The Work Clinic

Ever worked in an office where you find yourself fantasising about the guy or girl sitting opposite you or seated in another department? Office flirtation can be harmless yet it's an issue that causes many of us to sweat. If you start an office romance, do you come clean and tell your colleagues and bosses straightaway?

Is there a relationship policy forbidding you to strike up relations in the work environment but you don't think you can stop yourself. And of course not ignoring the stereotypical office affair where colleagues end up seducing or being seduced by a married partner. Relationship expert Brenda Della Casa is on hand.

Yesterday afternoon it came to light that I hadn't offered to make a round of tea for a few days and this caused uproar in my tea round group.

Suddenly, accusing faces were shouting from across my department: "Coops, it really is your turn to make tea," as I struggled to turn focus away from my computer screen, and was waiting for someone to send copy through on e-mail.

You see, there are nine people in our tea group - that's a lot of mugs to wash out and it takes around:

Steve Miller:
As I ate my breakfast recently I was horrified to hear the findings of a report on GMTV highlighting that 40% of employees didn’t get on with at least one of their colleagues, and a staggering 23% hated their desk buddy so much they found an excuse to move seats to get away from them.

Dear Natalie

I’ve just begun a relationship with a senior colleague in my office. We don’t have cause to work together very often, but comments are being made and I’m worried about the impact on the teams we both work with. Am I being overly cautious?

Name withheld

Ok, so it's 14.06pm and I'm half-way through my blogathon challenge (see posting below). As part of this challenge, Reed Business Information's editorial director handed out a cup full of mystery "random keywords" at our breakfast meeting, and each blogger had to pick one. Part of the deal was to write the keyword we had chosen as much as possible during our postings throughout the day.

Guess what mine is? Yep, it's random - "follicle". I mean what does follicle have to do with human resources and the workplace? Can you imagine greeting your colleagues with: "Morning, how's your hair follicles today?" it doesn't quite sound right does it?...

Dear friends,

Before I launch into the 17th HR Carnival I just wanted to use this opportunity to introduce myself. I'm a journalist for Personnel Today, and officially launched the Work Clinic beginning of July 2007.

Although I've been a journalist for 10 years, now more than ever, our roles, whether as communicators, industry experts, entrepreneurs, HR professionals, managers etc are increasingly changing as the way employees, consumers, clients, readers and audiences continuously change the way they want to source their information, either through interacting with us directly through forums, blogging and social networking, or through using the net to search company information/absorb and/or digest news to keep up with industry trends. As such our news team have just launched their own editors' blog.

Three months on and I have to admit I've become a bit of an addict to blogging. It's an exciting time for us all. Although I'm fairly new to the blogosphere world, I love the buzz of blogging as it's given me access to a whole new international cyber community - I've found a new gateway to exchange and share opinions, views and thoughts with you all on workplace culture and human resources issues - whether you're a blogger or a commentator.

So, in future I look forward to working with you all and collaborating on some exciting projects, should you wish to get involved. Just to make it absolutely clear how seriously I am in doing what I can to push the blogging revolution, I have managed to turn the Work Clinic into a two-page weekly column within Personnel Today where I am now featuring my favourite blog of the week (I've already showcased XpertHR, Evil HR Lady, Flipchart Fairytales and HR Wench) as well as showcasing the Work Clinic posting of the week along with your comments.

If you would like to be featured for the "my favourite blog" section, please email me and in 50 words, describe the essence of your blog. A screen grab of your blog home page, along with 50 words copy will be featured in a future issue.

Please also keep a check on my postings where I will be asking your opinions on various topics which I can then collate and feature back into the magazine. For example, we're currently trialling to see if we can put together a feature in print entirely based on user generated content from this blog based on your stories. Please do contribute: corporate hospitality disaster stories.

If you have any other feature ideas, suggestions and want me to keep you as a contact on file should I need to interview someone at short notice, drop me your details. I also welcome guest experts to appear on this blog.

So it's with real honour I open up the 17th HR Carnival...

I've just come back off my hols. I was in Cyprus for two weeks and as expected, I've returned to a full inbox with emails clogging up my memory space. So thanks to Gareth Vorster, online news editor, for holding the fort in my absence.

Wouldn't it be fantastic though if we all had a dedicated PA on hand to take care of everything while we're away? I wouldn't then have to face the mammoth task of wading through and responding to e-mails, listening to voice messages and prioritising my workload for the next three days. However, if you're one of the lucky ones that is blessed with a PA, then listen up.

