Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the fine tuning of the inflow and out flow of
money into a
corporation to maximize profits through the use of constraints and
productivity tools. The tools
consist of individual interlocking products specifically designed to unlock
those aspects of
employee's and management's lives that affect the degree of absenteeism,
productivity and
profitability within a corporation.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Considerable research over the years has been focused on determining the cost
to businesses
of worker absenteeism and reduced productivity often called 'presenteeism'.
Where an employee
suffering from 'presenteeism' is often defined as 'present in body but not
mind' which results in a
quantifiable increase in their absenteeism, decreased productivity and lowered
profitability within a
corporation. Research into the causes of presenteeism has clearly defined the
problems and cost to a
corporation but has failed to develop any comprehensive set of tools that an
employer can use to
repair the problem. It should not be over looked that an overly tired employee
can have the same
performance as an individual who is legally drunk with the same increase in
mistakes and accidents
and takes 14% longer to do their work.
Currently, employers have no comprehensive set of products or 'tools' that can
be used to
repair aspects of their employees lives that are giving rise to work place
presenteeism. Presently an
employee suffering from non-medically based presenteeism, often manifesting as
a lack of sleep or
stress, has to use medically based solutions, which are often expensive and
have a degree of side
effects. If their quality of sleep decreased to chronic low levels, then an
employee has to seek the
expensive services of a Medical Specialist, such as counseling or those of a
sleep clinic. The medical
specialist would then monitor and analyze the employee's health problem
according to their
procedures, provide education in combination with required medical aids, which
may be counseling,
education about proper sleep hygiene, surgery, medication, special equipment
or other physical
devices etc.
Research continues on the topic of sleep, stress and fatigue in employees
lives and a good
example of this is the joint international research by the American and
Canadian Departments of
Transport titled "Development of a North American Fatigue Management Program
Guide and Tools
For Commercial Motor Carriers". The aim of the research is to develop,
implement, evaluate and
finalize a comprehensive integrated fatigue management program for the
commercial motor carrier
industry.
FIGURE 1 shows the current method that an individual can receive assistance
for severe
cases of presenteeism arising from fatigue, stress or sleep problems.
Reference 100 shows that the
individual has to see a trained Medical Professional who assess the nature and
cause of the
individual's problem. This medical assistance is often expensive to those
employees without proper
insurance and often only available if the problem is very severe. The method
of assessment is often
unique to each specialized Medical Profession. Reference 101 shows that after
analysis of the
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individual's problem the Medical Professional will then explain the problem,
the remedy and its use
to resolve the problem. This education may be a few minutes or longer and
typically is for the
specific medical problem, nothing else. Reference 102 shows that the
individual follows the
instructions and uses the remedy to solve their problem.
However, there are no non-medically based tools or products available to
management to
repair employee presenteeism that arises from everyday life. These normal or
slightly raised levels
of stress and fatigue, that a corporations' employees suffer, result in loss
productivity of up to 10%,
with a loss in profitability as high as 10% of the budget for employee
salaries.
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SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention provides an improved method and a set of tools that management
of
corporations provide to employees as part of a corporate sleep plan to take
control of the amount of
presenteeism, fatigue and stress that employees experience within a
corporation.
A preferred embodiment of the management tool set to resolve stress, fatigue
and sleep
based presenteeism consists of corporate sleep plan that comprises as a
minimum one stage where a
select number if not all employees receive education about stress, fatigue and
the use of stress and
sleep tools often in combination with an education training workbook with a
personalized fatigue,
stress and sleep integration plan in combination with another tool which
consists of at least a stress,
sleep and relaxation tool.
Another embodiment of the management tool set to resolve stress, fatigue and
sleep based
presenteeism consists of corporate sleep plan that comprises two stages where
in the first stage all
employees receive education about stress, fatigue and the use of stress and
sleep aids often in
combination with an education training workbook with a personalized fatigue,
stress and sleep
integration plan in combination with another tool which consists of at least a
stress, sleep and
relaxation tool and where in stage 2 all employees are provided in a module
continuing education for
stress and anger reduction and a further tool where management, supervisors or
other designated
staff are given additional training in the use of their tools and procedures
to achieve zero
presenteeism in the work place due to fatigue, stress or sleep problems.
