Wanting to hire employees with certain emotional skills is not new; not only do employers seek candidates with appropriate professionals skills (e.g. social skills in sales), but they also want people who will keep at it and be responsible in their work. Other skills are less easily identifiable, however, despite the fact that they are strongly linked to absenteeism and performance. Resistance to stress, a major quality, is difficult to perceive in a hiring interview. The ability to balance the various aspects of one’s life (work and family) and sound stress management are the main factors that protect against absenteeism. Despite this, recruiters under-estimate these two aspects*, although it would no doubt be a win-win strategy for companies to help their employees optimize their work/family balance and management of stress: 82% of short-term disability claims and 72% for long-term cases concern mental health and stress issues!
Help employees manage their stress, but how?
The main source of stress is the feeling of loss of control. Before it’s too late, employers can therefore act to increase the perception of control in their stressed-out employees by offering them tailored, specific tools and flexible schedules. Yet this quasi-therapeutic approach may be mistaken for interference by employers. How then to draw the line between the minimum skills that one wants to develop in one’s personnel and interfering in their private lives? Emotional intelligence provides promising adapted tools for these problems.
In the scientific world, Peter Salovey and his colleagues proposed the concept of emotional intelligence (EI), defined as “the ability to perceive emotions, to access and generate emotions so as to assist thought, to understand emotions and emotional knowledge, and to reflectively regulate emotions so as to promote emotional and intellectual growth.” Emotions have therefore been elevated to a similar level as reasoning in the factors that determine success and satisfaction in life. EI in the workplace was afterwards popularized, then tarnished, although it enables the development of various fundamental intrapersonal and interpersonal skills that have a preventive value against stress and psychological distress.
According to the Goleman model, EI includes five elements:
1- Self-awareness enables us to know our strengths and limitations, which makes us aware of our emotions when they arise. People are competent in this area when they know themselves well, have a good emotional vocabulary and self-esteem. Strengths include having self-confidence, knowing one’s needs and clearly expressing them.
2- Self-regulation concerns emotional expression, self-talk and coping skills (ability to manage a problem). If a candidate risks working in a stressful environment, this aspect of EI takes on additional importance, since it has a direct bearing on stress management: managing moods and negative thoughts, remaining optimistic, etc.
3- Motivation is based on the ability to manage one’s impulsiveness and to pursue goals with persistence. Self-motivated employees will be able to overcome hurdles and motivate themselves after a failure rather than get discouraged. They will also have time management and planning skills.
4- Empathy is an essential competence for any type of work involving even minimal communication and collaboration. It involves sincere, tactful communication, conflict management and active listening. People with these aptitudes will be sought after and appreciated by their customers and co-workers.
5- Finally, social skills involve knowing how to motivate others, communicating one’s enthusiasm and using persuasion. This last aspect can be observed in leaders who motivate their teams to achieve an objective.
But if one wants to help one’s employees, one can above all lead by example and observe the fifth EI competence: models have a much greater impact than long speeches and employers who know how to balance their lives, practise a sport and spend time with their families while being disciplined at work will inspire their staff to do their best without overdoing it.
Nadine Murard, Ph.D., is a human resource management consultant, trainer and researcher in emotional intelligence as well as a speaker and lecturer at UQÀM.
nadinemurard@hotmail.com
* Source: La Presse – Monday, December 17, 2007 – « Causes d’absence au travail : Stress et santé mentale au premier rang » by Jacques Benoît