Survivor Bias

In WW2, returning aircraft that had seen active combat sometimes limped home full of holes & damage.

The initial response was to tweak the design, reinforce the damaged areas and send them back out.

Many would successfully return which seems to prove that the strategy was working.

Of course the somewhat counter-intuitive correct approach was to reinforce the areas of the plane without the bullet holes since the planes that were hit in those areas were the ones that didn’t make it back and couldn’t be evaluated.

I’m wondering if the modern and slightly less combative equivalent is quiet quitting & presenteeism.

The Institute for Public Policy and Research found that the cost of this to the UK economy in 2024 had increased by £25bn compared to 2018.

Presenteeism: UK’s Working-While-Sick Epidemic | Disability Rights UK

I think the modern workplace is at the stage whereby we’re still patching people up in the wrong areas and sending them back out to fly. We’re not really engaging with those that have already left to find out why and materially doing something about it. Nor are we seeking out people that are about to leave and really asking why.

As I wrote this, it was World Mental Health day (10th Oct 2024) and the theme this year is ‘prioritising mental health at work’.

Nice sentiment perhaps but in the current economic climate, way too nebulous and impractical. In the private sector, the priority for most is to be or remain profitable in order to avoid redundancies.

Hitting those targets/goals/objectives will involve periods of stress and pressure. There’s nothing intrinsically unhealthy about that but when they are applied constantly, they go hand in hand with the risk of overwhelm and burnout.

Both of these are extremely costly.

So what could and should businesses do about this? You can’t just lower the targets and take the pressure off – the business wouldn’t survive.

Perhaps controversially, I don’t believe it’s the business’s responsibility to ensure the health and happiness of the employee anyway. I think that’s the employee’s responsibility – we’re not kids anymore and we’re not at school.

It is however, the business’s responsibility and that of its leaders, to create an environment that is physically and psychologically safe.

They should provide access to appropriate support & training for employees to perform their roles to high standards and sustainably.

And most importantly of all, example setting and role modelling on how and when to access such things. People follow what they see far more than what they are told.

To go back to my aircraft analogy - here's how I fly and here's how I take the hits so I can land safely and go back out.

Just like when we were kids – ‘do as I say, not what I do’ was crap advice then and is crap advice now.

Managers – choose your actions more carefully than your words

Employees – be (very) choosy about whose examples you follow

Take care,

James

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in: James Pickles. Connect with me for thoughts on:

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