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Forbes
29-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
How A Balanced Home Life Can Lead To Success At Work
Sharing household chores can help employees manage workplace stress. Back in 2013, when then Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg published her book Lean In, one of the pieces of advice she offered to women setting out on their careers was to choose partners who would be supportive. 'When it comes time to settle down, find someone who wants an equal partner. Someone who thinks women should be smart, opinionated and ambitious. Someone who values fairness and expects or, even better, wants to do his share in the home,' she wrote. It seems this principle holds true regardless of gender. According to recently published research, employees with emotionally intelligent spouses say they have better relationships with their supervisors, are better able to manage their own and others' emotions and have greater psychological resilience at work. The paper published by Anna Carmella Ocampo, a professor at Esade, a global academic institution with campuses in Barcelona and Madrid, was based on work conducted in collaboration with Macquarie University, the University of Alberta, the University of New South Wales, Monash Business School and KPMG. It draws on data from China and the U.S.. The findings challenge the conventional belief that personal life distracts from professional success. 'Spouses act not only as cheerleaders, boosting employees' enthusiasm at work, but also as healers, alleviating their stress and frustration,' said Professor Ocampo in a press release. Researchers carried out in-depth interviews with employees, organized a large-scale survey involving matched spouse-employee-supervisor groups in China and set up a scenario-based experiment in the U.S.. Across all three, the researchers found that the capacity to manage one's own and others' emotions — what is known as emotional regulation ability (ERA) — played a critical role in supporting employees' ability to handle stress, build positive relationships at work and persevere in emotionally demanding situations. In particular, the study published in the Journal of Business Research earlier this year found that employees with spouses who scored highly in ERA reported 'greater psychological capital and more effective emotion management.' These resources were associated with more constructive interactions with supervisors and an increased ability to navigate work challenges. Conversely, when spouses were overwhelmed with household responsibilities, the benefits of their emotional intelligence were less apparent, according to the report. The research also suggests that spousal support enhances employees' own capacity to help others in the workplace. This can make them more valuable team members and help to strengthen the social fabric of their organisations, it adds. In other words, the idea that organizations are best served by employees who maintain their focus on the job and do not share their workplace experiences — good or bad — with their families is open to question. In fact, a committed and supportive partner might be a valuable asset the organization did not know it had. As Professor Ocampo put it: 'Rather than viewing family life as a potential obstacle to workplace performance, employers should embrace policies that acknowledge the benefits of non-work resources. Family-friendly working conditions and equitable sharing of domestic responsibilities are essential to creating the supportive environments that allow employees to thrive.' Or as Sandberg might say, it is not just the employee who needs to lean in, but also their partner. But it would help a lot if employers acknowledged properly the importance of their employees' personal lives.
Irish Times
13-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
‘Say Kate is your boss': Pharmacist claims ex-TD O'Connell and husband were working him ‘to death'
A pharmacist who claims he was forced out of a €112,000-a-year job because former TD Kate O'Connell and her husband were working him 'to death' has denied raising his voice and becoming 'aggressive' when she pulled him up on using his phone at work. In a complaint under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977, Marwan Al Rahbi has alleged that he was constructively dismissed by Rathgar Pharmacy Ltd – having been forced to quit order to protect his health after a diagnosis of workplace stress, the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) was told. The company, which is owned and operated by Mrs O'Connell and her husband, has pharmacies in Kilmacud , Rathgar and Sandyford in south Dublin . It denies the complaint. Mr Al Rahbi in evidence to the WRC on Tuesday: 'They were working me to the death. One of the reasons to resign was to protect my health and mental health. I couldn't sleep at night, and I have a family. I provided them many opportunities to resolve things, and they didn't,' he