Learning Center

Our digital devices, the screens connecting us to an infinitely wide world of information, pose a significant challenge because they are so compelling and distracting. They pull our focus away from being in the moment and compromise our ability to concentrate on the essential tasks of daily life: paying attention to our loved ones, solving our work challenges, and practicing ...

It’s not a shocker to learn that a blog with a name like stress.health.business. (inaugurated in 2012) has featured more posts about stress than any other topic. However, you may be surprised to see how many different dimensions there are to the stress/productivity/health relationship. So, as we commence our 6th year of the blog, I have anthologized a diverse sampling ...

When I was a teenager I loved talking on the phone. Who didn’t? I remember sitting with the corded phone to my ear, watching my favorite soap opera, and talking with my best friend next door who was sitting with her corded phone, watching the same soap opera. I would spend hours in the evening talking with my friends, tying ...

        I am thankful for a family that loves me even though I am so reliably imperfect. I am thankful for a profession which allows me to share meaningful moments in the lives of others. I am thankful for the hopeful and excited smile I receive from my granddaughter each time she greets me. I am thankful ...

Last week the Boston Globe published a chart which details the current costs, in dollars and in time, of providing care for an older family member (It is worth noting that the chart appears in the business section because the astounding numbers illustrate just how significant this issue is for many employees and for the organizations that employ them)   ...

Today, as Spaceship Earth orbits the sun at the unimaginable speed of 67,000 miles per hour, a new passenger has come aboard. He is my first grandson, Isaiah Kenneth Sagor, and the story of how he came into being is, like all births, a historical miracle defying comprehension. Isaiah’s great-grandmother, Sylvia age 91, found her passage into this world only ...

Ward Cleaver was an exemplary Dad, calm and wise and always available to talk with his kids and guide them. His wife June was an iconic nurturing at-home Mom. The Cleavers made a great team and their children adored and respected them. The men of Ward’s era were not expected to be present for their children’s births and did not ...

“When one aged Zen master was asked to relate his biography, he exclaimed, “Just one mistake after another!”  from Awakening the Buddha Within by Lama Surya Das. The experience of each day changes us, even those routine days that seem to be nudging us toward nothing in particular. Like water smoothing a stone, the accumulation of daily experiences and choices ...

Stress is a modern plague responsible for 75% to 90% of all doctor’s office visits. OSHA has declared it a workplace hazard costing American business $300 billion annually. Conventional wisdom blames work, and its toxic stew of constant deadlines, excessive workloads, 24/7 connectivity and globalization, as the primary stressor in contemporary life. However, new research, recently published in the Journal ...

When I started working in the employee assistance profession, EAPs did not offer legal consultation services. If a distressed employee called us about a legal issue we could be sympathetic listeners and try to help them manage their anxiety about the problem, but we could not give them what they needed most which was immediate legal advice. I remember one ...

I met Steve Mellor in the mid-1980’s when he was a young HR professional and I was a green EAP consultant. We bonded immediately as allies and comrades learning to make a place for ourselves in the corporate world. Along the way, we also took time to compare notes on the joys and challenges of being husbands and dads. Later ...

The intensive search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 entered its second month yesterday. Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) are very experienced with helping individuals and organizations in times of crisis, but the unprecedented scope and circumstances of the Malaysian Air disaster, and the continuing uncertainty about the plane’s fate, have created unique challenges for the EAP professionals working to support the ...

For the past 25 years the Families & Work Institute has been tracking the benefits practices, policies and programs of U.S. employers. Their findings have documented the many ways that employers and employees benefit from flexible and family friendly workplaces. The data demonstrates that in return for providing a more supportive workplace to employees, employers benefit by having “more engaged employees, ...

Are you a superhero? If you hesitated, think again: Are you a family caregiver? Do you juggle multiple demands at work? Are you the “go-to” person for planning family activities? Do you ever pick up the slack for family members or coworkers? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may very well be a superhero. Although we ...

I usually write about the experience of working. Today I want to write about the experience of not working and the plight of the unemployed. HBO’s heart wrenching documentary, American Winter, offers a compelling primer on the life-changing consequences of being without a job in America.   The film documents the daily personal struggles of 8 families in Portland, Oregon ...

I am thankful for a family that loves me even though I am so reliably imperfect. I am thankful for a profession which allows me to share meaningful moments in the lives of my clients. I am thankful for the hopeful and excited smile I receive from my granddaughter each time she greets me. I am thankful for public libraries ...

“Just in time” counseling is what we provided to a single mother of a 16 year old son recently. She called us at 1:30 am besieged by worry about her son who had neither called nor made it home for his midnight curfew. Believe me when I tell you that this mother was not seeking an appointment to see one ...

A few weeks ago the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that Dr. James Knight had a right to fire his dental assistant Melissa Nelson because Dr. Knight’s spouse (based on his admission of an attraction to Ms. Nelson) viewed the relationship as a threat to their marriage. Ms. Nelson, who had been an excellent employee for 10 years, filed a gender ...

I hope that you had a wonderful Father’s Day and were able to share some old memories and perhaps create some new ones as well. Now that I have completed my ascent to that third rung on the generational ladder, I feel a keener appreciation for the lifelong reach of my grandfathers’ influence. My grandfathers, Jack and Sam, had very ...

This has been a week of strong emotions. The sudden and wanton destruction of lives at the Boston Marathon finish line briefly shattered our sense of safety and compelled us to think about our shared human mortality and vulnerability. We reached out urgently to connect with friends and family members in Boston. Most of us were overjoyed to learn our ...