An annual study of workplace health has found that too many British businesses are jeopardising the health of their staff because they are focusing solely on profit and productivity. The study which was recently conducted by Aviva Health found that the primary aim for 39% of employer’s is to foster a highly productive and flexible team, or maximum productivity for headcount. 47% of employees said that they feel much more tense at work compared to when at home and 19% believe that their bosses create a stressful working environment.
But it’s not all doom and gloom: 27% of employers said that their main priority is to create a motivated team that enjoys working together and 29% agreed that they could do with improving the work/life balance of their employees.
Dr. Doug Wright, principal clinical consultant at Aviva UK Health, said: “While employers are making some very positive moves towards creating a healthy workplace environment, the overwhelming priority is still on financial performance. In the short term, this strategy can sustain a business through a difficult trading period, but it will undermine business performance in the longer term by damaging staff morale and allowing conditions like stress to flourish.”
A former NHS worker has been awarded £150,000 in damages after suffering from a nervous breakdown which was caused by three years of harassment and bullying from her manager.
Nanette Bowen, 28, worked at the Prince Phillip Hospital in Llanelli, South Wales. In 2000, the Prince Phillip Hospital merged with Dinefwr Trusts which became Carmarthenshire NHS Trust. During the merge Bowen’s manager was replaced by Eric Lewis. Bowen was bullied and harassed by her new manager so much that she started suffering from stress and panic attacks.
Bowen claimed that Lewis made sexual innuendos towards her and made her complete a daily diary so he could monitor her work. After years of harassment Bowen was signed off sick but she felt that the Trust failed to support her and said the money would never make up for her life being ruined.
Many UK businesses ignore work-related stress despite the fact it results in more than 13.5 million working days being lost every year, costing employers £38.3bn, a quarter of the UK’s total sick bill, according to The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).
Stress affects employees’ commitment to work, their performance, productivity and attendance levels, not to mention the cost to the business. NICE has cited bad management as the single biggest cause of the problem. Our consultants witness the negative effects stress can have on individuals and businesses on a day to day basis, which is why we urge all of our clients to tackle work related stress before it becomes a problem. So what steps can be taken to ensure stress does not affect your business?
Providing positive feedback, allowing flexible working, giving extra days off and investing in training for managers are just some of the steps NICE are asking employers to consider. These simple measures could cut the impact of work related stress by a third. Employers who don’t take stress seriously leave themselves open to compensation claims from employees who have suffered ill health from work-related stress. A former employee of the NHS was recently awarded compensation for life, after he suffered from a psychological condition that was reported to be caused by stress at work.
By introducing some simple steps you will be ensuring that stress never becomes a problem for your business or employees.
There is now convincing evidence that prolonged periods of stress, including work-related stress, has an adverse effect on health. Research provides strong links between stress and physical effects such as heart disease, back pain, headaches, gastrointestinal disturbances or various minor illnesses; and psychological effects such as anxiety and depression. Stress can also lead to other behaviours that are harmful to health, such as skipping meals, drinking too much caffeine or alcohol, or smoking.
Data Sound is pleased to support this year’s National Stress Awareness Day. Organised by the International Stress Management Association, the aim of the day is to help people suffering from stress, by highlighting the many coping strategies and resources available. So, I have answered some commonly asked questions about work-related stress.
What is stress?
Stress is people’s natural reaction to excessive pressure — it isn’t a disease. But if stress is excessive and goes on for some time, it can lead to mental and physical ill health.
Stress can be a good thing, can’t it?
No! Being under pressure often improves performance. It can be a good thing. But when demands and pressures become excessive, they lead to stress. And it’s clear from the recognised symptoms of stress that it’s actually bad for you.
As an employer, is it my concern?
It’s your duty in law to make sure that your employees aren’t made ill by their work. And stress can make your employees ill. Also, action to reduce stress can be very cost-effective. The costs of stress to your organisation may show up as high employee turnover, an increase in sickness absence, reduced work performance, poor timekeeping and more customer complaints. Stress in one person can also lead to stress in employees who have to cover for their colleague. Also, employers who don’t take stress seriously may leave themselves open to compensation claims from employees who have suffered ill health from work-related stress. Just last month a former employee of the NHS was awarded compensation for life, after he suffered from a psychological condition that was reported to be caused by stress at work. Fortunately, reducing stress need not cost you a lot of money.
Isn’t stress also caused by problems outside work? Are you saying I have to do something about that?
You’re not under a legal duty to prevent ill health caused by stress due to problems outside work, e.g. financial or domestic. The impact of pressures within personal life cannot be ignored and can make it difficult for people to cope with the pressures of work, and their performance at work might suffer. So being understanding to employees in this position would be in your interests.
Are some people more likely to suffer from stress than others?
We’re all vulnerable to stress, depending on the pressure we’re under at any given time. As an employer, you’re responsible for making sure that work doesn’t make your employees ill. If you notice that someone is particularly vulnerable because of their circumstances, look at how their work is organised. See if there are ways to relieve the pressures so that they do not become excessive.
Under health and safety law, what must I do about stress?
If stress caused by or made worse by work could lead to ill health, you must assess the risk. A risk assessment for stress involves: looking for pressures at work which could cause high and long-lasting levels of stress; deciding who might be harmed by these; and deciding whether you are doing enough to prevent that harm. If necessary, you must then take reasonable steps to deal with those pressures.
Find out if your business complies with HSE Stress Management standards, download Data Sound’s guide to Work Related Stress