• A couple of hundred years ago, the first day of the working week used to
be known as Saint Monday. Such was the penchant of factory workers to declare
it as an unofficial bank holiday on which to recover from a weekend’s boozing.
And we may be in danger of a return to such times after the Government’s
decision to scrap the admittedly archaic ban on dancing on Sunday nights.
Monday is already the most likely day for workers to contract some
"mystery" 24-hour flu/stomach bug/virus/aneurysm (delete as
appropriate). So the prospect of extended revelling on Sundays is not only
going to make the absence problem worse, but also the excuses. Can you imagine?
Even if they do make it in, your saucer-eyed, pale-faced employees are
hardly likely to be breaking productivity records. So much for the Government’s
vaunted employer friendliness. But there is an even worse thought. This Sunday
night partying might lead to a revival of the Boomtown Rats classic, I Don’t
Like Mondays.
Trust’s stress solution is a load of balls
• The state of the NHS has been the big issue in the press of late and the
growing stresses and strains among staff is one of the major topics.
Measures to reduce these pressure levels are to be applauded, but one
particular NHS trust has got things a little bit wrong.
At a reputed cost of £1,600, Newham Community Health Trust has issued its
11,000 staff with squeezy stress-relieving balls.
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According to The Sun, a letter from human resources director David Cooper
tells employees they can use the stress ball "to take out any pent-up
violence and aggression as an acceptable alternative to taking it out on
patients."
The trust says the balls were funded from money awarded to promote equality
policy and that the investment was not waste of money. It will be interesting
to see if stress levels improve. Personally, I think it is a bit of a balls-up.
