If you were privy to the previous company secrets that I was when I was CEO and the mindless way my superiors though of and treated their employees you would be shocked. Or when I was in Banking and the way the Bank paid out $500,000 in unbudgeted redundancies in 1994 besides other amounts that were cleverly disguised in various ways simply to get rid of people.

In my daily work as a strategic human resource management advisor I am privy to the heartaches of people as they tell me their difficulties. Most of these difficulties focus around other work colleagues or overwork. Chronic

There has been a lot of hullabaloo recently about the problems facing Australia in retaining talented workers and the subsequent pressure placed on those remaining behind in the workplace.

The incidence in stress claims is rising and is having an impact on the economy and enterprises in general.

The incidences of people who work ‘day in day out’ who in many ways are closet workaholics is increasing.We are told that 1 in 5 Australians are suffering from some sort of mental illness and that 1 in 7 teenager’s at high-school suffer from depression. This comes from proven research but my guess is that it is probably higher, after all these subjects are still quite taboo in our society.

Why be the richest and unhappiest person in the cemetery? Take a walk around the local cemetery sometimes and read the inscriptions – it’s actually quite interesting what you read.

People are becoming crankier, less tolerant, and the workplace is rapidly becoming a battleground where much emotion is wasted in argy bargy, meetings and petty grievances.

It could be argued that ‘workaholism’ could be in part contributed by the ageing population, different generational expectations, talented workers moving offshore and the move from permanent employment to contract working. This is simply untrue.

The lesson seems to be that some have work and others don’t, slaving away 12 hours plus per day in order to keep the wolf from the door, the mortgage paid, the annual holiday and whatever else pushes their buttons and sacrifice quality of life – for what?.

Australia has one of the most highly qualified unemployed ‘work-force’ in the world.

I am a firm believer in education and as one wise person said ‘if you think that education is expensive try ignorance’. I am committed to life long learning so long as it benefits my clients and me.

But what about the commonsense approach of sharing the load and looking after our back yard.

Why aren’t company’s learning from their mistakes, taking responsibility (a dirty word today) and ensuring that they are adequately resourced and taking the time to know their people. Or could it be that the relentless drive for shareholder value has blinded the eyes of these executives who sit in their ivory towers issuing edicts mindless to the fact that below them often sits a smoking powder keg. If you were privy to the previous company secrets that I was when I was CEO and the mindless way my superiors though of and treated their employees you would be shocked. Or when I was in Banking and the way the Bank paid out $500,000 in unbudgeted redundancies in 1994 besides other amounts that were cleverly disguised in various ways simply to get rid of people.

In my daily work as a strategic human resource management advisor I am privy to the heartaches of people as they tell me their difficulties. Most of these difficulties focus around other work colleagues or overwork. Chronic o

ut my guess is that it is probably higher, after all these subjects are still quite taboo in our society.

Why be the richest and unhappiest person in the cemetery? Take a walk around the local cemetery sometimes and read the inscriptions – it’s actually quite interesting what you read.

People are becoming crankier, less tolerant, and the workplace is rapidly becoming a battleground where much emotion is wasted in argy bargy, meetings and petty grievances.

It could be argued that ‘workaholism’ could be in part contributed by the ageing population, different generational expectations, talented workers moving offshore and the move from permanent employment to contract working. This is simply untrue.

The lesson seems to be that some have work and others don’t, slaving away 12 hours plus per day in order to keep the wolf from the door, the mortgage paid, the annual holiday and whatever else pushes their buttons and sacrifice quality of life – for what?.

Australia has one of the most highly qualified unemployed ‘work-force’ in the world.

I am a firm believer in education and as one wise person said ‘if you think that education is expensive try ignorance’. I am committed to life long learning so long as it benefits my clients and me.

But what about the commonsense approach of sharing the load and looking after our back yard.

Why aren’t company’s learning from their mistakes, taking responsibility (a dirty word today) and ensuring that they are adequately resourced and taking the time to know their people. Or could it be that the relentless drive for shareholder value has blinded the eyes of these executives who sit in their ivory towers issuing edicts mindless to the fact that below them often sits a smoking powder keg. If you were privy to the previous company secrets that I was when I was CEO and the mindless way my superiors though of and treated their employees you would be shocked. Or when I was in Banking and the way the Bank paid out $500,000 in unbudgeted redundancies in 1994 besides other amounts that were cleverly disguised in various ways simply to get rid of people.

