Dr Andrew Jones, Managing Director Wellbeing, Nuffield Health
Stress and stress-related absence pose a significant challenge for UK employers. Our joint research* with Ashridge Business School found that 72% of employees now say they are feeling nervous and anxious, with the state of the economy and the cost of living cited as the main causes.
Employees feel under stress, with workers in large organisations reporting more stress, insecurity and dissatisfaction than those in smaller companies. 40% of days lost from work-related illness are now attributed to stress. However, improving wellbeing of your workforce may be easier than you might think.
An understanding, open and positive working environment and making small positive changes to working cultures can have a significant impact on overall wellbeing and your employees’ ability to cope with stress. Creating a wellbeing culture won’t happen overnight, but it will be a change that is worth the time and effort.
Over one-third of employers are reporting an increase in stress related absences and 41% of private sector employees are experiencing stress due to excessive pressure at work. The cost of stress to UK businesses is estimated to be 13.5 million working days or £3.8 billion per year.
Given these costs, it is not surprising that about 50% of private sector businesses have indicated that they are taking steps to reduce stress in their workforce population. Our research also revealed that stress is one of the top five reasons for both manual and non-manual workers to be absent in a significant percentage of companies.
Employers in the private sector are most likely to attribute employee stress to family and relationship issues outside the workplace and to workload within the workplace.
Wellbeing schemes in the workplace that can help combat stress include counselling, advice on health and nutrition, fitness strategies and flexible working policies. Exercise can often offer an effective antidote to the negative impact of long hours and hard work.
We also know that high fitness levels reduce risk of depression by 17%. Educating managers and teaching them how to spot signs of stress and subsequently how to manage such a situation is extremely valuable.
It is important to remember that without a supportive culture, the efforts of a wellbeing programme can be made in vain if working environments and management practices do not change. For example, employees might be encouraged to use an on-site gym on their lunch whilst at the same time this is frowned upon by their line manager.
Similarly, encouraging a healthy work-life balance will be difficult if some employees are still required to work long-hours. Poor leadership and management practices can lead to stress-related illness, depression and even burnout and be directly counter to what a wellbeing strategy sets out to achieve.
To help combat stress, encourage your employees to try the following:
To find out more information, click here: www.nuffieldhealth.com/corporate-wellbeing
*Research: Developing a strategy for Employee Wellbeing: A framework for planning and action
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