Off-beat activities can ease on-the-job stress

Advertisement

"Employees that are not stressed likely equals increased productivity because they're able to focus on the tasks at hand," said Marcy Mahone, human resources manager for Conney Safety Products LLC. "Employee morale goes up because employees understand our company cares about their well-being -both mentally and physically."

Conney, a distributor of safety and first-aid products in Madison, has nearly 160 employees. And according to Mahone, the company tries to make employees' work lives a little less exhausting.

Mahone said they've implemented everything from a generous paid time off or "PTO" policy, to on-site massages, to an exercise program where the company actually provides walkers with pedometers.

"We participate in local walks," she said. "We had a Conney team participate in Crazylegs."

Conney even offers a special "Lunch with Bruce" (Bruce Hagan is the company's president) each month. "Employees can sign up," she said. "This helps employees relieve stress sometimes because they can talk directly to him and share their thoughts or opinions on how their work is going. It's not a one-time-only event. ... Employees can sign up on an ongoing basis and the group size is limited to six to eight employees at a time."

Michele Baldwin, the human resources manager with Hausmann-Johnson Insurance, an independent insurance company with about 60 employees in Madison, said her company has had success implementing some light-hearted changes.

They host an office "Olympics," tailgate parties with s'mores in the company parking lot, paper football kicking contests and ice cream socials. The company even holds a popular "Feet Week" where employees submit candid shots of their feet and colleagues have to match the feet to the employee.

"It offers a change of pace to the normal daily functions - by providing something to look forward to," Baldwin said. "We also do it to give people who wouldn't normally work together the opportunity to interact during an activity. The events don't have to take a lot of time or money to be fun."

Scott Wieland, a corporate benefits broker with Hausmann-Johnson, said the activities are welcome relief from the daily grind. He said stress-relieving endeavors like Hausmann's yearly putt-putt golf contest (which even boasts a hole that cascades down the company's staircase) get a laugh from employees of all ages.

"I think everybody enjoys it," Wieland said of the golf contest. We have 60 employees. At least 50 participate. We see the youngest to the oldest tapping it down the stairs. ... It makes us come across as more of a family."

Wieland said the company wants to help employees mitigate typical workday stressors.

"Obviously, a large part of your life is spent in a work environment and obviously if you feel like it's more of a family atmosphere, you're going to like your job more," Wieland said. "People stressed out (at work) will affect absenteeism, but also 'presenteeism.' They're at work but they're not productive as they would be. It keeps longer-termed, happier employees. ... It becomes an environment they want to be in."