A savvy PA is the backbone of any office and can be instrumental to your business. Choosing the right PA for yourself and your team, can even break or make you. We have a team PA and she's the glue that binds everything together. We'd all be lost without her...So, how do you know you're onto a winning PA?...

Deborah Meredith, City PA:

"An excellent personal assistant is hard to define. Pop stars may be holding onto that all-important ‘X’ factor but the country’s best PAs have to come ready – packaged with factors ‘A’ (attitude) and ‘I’- (intelligence)...

Soon, we'll all be approaching the festive season. A time to socialise and let your hair down with colleagues and clients. Bring on the merry lunches and the Christmas parties I say.

However, while Christmas is a traditional time of year where managers organise team drinks outside of the office, a recent Monster poll shows that three out of four UK workers are unlikely to socialise with colleagues outside of work.

I'm not sure about you, but I think this is a disturbing result. I thoroughly believe in a visit to the local pub / bar after work with colleagues.

The question asked was: “How often do you socialise with your colleagues outside of work."

The poll received 1662 votes. Here are the results:
- 39% (648 votes) Occasionally
- 36% (599 votes) Never
- 17% (282 votes) At least once a week
- 8% (133 votes) Every two weeks

Julian Acquari, managing director, Monster UK and Ireland, says:

“It's important to take the time to develop relationships with work colleagues that extend beyond the day-to-day working relationships...

How many times do you receive formal work e-mails sent by business contacts you've never met, only to then be signed off with a friendly kiss (both female or male associates)? When it comes to e-mail etiquette, there's some cause for confusion. E-mail doesn't allow for the tone of voice to be conveyed, so what's in a kiss?

I recently received a call out of the blue from a complete stranger to discuss a work issue. Nothing unusual in that, as every day I'm bombarded with calls and e-mails from many different work contacts, but after talking about a potential feature idea for Personnel Today magazine and agreeing on a topic, this seemed to give this person the green light to follow up with a formal recap of our conversation in an e-mail, and to then sign-off with a friendly kiss...

Should I be offended? Is this just a harmless act to show that we've broken the formal business introduction? Or could this contact be relatively new to the world of work; part of the Generation Y population, brought up using social networking sites so views e-mail as a communication tool that can be used in a more casual way?

So recently I featured a posting about 'moofing' now Office Angels has coined the phrase 'smossiping' (smoking outside while having a gossip). Apparently, according to a survey revealed today by Office Angels, 14% of over 1000 UK workers prefer to smossip as a way of relaying office news. Let's face it we all love a bit of office gossip, as the survey continues to reveal that:

- Almost one in three office workers cower in the canteen or local cafe
- One fifth discuss more than last night’s TV by the water cooler
- 17% tinkle on their key board on IM/email or send a sneaky text

However, there's always a catch when gossiping. While 35% have heard someone talking about them behind their back, more than a quarter have had a working relationship ruined by office gossiping and over 15% have been caught discussing their boss’ behaviour.

David Clubb, managing director of Office Angels, comments:

“While office chit-chat is part of working life there can be a fine line between social interaction and nasty gossip. It's important to maintain a professional attitude at all times, starting rumours about colleagues undermines working relationships and can lead to an atmosphere of mistrust, impacting on performance. If you are seen to start malicious gossip, both your colleagues and senior management will view you as someone who doesn’t think values such as honesty and integrity are important.”

His gossip rules are as follows:·
· Immerse yourself in friendly chit-chat, but be aware not to partake in gossiping at the expense of another employee. Office walls have ears and it is easy to trace gossip back to the source
· We all need to let off steam occasionally but it’s best to discuss other colleagues or your boss with people separate from your working life, where other people’s opinions won’t be affected.
· Consider whether you want to be seen as a gossipy person. Everyone likes to know about the latest office ‘scandal’ whether it’s a blossoming relationship in the office or a colleague handing in their notice but you don’t need to be the first person to tell everyone all of the time
· Be careful who you confide in. Be aware that whilst light-hearted office gossip does forge friendships, the work place is a very competitive environment. Only confide in true friends or pay a visit to your HR Manager if you’ve got something on your mind
· The old adage rings true – treat others and you would like to be treated.

