For the first time, stress has topped the list of reasons for long-term sickness absence among both manual and non-manual employees, according to the latest absence management survey from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).
In addition to a well-drafted “well-being” policy an employer should always be alert to signs of stress among employees and be quick to act, as this round-up of cases by Kevin Bridges illustrates.
The Government believes that employers have a major role to play in safeguarding their employees’ mental health and well-being. Kevin Yip looks at the barriers businesses face in addressing these issues and suggests how they can be overcome.
Work pressures associated with the financial slump mean more of us are exposed to the risk of stress. Roddy Macleod reminds employers of their duties in this area.
When an organisation experiences a huge crisis, who looks after those looking after the business during this difficult time? Professor Kerry Gardiner discusses the impact of stress and sleep deprivation on such individuals and suggests how health and safety practitioners can contribute to planning and executing a crisis management programme.
Stress in the workplace is a complex issue. It is intangible and thus can sometimes be difficult to recognise and assess, but it is a very real problem and can become an expensive and time-consuming one. Simon Lubacz explains how one UK company is pulling out all the stops to ensure its employees don’t suffer in silence and instead enjoy a healthy work-life balance.
Richard Byrne offers his thoughts on how employers should deal with stress within their workforce, and argues that a key feature of a successful management and intervention strategy is its integration in an organisation’s overall employee welfare programme.
The issue of mental ill health is still being ignored in most workplaces, with just four in ten employees saying they would feel confident to disclose a mental-health problem to their employer.
A major conference on stress will hear this weekend how work-life balance is now at the bottom of the agenda and work-related suicide is increasing as a result of the parlous state of the economy.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has published three new research reports aimed at developing the evidence base by which progress on health and well-being at work can be measured and monitored over time.
