Stressful Workplace Environments

An important factor in workplace environment is to avoid stress to the employees. Businesses like Jeff Asherbranner-Sales Consulting do everything they can to avoid stressful work environment.

If you have a cruel boss or rotten co-workers, beware. It may not be just your job that's on the line.

Clearly, a work environment that includes insults, back stabbing and belittling can erode an employee's morale. What's less understood is that such a toxic work atmosphere can also lead to deteriorating health. At WebMD, we talked to the experts to find out what it is about negative work relationships that can cause so much stress, how our bodies react to chronic workplace stress, and what it takes to find relief.

A Need to Be Heard

Feeling trapped in a workplace that isn't fair can actually increase your risk for coronary heart disease (CHD), a leading cause of death in the U.S. In a two-part landmark Finnish study conducted between 1985 and 1990, researchers surveyed more than 6,000 male British civil servants -- without presence of CHD -- regarding how fair, or unfair, they perceived their employers. Subjects who reported a high level of justice at work were 30% less likely to develop CHD than workers who consistently experienced injustice at work.

Just how did study participants define "justice" in the workplace? Those who felt their bosses considered their viewpoints, treated them truthfully, and included them in decision-making processes said they worked in "just" workplaces.

The results of the study show what many experts say: Feeling like you haven't been heard ranks as the most stressful aspect of interpersonal work relationships. "It's a helplessness that comes when employees feel like they've expressed themselves and been discounted, or someone hasn't taken the time to listen to them," says psychologist Carol Kauffman, PhD, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School's department of psychiatry.

Others agree. "The workplace needs to feel meaningful. If you feel like you're not respected, that your opinion isn't meaningful, you're at an increased risk of heart disease," says Bruce Rabin, MD, PhD, a professor of pathology and psychiatry at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. On the flip side, Rabin tells WebMD, "Feeling a part of the workplace is a meaningful buffer to the health effects of stress.

Reacting to Co-Workers

How workers react to negative interpersonal relationships in the workplace, be it passive-aggressive co-workers or disgruntled bosses, also has a dramatic impact on subsequent stress levels.

"Some people are more prone to stress reactions. They're likely to be people who have difficulty managing on a day-to-day basis. They may not have effective problem-solving skills, or be predisposed to high levels of anxiety and uncertainty," says social worker Len Tuzman, DSW, an expert on stress management. This is particularly true for employees that Tuzman calls "catastrophizers" -- those who blow a situation out of proportion until it becomes a major calamity.

Just how great a toll does workplace stress take on employees' health? While it's impossible to tease out every illness and adverse health effect that began as a reaction to stress, Minnesota-based health management company StayWell compared the costs of stress with 10 other common health risk factors -- among more than 46,000 employees of both private- and public-sector companies. The risk factors included tobacco and alcohol use, overweight, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. Cumulatively, these 11 modifiable health risk factors were found to comprise 25% of companies' total health care expenditures. The most costly risk factor? Stress.

This is why businesses like Jeff Asherbranner-Sales Consulting and others strive to avoid putting their employees in what could be considered a stressful work environment.

All information presented courtesy of www.Webmd.com

Positive Workplace Environment

Jeff Asherbranner and Positive Work Environments

Our work environment encompasses more than the employee lounge, office area and lobby. Policies, resources, professional relationships and company culture also fashion the environment in which we work. Author and University of Virginia Professor Scott A. Snell, in the book, “Managing Human Resources,” defines a positive environment in the workplace as an atmosphere of employee enthusiasm that improves organization performance. Workers reap social, health and personal benefits from a positive atmosphere at their place of employment. Organizations that fail to foster a positive environment for employees risk hampering their ability to succeed. Jeffery Asherbranner believes firmly that a positive workplace environment is important to any company.

Employee Benefits

In her book, "Happiness at Work: Maximizing Your Psychological Capital for Success," Jessica Pryce-Jones notes that we spend more than a decade of our lives -- 90,000 hours -- at work. Jobs fulfill our need to belong and give us a sense of identity. The quality of our association with work depends on the quality of our relationships with colleagues, supervisors and clients as well as company culture. When those relationships and the environment in which we interact are positive, we feel valued and respected. We take pride in what we do, perform better and care about our employer’s future. We become engaged: connected to the organization, results, customers and coworkers. Our professional contentment spills over to our personal lives.

Adverse Consequences of a Negative Work Environment

A negative work environment has career and health consequences for employees. An employee's less-than-exemplary job performance resulting from frustration with bureaucracy, a bad boss, 70-hour-a-week work culture, coworker conflicts and hostility raises fears of dismissal, stress and unhappiness. Leaving a negative job situation carries economic uncertainty and interrupts a chosen career path. According to a 2008 study published in the International Journal on Disability and Human Development, negative work environments lead to insomnia, anxiety and depression.

Employer Benefits

The agency overseeing the federal performance evaluation system, U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, notes that profitability, productivity, low turnover, an excellent safety record and customer satisfaction result from employee engagement created by a positive work environment. Engaged workers create a 20 percent increase in productivity and are nearly 90 percent more likely to stay with their employers such as Jeff Asherbranner, according to a Corporate Executive Board study cited in Snell's "Managing Human Resources" textbook. Organizations with a positive workplace also experience fewer Equal Employment Opportunity complaints and lower absenteeism.