A further embodiment of the above management tool set to resolve stress,
fatigue and sleep
based presenteeism contains as part of the management education a set of
procedures that are used to
enforce employee use of their individual tools and a remedial procedure to
follow in the event that
the stress and sleep aid such as a relaxation audio recording doesn't work for
an employee.
Another aspect of the above embodiment consists of training in conjunction
with a set of
tools to form the basis of a corporate sleep policy used to control
presenteeism, fatigue and stress in
the work place.
Yet another aspect of the above invention is that the fatigue, stress and
sleep tools are used in
the privacy of the employee's home and the employer does not have to know how
much or little the
employee has to use their tools to come to work Aware, Awake and Alert, ready
to work at peak
performance.
A further embodiment where a suitable trained professional provides to
managers,
supervisors or other designated staff, training in the administration and use
of the corporate
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individual tools for reducing employee stress and fatigue, where a second
component of the program
consists of individual employee stress and fatigue reduction tools in which
some if not all
components are multicultural friendly where the tools are but not limited to a
set of printed bulletins
that explain the how and why of understanding people (stress and anger
management component) a
stress and sleep tool such as a relaxation audio CD, a personal or group
audiovisual training session
preferably with a suitably trained instructor using a prerecorded audiovisual
instruction program
presented in combination with an education work book that contains as part of
its content a personal
self assessment profile and plan for sleep and stress. The bulletins, audio
stress and sleep tool,
audiovisual training and training booklet maybe provided in any suitable
method or format for
reproduction and use by the managers and individual employees using the
system.
A further embodiment of the above management tool set to resolve stress,
fatigue and sleep
based presenteeism contains as part of the management education a set of
procedures that are used to
enforce employee use of the system and a remedial procedure to follow in the
event that the stress
and sleep aid such as a relaxation audio recording doesn't work for an
employee.
Another aspect of the above embodiment consists of training in conjunction
with a set of
tools to form the basis of a corporate sleep policy used to control
presenteeism, fatigue and stress in
the work place.
Yet another aspect of the above invention is that the fatigue, stress and
sleep aids are used in
the privacy of the employee's home and the employer does not have to know how
much or little the
employee has to use the tools to come to work Aware, Awake and Alert, ready to
work at peak
performance.
Another embodiment where a private individual receives a tool from a private
source such as
purchase from an authorized distributor, a system to resolve stress, fatigue
and sleep based
presenteeism that comprises as a minimum of education about stress, fatigue
and the use of stress
and sleep tools often in combination with an education training workbook with
a personalized
fatigue, stress and sleep integration plan in combination with another tool
which consists of at least a
stress and sleep aid and relaxation tool.
In one aspect of the invention an individual uses a personal stress and
fatigue reduction tools
without involvement from another individual. This set of personal tools
consists as a minimum of
but not limited to audiovisual training and a stress and sleep tool such as a
relaxation audio CD. The
audiovisual training may be given by any method that provides a means of
visually displaying
images of appropriate quality combined with suitable audio reproduction, such
as but not limited a
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DVD recording, VHS tape, audiovisual files downloaded over a computer network.
The stress and
sleep tool is often provided as a CD but any method of recording and playing
back the audio file is
acceptable such as but not limited to an MP3 file, internet downloaded audio
file, broadcast over a
cable TV or radio network, as a signal embedded on an RF or digital signal.
Another embodiment of a personal stress and fatigue reduction tool set
consists of but not
limited to a stress and sleep tool such as a relaxation audio CD, an
audiovisual training recording
such as a DVD in combination with an education work book that contains as part
of its content a
personal self assessment profile and plan for sleep and stress. The audio
stress and sleep aid,
audiovisual training and training booklet may be provided in any suitable
method or format for
reproduction and use by the user of the system.
In yet a further embodiment of a personal stress and fatigue reduction tool
set consists of but
not limited to a set of printed bulletins that explain the how and why of
understanding people (stress
and anger management component) a stress and sleep tool such as a relaxation
audio CD, an
audiovisual training recording such as a DVD in combination with a printed
education work book
that contains as part of its content a personal self assessment profile and
plan for sleep and stress.