said. READ MORE His barrister, Cillian McGovern, appearing instructed by Crushell & Co Solicitors, said his client had written to his employer raising a formal workplace grievance in May 2024, referring to 'several concerning incidents', but was met with 'blanket denial' from Mrs O'Connell, and that the matters were not addressed by the firm. The WRC heard that Mr Al Rahbi initially complained about Mrs O'Connell to her husband after she found him using his mobile phone at work on one occasion early in 2024. Mr Al Rahbi said Mrs O'Connell had come up to him and said: 'Are you not working?' Mr Al Rahbi's evidence was that despite a directive on mobile phone use at work, the pharmacy group operated five or six WhatsApp groups where work-related information was circulated. He said he was using his phone on that occasion because he was 'dealing with my sick child' at the time. The complainant said he then phoned Morgan O'Connell about what had happened. At the time, Mr O'Connell was waiting in hospital for his wife to collect him following shoulder surgery, the tribunal heard. 'I rang Morgan, and he said: 'Go the f*** back to work',' Mr Al Rahbi said. His position was that it showed that the likely outcome of any workplace grievance he raised with Mr O'Connell about his wife, or vice versa, was going to be 'unfair'. Mrs O'Connell told the WRC on Tuesday that Mr Al Rahbi was 'insubordinate' towards her on April 15th, 2024. 'It was the flying off the handle at me ... it was extremely unusual for a support pharmacist to verbally attack their senior pharmacist, their boss, in front of other staff,' she said. She said Mr Al Rahbi was 'very on edge, agitated, aggressive', Mrs O'Connell said, adding that she 'instinctively' moved to the far side of a bench during the incident. 'I do remember I said to him: 'If you think you're going to hit me, that's not going to go very well for you', as he wagged his finger and shouted in my face,' she added. When counsel for the respondent Derek Dunne, instructed by Kelly Hoban Solicitors, put it to Mr Al Rahbi in cross-examination that he had been 'aggressive' or 'confrontational' with Mrs O'Connell, he said: 'No, I haven't been aggressive. This is my way to speak.' Questioned on a further interaction with Mr O'Connell in the pharmacy a number of days later, Mr Dunne, put it to Mr Al Rahbi that he had 'refused to acknowledge Mrs O'Connell as your immediate superior'. The complainant said Mr O'Connell was 'shaking' and 'screaming' at him, quoting him as saying: ''Say Kate is your boss.'' 'I said: 'Why should I say that?'' Mr Al Rahbi said. He said Mr O'Connell then told him he was to put his phone in the kitchen. 'We are not in school. I have a family. I am a responsible adult,' he said. 'He was screaming: 'Are you continuing to use the phone?'' he added. Counsel put it to Mr Al Rahbi that Mr O'Connell had given him a verbal warning on that occasion. Mr Al Rahbi said it was 'five minutes of shouting' and that 'turning up shouting and angry at me' was 'not a verbal warning'. Mr Al Rahbi said Mr and Mrs O'Connell raised mobile phone use as an issue with him at a review meeting later in May 2024. 'I was trying to answer; they didn't allow me to speak.' He said he wanted to discuss his overall working hours, rostering during Ramadan, the contract he had been presented with and the question of a pay rise, but that these were not addressed by the couple. His evidence was that Morgan O'Connell told him: 'You are here just to listen, not to speak.'' The employer's position is that Mr Al Rahbi told his bosses he was quitting the job with a week's notice. Mr Al Rahbi said Mr O'Connell told him he was 'dismissed' but that he had not been sure whether that meant from the meeting or from his employment. The tribunal heard Mr O'Connell wrote to Mr Al Rahbi a few days later: 'You were not dismissed by me, you were offered a renewal of your contract under the same terms and conditions.' Mr O'Connell added in his email that he was 'an employer of 20 years' and was aware that a dismissal was meant to be in writing. In her evidence, Mrs O'Connell told the WRC that Mr Al Rahbi 'said he was quitting' at that stage. 'I distinctly remember Morgan saying: 'We're going to offer you the same contract and the same terms and conditions.' He [Mr Al Rahbi] said: 'I quit.' We said: 'When?' He said: 'I'm leaving in a week.'' Mr Al Rahbi's complaint stated that he reached 'breaking point' during a 12.5-hour shift on June 19th last year. The tribunal heard the pharmacy followed a four-three shift pattern on a 28-day rotation, with 12.5-hour daily shifts. Mr Al Rahbi said he had agreed with Mrs O'Connell in September 2023 that he would have reduced hours for Ramadan in 2024. Adjudicator Andrew Heavey has asked Mrs O'Connell to produce working-time records. The adjudicator has adjourned the case pending the arrangement of another date for the hearing in the autumn, when it is expected Mr O'Connell and an employee of the pharmacy group, Sarah Lynch, will give their evidence.
