An interesting article in People Management today about links between 'presenteeism' (which I take to mean when people are at work but are not feeling well, not performing well nor engaged at work) and technology, particularly email.

A great new acronym has emerged to describe such people, STOICs, which stands for Sick Though Often Inbox Checking.

I do think many managers and staff are overwhelmed with emails and that organizations could do a lot more from a systems point of view and to support employees with managing communication technologies. I've noticed that people just completely fail to respond to important emails much more often than they did a few years ago.

As a natural worrier, what crosses my mind is 'have I done something wrong? or 'maybe they just don't like me?'. But the reality is nearly always that their inbox is full or they are simply overloaded with communications, most of which are irrelevant. So more often now, for important stuff, I find myself reverting to the good old phone.

Recently, there has been publicity about organizations grasping the nettle with this and stopping the constant flow of emails. Or maybe (sharp intake of breath) we don't need our blackberry's and smartphones to be on all the time? Or maybe even more radically, we could take the decision to ditch them to gain some mind-space back and work more creatively and effectively...

Last Autumn, I recorded an interview with a member of the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) stress team. It makes interesting listening... And watching now as I've created a series of 10 videos from the interview, covering a wide range of stress management topics: from the definition of stress, to the Management Standards and the Stress Management Competencies, to the future of stress management in the UK.

You can find them all on our video page or on my YouTube channel. Hope you enjoy them!

I had confirmation recently that I was going to be a speaker at this year's Association of Business Psychologists Conference. The title of my presentation is Selling Business Psychology. Many psychologists and stress management consultants are genuine experts and deliver great services to their clients. However, they often struggle when it comes to marketing and developing their business.

My slot at the conference is going to be an interactive workshop about the business of business psychology, about how to develop and grow a sustainable and financially rewarding business.

I have a real passion for business development. It's great to have the opportunity to share this passion and help professional colleagues in this area. Information about the Conference can be downloaded below. It's going to be a great event (and that's not just because I'm presenting!). Maybe see you there?