Seems to me the world of business just keeps getting more and more stressful.
Most employers are trying to do more with less and this alone equates to stress (not to mention all the relationship, financial, and health stressors people grapple with daily).
Is there a way to relieve some of this pressure and anxiety?
Get everyone to take a “smoke break”
My (almost straight-faced) solution would be to make everyone to take a “smoke break” at least once every two hours. Whether employees actually go out for a smoke, visit with friends, or play a video game for 15 minutes, as counterintuitive as it may seem, it could be healthier than giving up smoking!
Where there’s less stress, there are fewer stress-related health problems. And, according to reams of research, it’s probable more work would get done because frequent breaks help people be more mentally alert and productive.
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Anyone want to volunteer to run a pilot program?
This was originally published on Mel Kleiman’s Humetrics blog.
LOL! You might have a point. I think rather than having multiple “policies” for different interest groups for different things (I won’t name them for fear of “stirring the pot”), companies could just provide 1 hour during the day to allow employees to participate in whatever group activity they choose to —- smoking, walking, playing sport, Bible study, political discussions and others.
What do you think?
How would you suggest actually getting people to take these breaks? I’m trying to change the culture, currently the mindset is that “breaks” are given so people can brag they didn’t take them.