Australia has one of the most highly qualified unemployed ‘work-force’ in the world.

I am a firm believer in education and as one wise person said ‘if you think that education is expensive try ignorance’. I am committed to life long learning so long as it benefits my clients and me.

But what about the commonsense approach of sharing the l

The incidence in stress claims is rising and is having an impact on the economy and enterprises in general.

The incidences of people who work ‘day in day out’ who in many ways are closet workaholics is increasing.We are told that 1 in 5 Australians are suffering from some sort of mental illness and that 1 in 7 teenager’s at high-school suffer from depression. This comes from proven research but my guess is that it is probably higher, after all these subjects are still quite taboo in our society.

Why be the richest and unhappiest person in the cemetery? Take a walk around the local cemetery sometimes and read the inscriptions – it’s actually quite interesting what you read.

People are becoming crankier, less tolerant, and the workplace is rapidly becoming a battleground where much emotion is wasted in argy bargy, meetings and petty grievances.

It could be argued that ‘workaholism’ could be in part contributed by the ageing population, different generational expectations, talented workers moving offshore and the move from permanent employment to contract working. This is simply untrue.

The lesson seems to be that some have work and others don’t, slaving away 12 hours plus per day in order to keep the wolf from the door, the mortgage paid, the annual holiday and whatever else pushes their buttons and sacrifice quality of life – for what?.

Australia has one of the most highly qualified unemployed ‘work-force’ in the world.

I am a firm believer in education and as one wise person said ‘if you think that education is expensive try ignorance’. I am committed to life long learning so long as it benefits my clients and me.

But what about the commonsense approach of sharing the lo

Why be the richest and unhappiest person in the cemetery? Take a walk around the local cemetery sometimes and read the inscriptions – it’s actually quite interesting what you read.

People are becoming crankier, less tolerant, and the workplace is rapidly becoming a battleground where much emotion is wasted in argy bargy, meetings and petty grievances.

It could be argued that ‘workaholism’ could be in part contributed by the ageing population, different generational expectations, talented workers moving offshore and the move from permanent employment to contract working. This is simply untrue.

The lesson seems to be that some have work and others don’t, slaving away 12 hours plus per day in order to keep the wolf from the door, the mortgage paid, the annual holiday and whatever else pushes their buttons and sacrifice quality of life – for what?.

Australia has one of the most highly qualified unemployed ‘work-force’ in the world.

I am a firm believer in education and as one wise person said ‘if you think that education is expensive try ignorance’. I am committed to life long learning so long as it benefits my clients and me.

But what about the commonsense approach of sharing the l

People are becoming crankier, less tolerant, and the workplace is rapidly becoming a battleground where much emotion is wasted in argy bargy, meetings and petty grievances.

It could be argued that ‘workaholism’ could be in part contributed by the ageing population, different generational expectations, talented workers moving offshore and the move from permanent employment to contract working. This is simply untrue.

The lesson seems to be that some have work and others don’t, slaving away 12 hours plus per day in order to keep the wolf from the door, the mortgage paid, the annual holiday and whatever else pushes their buttons and sacrifice quality of life – for what?.

Australia has one of the most highly qualified unemployed ‘work-force’ in the world.

I am a firm believer in education and as one wise person said ‘if you think that education is expensive try ignorance’. I am committed to life long learning so long as it benefits my clients and me.

But what about the commonsense approach of sharing the l

The lesson seems to be that some have work and others don’t, slaving away 12 hours plus per day in order to keep the wolf from the door, the mortgage paid, the annual holiday and whatever else pushes their buttons and sacrifice quality of life – for what?.

Australia has one of the most highly qualified unemployed ‘work-force’ in the world.

I am a firm believer in education and as one wise person said ‘if you think that education is expensive try ignorance’. I am committed to life long learning so long as it benefits my clients and me.

But what about the commonsense approach of sharing the l

Australia has one of the most highly qualified unemployed ‘work-force’ in the world.

I am a firm believer in education and as one wise person said ‘if you think that education is expensive try ignorance’. I am committed to life long learning so long as it benefits my clients and me.

But what about the commonsense approach of sharing the load and looking after our back yard.

Why aren’t company’s learning from their mistakes, taking responsibility (a dirty word today) and ensuring that they are adequately resourced and taking the time to know their people. Or could it be that the relentless drive for shareholder value has blinded the eyes of these executives who sit in their ivory towers issuing edicts mindless to the fact that below them often sits a smoking powder keg. If you were privy to the previous company secrets that I was when I was CEO and the mindless way my superiors though of and treated their employees you would be shocked. Or when I was in Banking and the way the Bank paid out $500,000 in unbudgeted redundancies in 1994 besides other amounts that were cleverly disguised in various ways simply to get rid of people.

In my daily work as a strategic human resource management advisor I am privy to the heartaches of people as they tell me their difficulties. Most of these difficulties focus around other work colleagues or overwork. Chronic overwork has a tremendous impact of personal health, family life and company productivity.

I have to confess that I was once a workaholic for many years before a heart scare woke me up in time and thankfully without doing any major damage to my health. This is not just my story but one of many that is illustrated by the following true story that I was involved with (names and identities have been changed).

The following is a true story with details changed to protect privacy.

Liam was the G