As people strive to be more efficient in a competitive work environment they often work longer hours, fret about their performance and forget to enjoy what they do. Ironically, the resulting stress can lower workplace performance and productivity.
Not so at Victoria’s City of Ballarat where almost all staff have attended one of a series of full day seminars aimed at keeping balance in their lives. Ballarat’s Work and Play Working Party Committee (WAPWOP) organised the seminars, run by stress management specialists Patricia Cameron Hill and Shayne Yates. This dynamic duo use humour and fun to deliver a serious health messages and lifestyle ideas.
The Seminar, ‘Stress Humour and Health’ gives people strategies for managing the way they feel, boosting their sense of humour and living longer. Lynne McLennan, General Manager Services at Ballarat, said there has been fantastic feedback from staff about the course. One staff member went to the trouble of writing a letter to say how great it is to see people with smiles on their faces.
“It is not the total answer,” Lynne said. “But it is a leavening process that can break the ice. The seminars are assisting Council as it moves to an increasingly team based approach to work. They also help people to feel they are valued by the organisation.”
Council has now introduced lunchtime walks and neck and shoulder massage sessions to lighten the mood and improve physical health.
For further information contact Lynne McLennan, telephone (03) 5320 5585 or Sue Price at Cameron Hill & Yates Seminars Pty Ltd, telephone (03) 9696 4326.