In my daily work as a strategic human resource management advisor I am privy to the heartaches of people as they tell me their difficulties. Most of these difficulties focus around other work colleagues or overwork. Chronic

ectations, talented workers moving offshore and the move from permanent employment to contract working. This is simply untrue.

The lesson seems to be that some have work and others don’t, slaving away 12 hours plus per day in order to keep the wolf from the door, the mortgage paid, the annual holiday and whatever else pushes their buttons and sacrifice quality of life – for what?.

Australia has one of the most highly qualified unemployed ‘work-force’ in the world.

I am a firm believer in education and as one wise person said ‘if you think that education is expensive try ignorance’. I am committed to life long learning so long as it benefits my clients and me.

But what about the commonsense approach of sharing the load and looking after our back yard.

Why aren’t company’s learning from their mistakes, taking responsibility (a dirty word today) and ensuring that they are adequately resourced and taking the time to know their people. Or could it be that the relentless drive for shareholder value has blinded the eyes of these executives who sit in their ivory towers issuing edicts mindless to the fact that below them often sits a smoking powder keg. If you were privy to the previous company secrets that I was when I was CEO and the mindless way my superiors though of and treated their employees you would be shocked. Or when I was in Banking and the way the Bank paid out $500,000 in unbudgeted redundancies in 1994 besides other amounts that were cleverly disguised in various ways simply to get rid of people.

In my daily work as a strategic human resource management advisor I am privy to the heartaches of people as they tell me their difficulties. Most of these difficulties focus around other work colleagues or overwork. Chronic

gnorance’. I am committed to life long learning so long as it benefits my clients and me.

But what about the commonsense approach of sharing the load and looking after our back yard.

Why aren’t company’s learning from their mistakes, taking responsibility (a dirty word today) and ensuring that they are adequately resourced and taking the time to know their people. Or could it be that the relentless drive for shareholder value has blinded the eyes of these executives who sit in their ivory towers issuing edicts mindless to the fact that below them often sits a smoking powder keg. If you were privy to the previous company secrets that I was when I was CEO and the mindless way my superiors though of and treated their employees you would be shocked. Or when I was in Banking and the way the Bank paid out $500,000 in unbudgeted redundancies in 1994 besides other amounts that were cleverly disguised in various ways simply to get rid of people.

In my daily work as a strategic human resource management advisor I am privy to the heartaches of people as they tell me their difficulties. Most of these difficulties focus around other work colleagues or overwork. Chronic

If you were privy to the previous company secrets that I was when I was CEO and the mindless way my superiors though of and treated their employees you would be shocked. Or when I was in Banking and the way the Bank paid out $500,000 in unbudgeted redundancies in 1994 besides other amounts that were cleverly disguised in various ways simply to get rid of people.

In my daily work as a strategic human resource management advisor I am privy to the heartaches of people as they tell me their difficulties. Most of these difficulties focus around other work colleagues or overwork. Chronic overwork has a tremendous impact of personal health, family life and company productivity.

I have to confess that I was once a workaholic for many years before a heart scare woke me up in time and thankfully without doing any major damage to my health. This is not just my story but one of many that is illustrated by the following true story that I was involved with (names and identities have been changed).

The following is a true story with details changed to protect privacy.

Liam was the General Manager of an organisation that operated in New South Wales and Queensland. He was very experienced in his field and had been a secret workaholic for 15 years.

He had been employed to help get the company back on track after the overseas parent company had put the cleaners through management and left the company drift for 3 months without leadership

Soon after starting he began to experience increased pressure and the mantra seemed to be ‘I’ve been working on the railroad all the dead day long’

Yes it was sales, sales, sales, profit, profit, and profit come hell or ‘high-water’ with no regard to workers who were viewed as lazy.

For the first 6 months Liam worked hard at raising the company standard. This often required Liam travelling away from home.

Liam started to achieve some credible results and after 6 months had NSW and QLD co-operating as a team for the first time in 12 years and sales and profits started to increase. This came to the notice of the overseas parent but the pressure was not lessoned. This was despite him working 14 –16 hour days.

Liam wasn't happy and looked at his options. He took the option to resign although he could have taken leave under workplace health and safety guidelines. In his resignation letter he tabled his concerns about the company’s breach of their duty of care, and other known incidences that he had brought to management and that he had not been given the reasonable relief he had requested.

I became involved with this process and represented Liam in discussions with the Chairman of the Board.

What does the law say?

Under the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995 employers have an obligation to ensure the health and safety of all workers by managing risks at the workplace. This includes physical, mental and emotional. In addition, employers are