How well do you know the person next to you at work?  There was a time when we mainly worked in our own little box. Now most of us have only a little bit of desk workspace to call our own.  We line up with others, people we spend half our lives with, in a world far removed from the world outside. At home we deal with our tired children or grandchildren and cope with irritable significant others who know us far too well, seeing both our good but also terrible moments. At work, what we tell our colleagues about our real lives is a matter of choice. Some of us push ourselves hard to make every working second count.

I confess that I am not very good at opening up and revealing the real truth of who I am. That’s probably why I am better at putting things down on paper than I am in engaging in ordinary everyday conversation.  That’s OK for a lawyer for whom drafting and paperwork is part of the working day. But how healthy is it for us as human beings? Many people spend their lives worrying about so many things and yet in work they feel they have to appear stoic and pretend that everything is OK. 

Many of us may be coping with worries about our health too but are afraid of doing anything about it, especially if they have to ask their boss for time off to go for investigations.  All us business owners and line managers should really work hard to ensure that no one, I mean no one, should feel inhibited about asking for time off to go to the doctor to ensure they are keeping healthy. I was reminded of this by our inspirational COO Joanna Kingston-Davies. With her permission I am sharing her recent posting on our Workplace intranet.

As many of you know, two years ago today, told I had breast cancer, my world fell apart a little bit. Two years on, I don’t under-estimate just how lucky I have been and I realise that when you’re surrounded by incredible family, friends and colleagues whose love and support is so overwhelming that it sometimes takes your breath away, you become that little bit stronger, put everything into perspective ever so slightly more and learn to love life and people more than you ever thought possible.

She goes on to talk about how her condition was caught just in the nick of time.  As far as our business is concerned, thank God for that. She is such a key person in our success; yes her organisational skills are superb but more importantly she is a people person who instinctively understands the real needs of her colleagues. That helps her get the best out of them whilst utterly respecting their personal needs.

She also tends to be a bit of a workaholic pushing herself hard to achieve everything she can for the good of all. Yet she did have time off to find out what was happening to her body, perhaps not quite as quickly as she should. And then we all understood how, for a while, we could cope without her as she went through a period of recuperation. She emerged from her experience as a stronger and wiser person who truly understands the importance of life in and out of work; and that makes her an even better manager.

So let’s get things into proper perspective in our working lives whether we are an employee or an employer. Yes the health of our business is important but that depends on the health of our employees. Their well-being is our well-being. More importantly, we need to respect our colleagues and look out for their welfare as a matter of priority.  Thank you Joanna for your openness and honesty. We really appreciate it and you really do make a positive difference.