the staff that I am in charge of.

Having been in a working atmosphere where my bosses had absolutely no idea how to treat their staff with respect and generally spent most of their time bullying us, I am now working in an atmosphere where there is respect and consideration and the staff are treated like human beings instead of servants.

I was becoming extremely ill in my last position, to the point where I was actually signed off with stress by the doctor and then ignored by my employers when I returned to work. I was exhausted physically, emotionally and mentally. I finally had enough and handed my notice in when I had been fortunate enough to find myself another position. If I had stayed I would have been forced to sue them for constructive dismissal and I really did not want to go there.

I have been in my new position for four weeks. I no longer have panic attacks when driving to work, my sleep pattern has virtually recovered, my weight has settled, my fybromyalgia pain has settled and also the phantom excruciating disabling pain in my bowel, my skin has cleared up, I no longer feel on the cusp of tears all the time even at the nice things and my doctor, friends and family all see the old cheerful, happy me again!

I took one week off in between jobs as I was so exhausted and I was so ill for the first half that I was afraid I would not be fit for my new job!

I am now thriving again, just as I should have been in my last position and I am enjoying my profession again, in a way I never thought I could. I can see a future again, where I am allowed to be proud of my position and to grow in it and achieve the things I should have done many months ago.

It is very true that the atmosphere you work in and the way you are treated by your employers makes a great deal of difference to how you perform and how your are physically, emotionally and mentally, whether at home or work. I can vouch for it, I am living proof!

It is unfortunate, but the private sector is renowned for its disregard to many of the key points of good work practice.
No amount of legislation or law changes have really impacted on bad practice.
I have worked in many a varied industry, and the last four years specifically in health and safety. My conclusion is that we appear to promote people to their own level of incompetence. I have experienced bullying behaviour and lack of regard forproviding staff with adequate information, instruction and training.
There is clearly staff treated differently from other staff of the same peer group, and flexible working is only offered to the privileged staff.
In my time at my preent company I have seen my package removed as part of my benefits (immediately after completing probation), I was not consulted on this but told this was being changed, I then sufferred two years without any pay increment and only the end of year bonus (full amount on one occasion.
I worked very hard to maintain my standards, under very difficult and demanding conditions, and constant micro managing practices only to end up paying the price last year sufferring a full tonic chlonic seizure due to chronic anxiety and stress. I was advised that I could suffer from severe burn out, and so had to take a different approach to my working conditions, attempting to discuss with my employer the cause of my illness.
This over time has now been forgotten, and the old practices are back in swing and my immediate line manager (H&S manager) chooses to ignore the issues I raise with him at all.
I am sure he is either deliberately obtuse or has chosen to not rock the boat in case it compromises his position. In any event, I know I must move on to better things as confidence has got to an all time low, and staff around me are constantly complaining about lack of support or help from our team.
I really do not know how you tackle issues like these that are so endemic.

Grand idea Gormmit a a loverley thought but, seams 'bribery' has just popped up to the top of the agenda and suppose that means that occupational health is once again gonna naturally get pushed down the priority list - ho hum

The politicisation of health is innevitable I suppose.

What an excellent report! I totally concur that much of the responsibility for 'good work' lies with good management and good communications however there is also a clear responsibility for the employee to take responsibility for their wellbeing adn their perceptions of situations.
I find that when both of these approaches come together, Peak Performance for employee and business is the outcome.