ABC News
07-05-2025
- Health
- ABC News
This young doctor says the public health system has become 'toxic' and fears it could kill him
As a junior doctor in a busy New South Wales emergency department, Dr Fahad Khan expected long hours, high stress and the pressure of life-or-death decisions. What he didn't expect was the creeping fear that his job might kill him. Only weeks into his first year, after working multiple 15-hour shifts in a row, Dr Khan found himself slipping into microsleeps behind the wheel on the drive home. "Within about five to ten minutes of driving I'll start to have microsleeps," he said. "When I get to the lights I might fall asleep, and then I'll get a beep and a nice person swearing at me through the window." Dr Khan did multiple 15-hour shifts in a row while working in an emergency department. ( ABC News: Che Chorley ) To survive the commute he came up with strategies: pulling over to nap or keeping a friend on the phone for the entire 40-minute drive. For the past two months Their dispute with the NSW government has reached an impasse with no resolution in sight, according to the doctors' union, the Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation (ASMOF). Dr Khan, who is paid $38 an hour, said the situation is unsustainable. A "I just think it's very disappointing that junior doctors have to, collectively, have a plan on how to not die when you're driving home," he said. Things the public don't see Dr Fahad Khan says one of his colleagues admitted to wetting the bed at night due to stress. ( ABC News ) To endure the relentless pressure of the job, Dr Khan says he and his colleagues have found themselves confiding in each other about deeply personal, often distressing experiences. "There's just some really ugly things that the public isn't aware about," he said. He says he recalls one colleague getting kidney stones — twice — because he couldn't find the time to drink water or take a toilet break during punishing shifts. Another doctor admitted to wetting the bed at night, overwhelmed by stress. One even discovered, to his horror, that he had soiled himself without realising it. Dr Khan believes the NSW public health system has become toxic for doctors, with many fleeing to other states or leaving medicine altogether. "An exodus would be a good way to describe it," he said. Dr Jemma Cho left psychiatry after she "lost trust in the system". ( Supplied ) Psychiatrist Dr Jemma Cho is one of them. Nine months ago she walked away from her medical career. She had worked as a registrar at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney and Lismore Base Hospital, but says the working conditions left her emotionally depleted and disillusioned. "I was incredibly burnt out and I had lost trust in the system. It was bleak," Dr Cho said. "I didn't feel like I was making a difference in the way that I wanted. I lost sense of meaning for my job and [it] just wasn't worth it anymore for me." Earlier this year, more then 200 NSW psychiatrists resigned from their jobs in protest over a pay dispute with the Minns government. Their case will be decided by the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) which began hearing expert evidence on Wednesday. Crisis escalates Public hospital doctors went on strike over pay and conditions in Sydney in April. ( ABC News: Abbey Haberecht ) In early April doctors across NSW walked off the job for three days in a rare and dramatic protest. They called for a number of key changes including a guaranteed 10-hour break between shifts to ensure safe working hours, and pay parity with doctors in other states — which would require a 30 per cent increase. But their demands were dismissed by the government as "unrealistic". Premier Chris Minns said meeting those demands would cost taxpayers an additional $11 billion and further strain an already overburdened health budget. Dr Tom Morrison says the NSW health system has "deep cultural problems". ( Supplied ) Neurosurgery registrar Dr Tom Morrison, who represented the doctors during negotiations, said talks have stalled. "I don't think it's ambitious to be asked to have safe working hours," Dr Morrison told 7.30. "I don't think it's ambitious to not have to work 30 hours [continuously] treating patients, and I don't think it's ambitious to be asked to be paid the same as every other state." Dr Morrison, based at Liverpool Hospital in Sydney, said tensions escalated sharply in the lead-up to the strike. Two days before the planned walkout, the Department of Health sent a letter to doctors warning they could be referred to medical regulators if they proceeded. The IRC had earlier ruled that doctors must not strike for at least three months. Dr Morrison says he and his peers took that as a threat. "These are bodies for serious professional misconduct, not for people who are standing up saying, 'we're working in an unsafe system',"Dr Morrison said. " People were just astounded that there's been such a dramatic escalation. " Public hospital doctors from Coffs Harbour Hospital on strike in April. ( ABC News: Toby Hemmings ) Then came the claim by the government that hundreds of chemotherapy appointments had been cancelled due to the strike. Days later Health minister Ryan Park's office admitted the information was incorrect. Dr Morrison said the accusation was offensive and that he felt that the government was trying to suggest that doctors are putting patients' lives at risk. "I don't think anything the government's done has encouraged doctors to work for NSW Health," he said. " If anything they've made it clear that the system has these deep cultural problems … and now it's in crisis. " Mr Park declined 7.30's request for an interview, and he didn't respond to questions. Instead his office pointed to his statements made in previous press conferences. Is pay rise a 'sugar hit'? Professor Jeffrey Braithwaite says doctors deserve a pay rise but that it would only be a "sugar hit". ( ABC News: Shaun Kingma ) A special commission of inquiry is looking at how we can better fund the healthcare system in NSW. Professor Jeffrey Braithwaite, founding director of Macquarie University's Australian Institute of Health Innovation , serves as a member of the inquiry's expert panel. He said funding health is a complicated challenge. "Healthcare is like a black hole. You could pour dollars into it and not reach the bottom," Professor Braithwaite said. While he sympathises with the NSW doctors' demands, including calls for a pay rise, Professor Braithwaite believes that increasing salaries won't solve the deeper issues within the system. Many public hospitals are not operating efficiently, Professor Braithwaite says. ( ABC News: Paulina Vidal ) "There's a case for them to be paid more … but after that you just reckon you deserved it, and that's what you're worth now — so it's only a sugar hit," he said. Professor Braithwaite's research into modern healthcare systems, including NSW's public hospitals, has revealed that many of them could operate much more efficiently. His findings show that 60 per cent of healthcare provided is of high quality, 30 per cent is wasted due to bureaucracy or inefficiencies, and 10 per cent results in actual harm to patients, including accidents and errors. Shifting these numbers, he said, is essential for meaningful reform. "These numbers have remained fairly sticky for a couple of decades," he said. "It's not good enough". Watch , Mondays to Thursdays 7:30pm on and ABC TV Contact 7.30 Do you know more about this story? Get in touch with 7.30
