Road to recovery
Coaching could support those off sick in getting back to health, work and working well, suggests a paper by Fiona Begbie, a student on Aberdeen University’s postgraduate certificate in coaching.
Coaching has the potential to promote self-efficacy and improve disease management, as well as boost work capacity and inclination, suggests the literature review. It stimulates thought processes, positive emotions and self-efficacy. The latter, in turn, has a positive impact on mental, physical and social health status and the capacity to cope with illness or injury. It is also likely to affect employment status, career development and performance, says the paper.
Bad job worse than no job
The impact on mental health of having a bad job can be as negative as having no job at all.
Although overall, unemployed respondents had poorer mental health than those with jobs, the mental health of the unemployed was comparable or superior to those in jobs of the poorest psychosocial quality, according to a study led by academics at the Centre for Mental Health Research at the Australian National University in Canberra.
The study was published by the journal, Occupational and Environmental Medicine (http://bit.ly/e0TjW8). Researchers based their findings on seven waves of data from more than 7,000 people of working age in Australia.
UK employers aren’t well
British-based employers are less likely than their global counterparts to have a wellness strategy.
Stress topped the list of employer health concerns for the second year running. A total of 72 per cent of UK employers responding to Buck Consultants’ global survey of 1,200 organisations said they were very concerned about stress in their workforce, beating lack of exercise (60 per cent) and nutrition (58 per cent).
However, UK employers lag behind in tackling health issues – 57 per cent have a wellness strategy, compared to an international average of 66 per cent.
The US was the most health-conscious of the 47 countries studied, with 74 per cent of US employers having a wellness programme in place.
Coaching at Work, Volume 6, Issue 3