The bulletins, audio stress and sleep aid, audiovisual training and education
work book maybe
provided in any suitable method or format for reproduction and use by the user
of the system.
A further embodiment of a personal stress and fatigue reduction tool set
consists of some if
not all components being multicultural friendly where the components are but
not limited to a set of
printed bulletins that explain the how and why of understanding people (stress
and anger
management component) a stress and sleep tool such as a relaxation audio CD,
an audiovisual
training recording such as a DVD in combination with an education work book
that contains as part
of its content a personal self assessment profile and plan for sleep, fatigue
and stress. The bulletins,
audio stress and sleep aid, audiovisual training and training booklet maybe
provided in any suitable
method or format for reproduction and use by the user of the system.
All embodiments of the invention may be used by a government department for
its
employees, a non-profit organization or other collection of individuals for
the purpose of reducing
anger, stress and fatigue.
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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example
only, with
reference to the attached Figures, wherein:
Figure 1 represents prior art where an employee suffering from tiredness and
stress had to seek
medical help outside the company;
Figure 2 is a block diagram depicting a Corporate Sleep Plan including an
employee tool set stage 1
and management tool set, stage 2 in accordance with an embodiment of the
invention;
Figure 3 is a flow diagram of a process for use with a Management Tool Set
forming part of a
corporate sleep plan in accordance with an embedment of the invention.
Figure 4 is a block diagram of the Corporate Tools to increased profitability.
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The preferred embodiment of this invention is a set of specifically designed
interlocking
tools that the management of a corporation use to repair the problem of worker
presenteeism. In the
preferred embodiment the problem the tools are used to repair are tired
workers that come to work
not able to work at full capability, often representing a safety hazard to
themselves, their co-workers
and the public.
The preferred embodiment of the invention is best represented by Figure 400
where it is a
Corporate Set of Tools used to repair work place presenteeism. Each tool is a
specifically designed
product that operates on a concrete principal that has quantifiable level of
influence on the amount it
repairs workplace absenteeism, increases productivity and improves
profitability within a corporate
structure. The degree of repair made by each tool to the level of absenteeism,
productivity and
profitability are measurable by Human Resources and Management. The Corporate
Set of Tools
further subdivides in to three subsets represent by 401, 402 and 403.
Where 401 represents tools specifically used by senior management to increase
profitability.
Their box contains a selection of tools that will be made available to lower
management and
employees in accordance with the target corporate culture or work environment.
The tools often
used to repair the work place presenteeism problem are:
1. A tool that repairs the employment agreement and allows management to take
control over
aspects of the employee lives that directly affect productivity. Changes to
the employment
agreement are often minimal and always made in respect of local, state and
national employment
laws and standards. The changes to the employment agreement facilitates the
introduction of a
Corporate Sleep Plan for Zero Presenteeism within the work place.
2. Another tool is used to implement the type of active monitoring that is to
be used, if at all as it is
often not used in a professional office. Active monitoring such as the use of
an actigraph monitor
that measures the amount of sleep a worker received prior to their work shift,
is often used for
hazardous jobs for maximum safety. Other types of active monitors exists for
example another
type tracks eye movement as the employee works to detect signs of fatigue and
is used by
industries with drivers of motorized vehicles, trains and aircraft. Less
intrusive monitoring may
involve productivity measurements at an employee level, comparing individual
performance
against a group average.
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3. A very useful tool uses subtle peer pressure and continuous education of
employees through an
experiential learning process. Peer pressure is effective in getting
compliance from employees
with minimal supervisor interaction.
4. An educational product is another tool that explains to employees and
management how and
when to use their personal tools. The proper use of education, often involving
family members to
some degree, will double employee utilization of their tools.
Senior management then passes on a specific set of the Corporate Tools to be
used for the
improvement in productivity by the middle & lower management, represented by
402. The tools
often selected for this set are:
1. Education of management and employees about the proper use of their
personal tools to
productivity improvement.
2. Performance monitoring through use of individual employee productivity and
quality
measurements that quantifies employee output and compares it to a group
average.
3. A tool is made available by the preferred embodiment that uses subtle peer
pressure through a
continuing experiential education product that reduces employee stress, helps
them understand
difficult people either co-workers or customers and increases their
communication and anger
management skills.
