Employee Stress - The Causes, Cures and Economic Impact - by Sinead McKenzie
Festive stress nothing, your job could be the single biggest risk to your health... The run up to the holidays is well known to be one of the most stressful times of year, but as you pack away the Christmas decorations and prepare to rejoin the daily grind, are you sure that you aren't one of the 1 in 5 people who are being ground down by their work? With work related issues are now cited as the third highest cause of stress and anxiety after bereavement and divorce, a recent study by the Royal College of Psychiatry has detected a significant rise in occupational stress levels in over 80% of UK firms. Such a statistic is unlikely to come as a surprise to the majority of today's overstretched nurses, teachers and executives - almost three-quarters of whom claim workplace stress is damaging their health, happiness and home life, not to mention their performance . However, the British Medical Association has now confirmed that over 75% of serious physical illnesses can be directly attributed to stress at levels now commonplace in today's workplaces. A three year study by Maastricht University identified that people working in stressful environments are 20% more likely to fall prey to infections such as colds, flu and gastroenteritis, with more serious conditions such as stomach ulcers, heart attacks, strokes, and even cancer being even more prevalent amongst overwrought workers. Professor Gary Cooper - Head of Organisational Psychology and Health at Manchester University and one of the UK's foremost stress experts - states that this stress epidemic has been driven by the UK's adoption of "American trends such as longer working hours, short term contract culture and downsizing (companies shedding jobs)" which became the norm in the 1990's. This combination of higher demands, a more competitive working environment and, most significantly, reduced job security has had a significant impact on the average worker's stress levels. New technology has seemingly made matters worse, as supposedly labour saving innovations such as email, the laptop and the now ubiquitous mobile phone have left many office workers with the added burden of having to constantly field work related communications both in the office, whilst travelling and, increasingly, even in their own homes. In this way, the working day has not only been significantly increased, for many it seems never to be over. The effect of these problems on employers has been dramatic, with over a quarter of a million employees absent from work every day due to stress related illness. This accounts for nearly half of all work absences in the UK, last year costing British businesses over £4 billion. Companies in the UK's worst hit cities of London and Manchester have been amongst the first to respond with the adoption of services such as stress counselling and onsite massage for employees. Such measures have achieved a surprising degree of success, with some companies reporting reductions of absenteeism of up to 20% in response to their stress reduction plans. However, despite initiatives such as the Scotland's Health at Work (SHAW) program attempting to address the country's generally poor work health record, Scottish companies have been alarmingly slow to follow. This inertia is beginning to be challenged by the birth of firms like Scottish-based Total Therapy Group. Conceived by David Sime, a former marketing executive from Glasgow, the 30 year old company director has been in a good position to observe the effects of workplace stress amongst his clients. Having been adversely affected by the pressures of running his own marketing consultancy, David was forced to take several years out to recover when a stress related condition called Crohns Disease (which had only mildly affected him in the past) flared up to a devastating level. Unable to work or even leave the house for two years, David quickly realised there was no effective conventional treatment for his illness. He spent the time researching various forms of complimentary healthcare in the search for a solution. "All the disciplines I studied had one thing in common, they placed a greater emphasis upon identifying and treating the root cause of a problem rather than just fighting or masking the symptoms - sometimes the simplest change to diet or lifestyle could effectively deal with conditions conventionally thought of as incurable" After hitting on a combination aromatherapy, nutritional therapy and psycho-physiology (the link between an individual's mental and physical health) David was finally able to manage his own illness to the extent that he could once more return to corporate life. On restarting his marketing consultancy business he quickly realised how omnipresent the problem of occupational stress had become amongst the businesses that formed his client-base. Furthermore, he observed that even those companies which had recognised the issue were attempting to treat the symptoms