Regardless of whether it is a small or a big company, or international corporation – in each of them the work of a manager is inherently associated with a large number of duties and a high level of stress. Many tasks rest on the manager’s shoulders. A manager is responsible not only for the performance level of their own work and its impact on the company’s profitability, but also for the work effectiveness of their subordinates and maintaining a good “team spirit”.
Who is a manager in Poland?
More than half of people working on decision-making positions in Poland (56%)
- have an incorrect body mass index (BMI) – most often it is overweight and obesity. Nearly 20% of them have abnormal blood pressure values,
- 25% have elevated cholesterol values
- the average manager is about 40 years old and has many reasons to take serious care of their health.
Such data results from the data collected in the “Praca. Zdrowie. Ekonomia” report developed by Medicover. The conclusions of the report are clear. The greatest health risks for people working on managerial positions are heart attacks and strokes. The majority of the most common ailments affecting managers result from lifestyle irregularities.
Stress. Manager’s public enemy
Work on managerial positions is associated with increased responsibility and, therefore, with stress. This was proven by the ZenBusiness study, in which 1,000 people (managers and their subordinates) were surveyed. 24% of managers describe their work as extremely stressful, 62% admit that stress is moderate and only 13% think that they are slightly stressed.
Nutrition. The greatest sin of a manager
A large number of duties, including meetings, is not conducive to regular eating. According to the Dailyfruits studies, as many as 49% of respondents confirm that they have a problem with implementing healthy eating habits at work. As a result, they reach for cookies or chocolate bars. Therefore, it is so important to provide access to healthy snacks at work, e.g. in the form of regular deliveries of fruit and vegetables to offices or workplaces. Thanks to this, there is a chance that the consumption of healthy snacks among employees will increase. Unfortunately, currently as many as 48% of Polish employees reach for fruit too rarely and 38% eat too little vegetables.
Physical activity is fiction
According to the studies of the Institute of Occupational Medicine, low-intensity physical effort, mainly walking, has the largest share in the total weekly volume of physical activity among managers and its energy expenditure. In the light of the latest standards adopted by ACSM and WHO, only 27% of the surveyed managers met the recommendations regarding physical activity beneficial to health.
Illness of managers is a cost for companies
Managers, like other office workers, often suffer from respiratory infections, are exposed to injuries and chronic diseases of the musculoskeletal system. Despite this, the average manager is on a sick leave on average 3 days a year – definitely shorter than a lower-level office worker, whose sickness absence usually lasts 4.2 days a year.
Employee illness is a real cost for the employer. The analysis of epidemiological and economic data proved the need to invest in the health of professionally active people whose health problems significantly reduce their productivity at work. However, for these actions to be effective, it is necessary to implement long-term and multidimensional prevention and treatment programmes which are tailored to the needs of employees.
Who is a healthy manager and what are they responsible for?
The health of people on managerial positions and their efficiency of work resulting from good health should be a matter of particular concern from the perspective of company management. According to studies published in the “Development and Learning in Organizations” magazine, conducted on 156 senior managers indicated by organisations as “highly productive”, healthier managers:
– show a higher level of energy and drive,
– have greater stamina and resilience,
– show a lower level of stress,
– show greater cognitive and mental abilities,
– have greater overall productivity and efficiency,
– easier maintain a positive attitude to life,
– show greater self-confidence and self-esteem.
A good manager is a healthy manager. It is worth keeping this in mind and looking for solutions that will help to reduce stress levels and minimise fatigue, and consequently, make it possible to take on ambitious professional challenges without compromising health. Therefore, it is worth investing in health, just like investing in a business. Management at the highest level goes hand in hand with health.