4. An important tool provided to lower management is a product that consists
of a set of diagnostic
charts that provide a remedial solutions to worker noncompliance.
5. A tool used in a limited number of circumstances is active monitoring of
employee total hours of
sleep between shifts, through devices such as an actigraph monitor, which is
wore like a watch
on the employees wrist. It records actual hours of sleep and is selected often
only for hazardous
tasks. General use by an employee population is not recommended as there are
methods that can
be used to forge readings and by-pass its effectiveness.
Middle and lower management then pass on a specific set of the Corporate Tools
to the
employees, represented by 403 to repair occasional individual productivity
problems. The tools
often selected for the employee set are:
1. An education product that explains proper use of the tools provided and
when to use to improve
productivity through reduced tiredness, lowered stress and the understanding
of difficult co-
workers or customers.
2. A continuing experiential education tool which is a product that
continuously educates
employees through a set of weekly bulletins These weekly bulletins provide
methods for
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interacting with difficult people, stress reduction and improvements to
communication skills.
This product uses observation of co-workers and the outside world as the
experiential education
component of the tool that applies subtle peer pressure for employees to
change their behavior
habits. Workers are asked to observe each other using the information provided
in each weekly
bulletin. It becomes necessary for all employees to read each weekly bulletin
and learn its lesson
else they will be the example to their co-workers of what not to do in a
specific situation the
bulletins are describing.
3. Non-medical tool, which is often designed to be multi-cultural friendly,
for personal use for
stress reduction and sleep improvement. This tool is a product that the
employee uses as they
deem necessary in the privacy of their home to relax, quickly fall asleep or
return to sleep if they
wake up or to improve their quality of sleep. This tool improves employee
productivity as it
repairs presenteeism caused by poor quality of sleep. Poor quality of sleep is
one of the main
causes of reduced productivity and increased rate of errors and accidents.
4. Another tool, which is actually a specifically designed product, quantifies
the quality of life an
employee using the tools is experiencing. It measures their level of stress,
tiredness and other
factors that affect the quality of their life, enthusiasm for activities
outside of work, energy level
for dealing with family issues etc. It includes a personal improvement plan
that outlines the
changes an employee needs to make to their daily routine to repair the quality
of their life and
productivity at work.
FIGURE 2 represents a block diagram of the preferred embodiment of the
invention,
showing the employee tools, represented as STAGE 1 above the dashed line
reference 204 and the
management tools represented by STAGE 2 below the dashed line reference 204.
Reference 200
represents the start of a Zero Presenteeism Corporate Sleep Plan, which is a
tool that often consists
of a partially deployed STAGE 1 or a fully deployed STAGE 1 in conjunction
with STAGE 2.
Reference 202 represents that all new employees would start at the beginning
of STAGE 1 and
progress to STAGE 2 if the corporate sleep plan tool is defined as using both
STAGES. Reference
201 represents an employee education component, where in-depth information is
provided about
stress, fatigue and sleep and how to properly use the Stress, Sleep and
Relaxation tool 203. The
education component 201 often contains an education-training workbook tool
used by the employee
to develop his or her personalized fatigue, stress and sleep plan. Reference
203 is the Multicultural
friendly stress, sleep and relaxation tool used by the employee to reduce
stress and improve their
quality of sleep. Often the stress and sleep aid and relaxation tools are an
audio file, provided in a
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convenient means for the employee to listen too, for example an audio CD and
player, MP3 file and
player, audiovisual DVD etc., that the employee uses to relax, distress, fall
to or quickly return to
sleep. STAGE 1 represents a set of tools which makes the employee self-
regulating, which gives
them the capability to take control of their level of stress, fatigue and
sleep. STAGE 1 may be
provided to a select number of employees as required or to all as deemed
necessary to meet the
definition of the employer's sleep plan. Should the employer decide to enter
into a Sleep Plan that
includes STAGE 2 then all employees should have already been through STAGE 1.
Another
application of STAGE 1 is for use by individuals who receive the tools, from a
source other than an
employer, for example their medical doctor, counselor etc., where the
individual is self-regulating
and able to take control of their level of stress, fatigue and sleep. STAGE 1
forms a complete
module at times referred to as 'Stress to Rest' and the module may be provided
to the families, to
reduce the home based stress component of an employee.