It’s Valentine’s Day, and the daily commute – usually grim enough – was somehow worsened by teenage girls clumsily wielding bunches of roses and gazing adoringly up at their hoodie-wearing lovers, all the while blindly causing havoc among fellow travellers. As Work Clinic’s other half is rather too fond of saying ‘It’s all just one big marketing ploy.’ But there are still some romantics out there, and what could be more natural than falling in love with a colleague?

Reed, the UK’s largest recruiter, has just surveyed 2000 workers, and the results show that 54% of them have a secret crush on a colleague. Read on for some other interesting statistics …..

77% of women working in IT do not feel they have sufficient skills to manage in a political context within the workplace. This figure comes from a recent “Political Savvy for Women in IT” event held by online job board and networking portal www.womenintechnology.co.uk.

The main skills that women wanted to develop were their confidence in both handling and identifying office politics. “I tend to ignore politics and avoid it in the office”, said one attendee while another commented “I want to gain the ability to analyse and understand the political environment”. “Knowing the difference between gossip and politics” and “managing the egos of others in a testosterone fuelled workplace” were also on women’s wish lists.

According to a new survey by HR with Guts and Orion Partners, 42% of HR professionals think that the quality of leadership in HR is poor or satisfactory.

The results show a conflict within HR – while HR business partners and heads of HR continue to try to fill the traditional roles they have inherited, at the same time they are trying to show their understanding of the need to develop more strategic behaviours and competencies

Findings include:

A recent report. ‘Etiquette in the Digital Age’, produced by the Post Office, has shown that Britons are relying on text messages and e-mail to get themselves out of sticky situations – with 73% of people admitting to delegating difficult tasks at work by e-mail and text, and 52% using these forms of technology to contact new business prospects.

Respondents admitted to relying on e-mail and texting for a range of awkward workplace tasks, including:

• Delegating tasks – 73%
• Contacting new business prospects – 52%
• Apologising for mistakes - 51%
• Resigning from a job – 13%
• Firing an employee – 2%

Research carried out by international leadership development organisation Common Purpose has revealed a change in attitude towards networks and networking, with 68% of those surveyed expecting to increase their networking activity over the next five years. This rises to 75% within 25-44 year olds.

The research also highlights a growing recognition of networking as more than a social activity. Almost two thirds of respondents said that networks are important to their career success. But networking for the sake of it is pointless. Common Purpose recommends the following:

Almost half of PAs and secretaries (43%) do not feel comfortable in approaching their boss for a pay rise as they find their superiors intimidating. The recent online poll by office support recruiter Crone Corkill found that because of this, most would rather wait and see if they were offered a salary increase than request one.

"It is surprising that so many PAs said that they would not approach their boss considering they work so closely with them" comments Tracy Durrant, managing director at Crone Corkill. "However many also said they would have to judge their boss's workload first so they obviously know them well enough to know when is a good time, and when isn't! Discussing workplace and employment issues is important and office support staff should see it as a vital element in building a strong working relationship, which employers will value."

In an age where it is not unheard of for city-based office workers to turn up at the office in shorts, it seems that we may have finally tired of informality and inappropriate familiarity.
Research by Kristina Hultgren of Oxford University's Faculty of English has shown that the chatty language used by call-centre staff is beginning to grate. Customers are bridling, in particular, at the use by strangers of their first names. This odd familiarity is down to training. Call-centre staff, regardless of the markets in which they are dealing, are being asked to use that 'Have a nice day' American style of chat that doesn't go down particularly well with us more formal Europeans. While under pressure to deal with a certain number of calls per hour, staff are still expected to simulate a personal relationship with customers - addressing them by their first name seems to be the fastest way to achieve this.
And while call centres are not representative of society, the decline of formality is undeniable. Opinion is very much mixed as to whether or not this is a good thing. The relaxing of dress codes - certainly outside the City and more corporate environments - seems to be working well. Many people feel more comfortable, and more confident, in slightly more casual clothes, and are every bit as professional as when suited and booted.
It's informal behaviour, rather than dress, that could cause problems - particularly bearing in mind that the next generation of employees are much less formal outside work. Should we expect a generation brought up on FaceBook and texting to know how to address their workplace seniors? Should organisations have to take responsibility for teaching their staff how to behave in a business context? Or should we just accept that we will end up talking to the chief executive as if we met them in the pub?

The British love to complain - they aren't called 'whingeing Poms' for nothing - and, the rotten weather aside, one of their favourite subjects is 'the boss'. And given the financial mess that we're sliding into, you'd think that our business leaders would be taking some flack. Apparently not.

