HR Industry News

Samaritans prepare for National Stress Down Day

— 17 January 2008 —

One in four people regularly experience bullying at work and over 40% of IT and retail workers feel unsupported at work.

The research, carried out for the Samaritans ahead of national Stress Down Day on Friday 1 February, is part of a national campaign to encourage people to look after their health and reduce stress levels.

Over half of those surveyed believed that work was overtaking their personal lives, and only 1 in 5 said they had not been bullied at work. Indeed, a third of people said that they were so stressed, they have dreamed of leaving Britain for a life abroad.

Joe Ferns from the Samaritans said, “Job-related stress has a serious and unrecognised impact on the health of the nation and the economy, affecting concentration and efficiency. Thirteen million working days were lost to stress, depression and anxiety in 2005, at a staggering cost of £3.7bn to UK plc.”

The survey also highlighted the worrying trend that people were prepared to call in saying they were sick with flu than admit to being stressed.

Paul Avis from Ceridian agrees and comments, “Many fail to appreciate that stress recorded absences reflect interpersonal conflict and capability issues in the workplace and are a management problem rather than a clinical one. Having someone other than the line manager and supervisor take the initial absence call can de-select the problem person and allows employee to be more honest as to causes. In turn, if genuinely clinical referrals are made, earlier to support services such as employee assistance programmes, occupational health, H&S and private medical insurers to reduce sick pay costs and potential litigation.”

“There is not enough openness”, continued Ferns. “That is what Stress Down Day is all about; encouraging employers and employees to speak out and discuss problems before they escalate.”

Del.icio.us Digg Newsvine Reddit Technorati Google