STAGE 2 below the line reference 204, is made up of tools represented by
reference
numbers 205, 206, 207 and 208. Tool referenced by 205 is continuing education
for stress and anger
reduction and is a systematic step by step process to turn a stressed worker
into an employers best
worker through the utilization of value selections via the personal process of
experience through
observation balanced by instincts, intuition or gut response. This tool is
often comprised of a number
of documents often referred to as bulletins, provided to the employee in a
printed page or electronic
format, such as e-mail, computer file etc., where the major categories
typically are topics such as
attitudes, negative thinking, social etiquette, ideas and formulas to solve
difficult situations at home
or work, facing your reality, levity/kindness and detachment. All employees
are then reviewed with
decision, reference 208, as to whether they are management and should be given
an additional tool
reference 206 or an employee who would then have had their training completed.
The management-
training tool, reference 206, represents the training received by management,
supervisors or other
designated staff. The training is typically given by an individual who is
specific trained for this
purpose and consists of many handouts and audiovisual aids. The Management
training contains the
full employee instruction STAGE 1, as the implementation methodology,
explanation about its use
and operation and finally most import of all the enforcement and positive
reinforcement procedures
of the Zero Presenteeism Corporate Sleep Plan with the employees. The
management, supervisor
and other designated staff is given a specific tool that is a set of
bulletins, often similar to module
reference 205, that are used to help an employee who is having specific human
interaction problems
with co-workers. These bulletins provide the how and why of understanding
difficult people. Often
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the stress caused by a specific co-worker interaction problem is resolved when
the employee is
assisted to understand the circumstance and understand it is not personal. The
purpose of STAGE 2
is to impress the need of employees to meet the Corporate Sleep Plan
requirements often containing
a zero tolerance for work place presenteeism caused by fatigue, stress or
sleep problems with
STAGE 2 often containing disciplinary and resolution solutions which are used
to ensure full
employee compliance.
FIGURE 3 represents a detail problem resolution tool of the preferred
embodiment and
provides a detail logic flow used by management, supervisors or other
designated employees for the
enforcement/maintenance of the system used by employees to reduce stress and
fatigue. Reference
300 represents a special condition where the stress, fatigue, sleep and
bulletins are ineffective in
reducing an employee's level of fatigue or stress requiring special medical
assessment by
appropriate outside Medical Professions to resolve the problem. 301 represent
the starting point of a
situation requiring remedial action where a trained employee continues to have
signs of stress of
fatigue at work, often detected by supervision observation or performance
measurements such as
quality or quantity of work output, accidents and behavior problems when
compared against their
peers, or other tools the employer may use to measure employee productivity.
302 is a decision
point, where it is determined if the employee is using the stress, fatigue and
sleep tools, if they are
then proceed to decision box reference 303. If they are not using the system
and refuse to use the
system, reference 305-decision box, then they require disciplinary action,
represented by reference
304 box. If the employee is not a habitual repeat offender then the manager or
supervisor should
review the bulletins for one that may assist the employee in resolving their
problem and continue to
closely monitor their progress, shown by reference 307. Following a review of
any relevant bulletins
the manager or supervisor then reinforces the need, represented by reference
309 for the employee to
use the system, retrain as required and exits the resolution system at
reference 311, DONE box.
Decision box represented by reference number 303 is used to determine if the
employee has need of
some form of medical intervention reference 300, specifically if their problem
remains and their
appears to be no relationship with anything to do within the work place. If
decision reference 303
has a component that is related to work then the manger or supervisor should
review the bulletins for
any relevant situations represented by box reference 308. After that they
proceed to process box
represented by reference 308, to review the employee work/job assignments, co-
worker interactions,
retrain them in the stress, fatigue and sleep aid and program. Then the
manager or supervisor has to
make a decision reference 310, where if the problem appears to not be
adequately resolved then the
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employee is recommended to see outside medical consultation about their
ongoing problem. If it is
determined the problem is resolved then the process proceeds to reference 311,
DONE and the
process is complete.
Although the invention has been described in connection with a preferred
embodiment, it
should be understood that various modifications, additions and alterations may
be made to the
invention by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and
scope of the invention as
defmed in the appended claims.