In a poll of 750 people by international leadership development organisation Common Purpose, 'business leaders' were picked by 45% of those asked who their leadership role model was - ahead of politicians (no surprise there), historical figures, religious figures and teachers. Although perhaps this says more about the people polled - and today's society in general. All hope is not lost, however, as sporting figures came last, with just 3% of the vote.

And the business leaders who were singled out as potential role models? Marks and Spencer chief executive Stuart Rose, Birmingham City Football Club's managing director, Karren Brady, and Virgin boss Richard Branson.

Says Julia Middleton, Common Purpose's chief executive, 'It is great that our belief in business leaders has not been dented. It will be them that accelerate us out of recession. But if it is to be swift and strong, it will take a combined effort and a great ability to lead multi-disciplinary teams to deal with the challenges that clearly spill over boundaries and connect us all'.

At the risk of sounding like the voice of doom, perhaps we need to revist this topic in six months' time - I've a feeling that some of those business leaders may have fallen off their pedestals by then ... 

We've always suspected that bosses - bad ones in particular - are bad for the health. And finally we have scientific evidence to back up our biases.

Researchers at the Karolinska Institute and Stockholm University found a strong link between poor leadership and the risk of serious heart disease and heart attacks among 3000 employed men. And it would appear that the risk is cumulative - the longer the men stayed with their poor bosses, the greater the threat to their health.

For the study, researchers tracked the heart health of the men, aged between 19 and 70, over almost a decade. During this time, 74 cases of fatal and non-fatal heart attack or acute angina or death from ischaemic heart disease.

Participants were asked to rate the leadership style of their senior managers on competencies such as how clearly they set out goals for their staff and how good they were at communicating and giving feedback. The staff who deemed their senior managers to be the least competent had a 25% higher risk of a serious heart problem.

And those working for four years or more had a 64% higher risk.

The researchers, who included experts from University College London and the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, stated that if a direct cause and effect was confirmed, then managers' behaviour should be targeted in order to avoid serious heart disease among less senior managers.

According to British Heart Foundation cardiac nurse Cathy Ross, "This limited, male-only study suggests that a good, clear working relationship with your manager may help to protect against heart disease.

"Feeling undervalued and unsupported can cause stress, which often leads to unhealthy behaviours such as smoking, eating a poor diet, drinking too much alcohol and not getting enough exercise - adding to the risk of health problems".

According to research by the University of Southern California's Brain and Creativity Institute, fast-paced modern media such as Twitter fail to give us the necessary time to reflect on either our own comments and actions or those of others.

Researchers used compelling, real-life stories to induce admiration for virtue or skill, or compassion for physical or social pain, in 13 volunteers. They found that emotions linked to our moral sense awaken slowly in the mind - brain imaging showed that the volunteers needed six to eight seconds to fully respond.

The study inevitably raised questions about the emotional cost of heavy reliance on a rapid stream of news stories, as personified by Twitter. According to the university's Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, "If things are happening too fast, you may not ever fully experience emotions about other people's psychological states and that would have implications for your morality." Immordino-Yang was keen to point out, however, that the blame lies not with social media per se, but the way in which it is used.

Hanna Damisio, co-director of the Institute, has voiced concerns about the juxtopositioning of good and bad news on sites such as Twitter, saying that it leads to an "indifference to the vision of human suffering."

Younger employees have grown up with social media. They are used to getting their information in rapidly-delivered soundbites, good and bad tidings together. They are very well informed. But are they good, rounded, people? Do they view colleagues with care and compassion? And if not, what should employers be doing to ensure that they do so?

The news story of the month, all but knocking swine flu off the headlines, has been MPs' misuse of the expenses system. After the first couple of exposés, it quickly became tedious.

A couple of days later, avid TV viewers may have been a tad bemused to see an ad for Blackpool, sexing it up by dint of playing on its similarities to Paris (they both have wrought iron towers, and ...er, that's it) and having a pretty French girl tell us, in French, how much she loves living there.

 And

And last, but by no means least, well-known ex-soldier and fibber, Bear Grylls - he of the  wilderness luxury hotel stays - is elected Chief Scout. Oddly, of the three, this is the most galling, perhaps because we expect better of an organisation based on honour.
When did it become ok to lie? And under what circumstances, if any, is it excusable? We've all heard of the white lie, but cheating on your expenses is theft - whether or not you return the money. And misrepresenting something, somewhere or someone is every bit as dishonest.

