We’ve all done it: called into work sick because we just could not bring ourself to face another day at the office. If we have enough rapport with our boss, we admit we need a “mental health day.” If not, we call early enough to get their voicemail and cough into the receiver, feigning true, physical illness. In most workplaces, strep throat is a valid reason to stay home; being overstressed is not.
An article in the August 13, 2007 edition of the Wall Street Journal suggests teamwork may be an antidote to employee absenteeism and work stress. The article, ”Can better teams beat back stress?” profiled GlaxoSmithKline’s Team Resilience Program, designed to help people break out of their day-to-day, task-focused isolation and connect them to their coworkers by meeting with teammates to talk about work-related stress. Between 2003 and 2006, the volunteer program has saved the company $1.4M, decreased work-related mental illness by 60 percent, and decreased mental health-related absences by 29 percent.
The premise is simple: by talking with coworkers and supervisors about work-related stress, teams devise solutions. So, why don’t more companies do this?
For starters, GlaxoSmithKline is based in the U.K., not the U.S. European companies sometimes do a better job of building and sustaining humane, people-sensitve workplaces. Europeans, after all, pay higher taxes, in part to pay for things they consider ‘in the public good’—things like health care, unemployment, and retraining. So, it makes sense that Europeans bring this same ‘we’re in it together’ mentality to the office.
Contrast that to the U.S. where rugged individualism is in our DNA. Pioneers settled this country. Mavericks built our infrastructure. Innovation fuels our economy. This go-big-or-go-home mentality has many upsides…and some downsides. Americans die earlier than our peers in other countries. We work harder, but don’t last longer. We invented workaholism.
Which is why programs like GSK’s don’t often find a home in American workplaces.
Footnote: a second article in the same section of the WSJ profiled ICU Medical, a 1400-person firm whose self-forming teams complete 12 to 14 projects each quarter. Recent teams have taken on tasks as complex as decreasing the number of steps in a manufacturing process, to painting the cafeteria. All teams are voluntary and abide by a few Rules of Engagement including:
- Challenge the issue, not the person
- Consider all options
- Stand up for your position, but never argue against the facts
- Allow yourself the opportunity to seriously consider opposing views
- Lose the words “I” and “they” once a decision is reached
P.S. ICU Medical is based in San Clemente, CA.
