Wear Red Day: Stress is Key Driver of Heart Disease

 Today is Wear Red Day and February is Heart Health Month, a period of time marked by the American Heart Association to remind us to take care of our hearts.

You may have heard that stress and burnout are key drivers of coronary artery disease. 

In our 24/7 world where workers tell me at every workshop that they are overworked, I fear that their cortisol levels are on high at least 8 hours a day, if not more.

Our bodies are not meant to constantly activate our Amygdala, the Fight-Flight-or-Freeze part of the limbic system in the brain.

Workers who experience high levels of stress burn out and do one of  3 things: 

1 – They drop their engagement level and start to call in sick repeatedly, leaving holes in your productivity.

2 – They go out on disability for an extended period of time, leaving a holes in your productivity and the pressure of loading more work onto the remaining team members.

3 – They quit – leaving a super hole in your productivity and your bottom line. It costs 50 – 200% of salary to replace your workers.

What is the cure?

There are so many strategies. Here are three to get your started.

?? HIRING

First hire enough people to handle the workload. I wrote an article all about this entitled “Why is it so Hard to Fill Jobs and What You Can Do About It.” This can be found here:  https://janicelitvin.com/how-to-attract-more-talent-now/

?? MANAGER TIME

Spend more time with your employees to see how they’re doing. Ask them questions and then listen.

?? PURPOSE

Engage workers by tying the purpose of their work to the purpose of the company. I wrote about this on a recent Linkedin post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/janicelitvin_employeeengagement-banishorganizationalburnout-activity-7290047256265707521-hLfw/?utm

If you need help managing burnout for your teams, get in touch at Janice@JaniceLitvin.com, or book time on my calendar: https://www.Calendly.com/JaniceLitvin.

 #WearRedDay #HeartHealth #BanishBurnout