 
With several generations now presumably convinced that lying is a sure-fire means of reaching the top, how are employers to ensure a culture of honesty and mutual trust?

According to North West law firm Mace & Jones, the recession is prompting an increase in senior level personality conflicts.

The root of the problem apparently lies in staff shortages. As more and more staff are laid off, managers are being forced to work more closely with their teams - managers more used to sitting in the corner office, avoiding unpleasantness.

Mace & Jones' head of employment law Martin Edwards says: "This is leading to personality conflicts as egos clash, insecurities are heightened and areas of responsibilities are redrawn."

He adds that "Personality conflicts are one of the most destructive employment issues in a workplace. Work is disrupted and teams are divided. This in turn leads to poor management, missed targets and bad working environments." All at a time when many companies are struggling to survive. 

Edwards recommends tackling the problem head-on, pointing out that "No business can tolerate staff who cannot put their differences aside for the good of the firm. If senior management, the leaders of the business, cannot work together, this is a very serious problem."

The danger here is that companies facing financial problems will not see this as a priority. They will assume, wrongly, that the situation will sort itself out. They may even think - again wrongly - that a bit of temper or inability to work in a team is not a bad thing in a senior manager. By the time they realise the error of their ways, they may well find themselves faced with a tribunal.

According to researchers at the University of Western Sydney (UWS), personality type is more important than academic achievements when it comes to recruitment. They found that personality is a better indicator of career preference or aptitude than social or academic background. And if they're to be believed, that old chestnut about needing a ruthless streak to get on in the world may even be true.

UWS researchers looked at five different characteristics:

• openness to experience
• conscientiousness
• extroversion
• agreeableness
• emotional stability

They found that specific personality types were more prevalent in certain jobs. For instance, clerical workers tend to be conscientious but neurotic and prey to stress, while office workers are stable but less conscientious.

Managers, however. while especially conscientious and open to experience. are more antagonistic and suffer from 'lower agreeableness'. I'm not sure we needed a research project to unearth that little gem ....

While there's a certain amount of sense behind recruiting by personality, most jobs do still require a degree of skill and some relevant academic background. The dangers in ignoring this are twofold - first, that successful candidates have the attitude but not the skills needed. And second, that recruiters recruit in their own like, hiring people that they get on with. However nice it is to become friends with colleagues, it's very much the case that there need to be a few people in any team prepared to disagree with the majority, and to be happy to stand up and pick holes in the modus operandi.

So next time your manager's grumpy, it may be a case of putting up with it - for the greater good of the team.

According to the latest employment study from recruiters Badenoch & Clark, British managers are struggling to win the trust of their staff - one in six workers don't believe a word their employer says. 

Only 15% of the 1,005 respondents said they totally trusted their manager. One of the knock-on results of this mistrust is a ramping up of the office rumour-mill. One in four workers reported an increase in company gossip since the recession has taken hold - a figure that goes up to 49% amongst banking and finance professionals.

And there'a an interesting geographical split - almost a third (32%) of workers in the Midlands don't believe what their manager has to say.

Neil Wilson, managing director at Badenoch & Clark, says: "These figures should come as a wake up call to employers and managers throughout the country. There's currently significant effort being put in by many organisations to carefully control what is told to employees about business performance, but all of that is for nought unless there's an element of trust between employer and employee".

It used to be that any sign of emotion at work was a career-killer, particularly for women, who were expected to act like men if they wanted to climb the corporate ladder.

But these days, a decade after the death of Princess Diana and the ridiculous outpouring of grief it prompted, blubbing in the office is accepted, and even, in certain circumstances, de rigueur.

Experts say this is due to the proliferation of Generation Y employees. They've been brought up to show - and share - their emotions, regarding the traditional stiff upper lip as old-fashioned and unhealthily repressed.

So is it - or isn't it - ok to cry at work? I think it depends on the circumstances. If a colleague has been bereaved, immediate, public tears are both natural and acceptable. But if they're crying over something to do with work, or something colleagues would regard as relatively trivial, it would be best to find somewhere more private.

So take yourself off for a coffee or a quick burst of fresh air, and get it out of your system. Whatever Gen Y might think. sobbing over your keyboard (apart from the risk of electrocuting yourself) will mark you out as overly emotional and possibly less capable of doing your job.

Research conducted by free e-mail provider GMX has found that 1 in 3 Britons who use e-mail at work regularly become upset or offended due to misunderstanding what a colleague has written.