Organizational Repercussions

Problems stemming from a negative employment atmosphere feed upon each other to the detriment of the entire organization. Attendance issues -- call-offs, lateness, leaving early -- lower productivity and poison morale. "Presenteeism," defined as reduced productivity while on the clock, leads to disengaged employees making errors due to their lack of concentration and motivation. Customer service suffers when unhappy workers cannot put on a happy face. Innovation and creativity lose their competitive advantage when disengaged researchers and product developers lose interest. As disillusioned employees leave, management loses credibility which tarnishes the organization's reputation and causes recruitment trouble. In an organization that keeps a positive environment such as Jeff-Asherbranner-Sales Consulting is an all around better business.

All information presented on this page is courtesy of http://work.chron.com/importance-positive-environment-workplace-3008.html.

To read more about Jeffery Asherbranner check out his website @ www.jeffasherbranner.net

What is a Sales Consultant

Jeff Asherbranner-Sales Consulting in Redlands, CA is committed to helping customers in any way possible. Check out http://www.yelp.com/biz/jeff-asherbranner-sales-consulting-redlands for more info.

What does a “Sales Consultant Do?” or in this case what is it that

“Jeff Asherbranner” does?

A sales consultant, like Jeffery Asherbranner, is a person who provides analysis and training to help a business improve its sales. Some people also use this term interchangeably with that of sales associate or salesperson, a person who sells things to other people. The training and responsibilities of a sales consultant depends on the type of consultant: one who advises businesses and other salespeople often has years of experience and training, while one who sells products may not need much training at all to start with. The work environment for both of these careers is generally fast-paced and involves a lot of interaction with people.

Salespeople Vs. Sales Consulting

Salesperson

Duties

Retail sales consultants represent a company's products or services in order to obtain new customers and to secure existing clients. Their exact responsibilities depend on the products or services with which they work, but generally speaking, they are responsible for making sure that a certain amount of product is sold to customers within a certain period of time. They may do this in person, as in the case of retail sales staff, or by managing a team of junior salespeople, as in the case of a regional manager. Many salespeople also do follow-up work with clients, to make sure that they remain satisfied and will come back for repeat sales.

Training

In most cases, it is less important that a salesperson is highly educated than that he or she is experienced in the field, or is willing to put in the time to gain the necessary experience. A successful sales consultant in the auto industry, for example, would have a clear understanding of how to communicate with both clients and business partners, such as vendors and suppliers. Earning an undergraduate degree in college is not necessary to work in this position, as many places provide on the job training for their sales staff.
Despite this, many aspiring sales consultants do take courses in subjects such as management, finance, and business writing at local or online schools. Once employed, many salespeople also participate in ongoing education to keep up to date with the latest selling techniques and sales-related technology. Those in specific industries, like real estate or insurance, may need to get certification from governing bodies before being able to work, but this varies regionally.

Work Environment and Skill Set

Salespeople may work 9 to 5 jobs, but may also have to work weekends and holidays, depending on the area of sales they're involved in. For instance, retail workers often work extra hours during the holidays because of increased shopping. Any salesperson needs to be articulate, good with people, and able to educate a person about a product in a short amount of time. It's also important to be thick-skinned in this industry, and to not take rejection personally. Those who supervise junior staff also need to be able to motivate others, advise them as to good selling techniques, and make clear and comprehensive reports to senior staff about his or her division's performance.

Sales Consultant

 

Duties

A sales consultant looks at a business' sales structure and performance, analyzes how well it works, and gives the business advice on how to improve. He or she generally goes through the different aspects of a business to determine how it makes its money, and then helps the business owner understand how the sales department plays into that. Many also provide auxiliary services, like researching markets and competitor organizations or helping client businesses implement online interfaces for clients and data management systems for employees. Some also provide training to sales staff, and they may speak at trade shows or hold corporate events to train and inspire salespeople.

Training

Generally speaking, sales consultants have a lot of experience working as salespeople as well as some educational background in business analytics, IT, or marketing, depending on their speciality. The training for those in this position varies widely, as some work for consulting firms, others own their own consulting firms, and some work individually. Consulting firms often have set minimums of experience or education that they require before they will hire someone, while individual consultants may have lots of sales experience, but no formal education training. Regardless of their initial training, sales consultants often take ongoing education courses to make sure that they are up to date with the state of the market and trends in selling.

Work Environment and Skill Set

The work environment for a sales consultant is often more office-based than for a salesperson, but they spend a lot of time visiting client businesses to observe their sales performance and process as well. Those who work for firms may work more regular hours than those who work individually, but this depends on the firm and the individual worker's preferences. Like salespeople, consultants need to be very good with people, as they often work directly with business owners. They need to be very analytical and quick to spot patterns and errors in a sales process. Consultants also need to be creative: since they work with so many different types of sales processes, they need to be able to come up with solutions that are tailored to individual businesses' problems.

Information presented on page courtesy of http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-sales-consultant.htm