The survey of almost 2000 UK workers found that the most common cause for confusion is misinterpretation: in the past year alone, 41% of workers have received an e-mail from a colleague that has used an offensive tone, intentionally or otherwise.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, taking offence at misunderstood e-mails appears (along with so much else ,,,) to decline with age:

• 52% of workers aged 25-34 have taken offence at e-mails, compared to
• 39% between 45-54 years of age

I'm a bit sceptical about the validity of statistics like this. Do 45-year-olds even read their e-mails?! 

Best of all, and somewhat ridiculously, 71% of workers admitted to frequently becoming upset by having to wait for replies to their e-mails. Boo hoo!  

Not sure how accurate these stats are, or even where they originally came from, but they certainly provide some food for thought.

Coaching, consulting and training company Krauthammer is building up a European dashboard of management dimensions. The company is researching the behaviour employees want from their managers, such as the way managers "encourage them to express their ideas" or "identify their talent". Of the 27 behavioural areas surveyed, two practices rank top of the list of most wanted, year after year:

• 95% would like their manager to analyse their work problems with them.
  
• 80% would want their manager to admit their mistakes spontaneously

And the rest of the top ten most wanted behaviours:

•  83% would want their manager to give them autonomy when delegating
•  81% would expect their manager to consider their personal development when delegating
•  80% would expect their manager to let them finish explaining their ideas and encourage them to continue
  80% would like their manager to involve them in dilemmas, inventorising, solving problems
• 80% would like their manager to encourage them to find a common solution in conflict situation
• 80% would like their manager to use 360 degree feedback to evaluate their talents
• 79% would like their manager to involve them when defining their development objectives
• 75% would like their managers to praise their good results and efforts

Krauthammer also investigated the commitment levels of employees, their job satisfaction and what they consider when deciding whether or not to remain in their current organisation.

Only 16% of people are finding the business pressure difficult to bear, 41% are feeling neutral and 43% even report that the pressure is very much or totally tolerable. And when it comes to employee commitment and job satisfaction, only 41% are very committed to remaining in their organisations over the next 12 months, whilst 27% are neutral or even uncommitted.

According to the survey, employees seem more interested in the content of their current job, and fairly relaxed about job security. Salary matters, but is not a primary motivator.

It's National Hug Your Boss Day today. Just the words 'hug your boss' make me want to cry, and I'm sure the effect on my boss is similar, if not worse.

Apparently, "Workers across the country are being asked to put their recession and job woes aside this month and take a moment to spread the love and improve their relationship with their employer on National Hug Your Boss Day."

Devised by online job board TipTopJob.com, National Hug Your Boss Day will ask employees across the UK to test the quality of their working relationship with their manager by asking them the all important "could you hug your boss" question.

Tiptop.com says that research shows that a company's progress is often hindered by poor relationships between managers and their staff, which coupled with an increase in recession redundancies, has seen a significant decline in staff morale and motivation.

I know I'm a bitter old cynic, but I find this sort of thing ridiculous. Surely a good working relationship between two adults doesn't require hugging. I can't decide whether to channel Victor Meldrew or Ebeneezer Scrooge. Bah humbug!

Research carried out at the University of Stockholm, and published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, has found that employees who fail to complain about unfair treatment at work double their risk of heart attack or dying from heart disease.

Keeping things bottled up - 'covert coping' - greatly increases the likelihood of poor health, according to the researchers. Employees, particularly men, who confront colleagues and bosses about workplace disputes are at a much lower risk of heart problems.

Covert copers were asked how they dealt with stress. Methods included not saying anything, walking away from conflict, developing head or stomach ache, or losing their temper later at home.

Judy O'Sullivan, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: "Stress itself is not a risk factor for heart disease, but some people's responses to stress, such as smoking or overeating, can increase the risk."

So it's official - next time your boss winds you up, just let them know what you think of them. And don't worry about the aftermath - tell them it's a health matter.

The Guardian has come up with a handy guide to surviving the office Christmas party. Here are their top tips:

1. Don't try to get out of going.

2. Dress to impress - not to shock.

3. Have a drink - but stay one behind the boss.

4. Don't push your luck - don't drink the free bar dry.

5. Take advantage of the occasion. This is a great chance to network with the bigwigs (but only if you're sober).

6. Avoid 'crazy japes' (their words, not mine).

7. Put on a brave face the next day. Get to the office on time. Make the necessary apologies discreetly.

8. Read the full article ....