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Facts and figures about the growing problem of workplace stress
“Stress is likely to become the most dangerous
emerging risk to business in the early part of the 21st Century” [Association of Insurance and Risk Managers] In 2000, The Health and Safety Commission [HSC] identified stress as one of its eight priority programmes aimed at reducing accidents, injuries and ill health in the workplace and together with the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions [DETR] launched the Revitalising Health and Safety initiative. As a result the Health and Safety Executive is now engaged on a programme to tackle work-related stress through a range of actions including the introduction of Management Standards in November 2004. The Management Standards cover six factors which can lead to work-related stress, namely demands, control, support, relationships, roles and change. To quote the HSE, “ The Standards provide a yardstick against which organisations can measure their progress in tackling work-related stress and target action where it is most needed”. The HSE has issued its first ‘Improvement Notice'. This was against an NHS hospital for failing to protect doctors and nurses from stress at work. The hospital was given a deadline by which it must have assessed the levels of stress within its staff and introduced a programme to reduce the problem. If the hospital had failed to act it would have faced court action and fines under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act.
Recent HSE commissioned research has indicated that:
Examples of survey findings include:
"Stress is one of the most important reasons behind sickness from work and stress-related absence is increasing" [CIPD Absence management survey report 2006] "Stress causes more staff absences than the common cold" [Investors in People Survey] "One in six UK workers put in more than 48 hours a week" [TUC Report]
What
this means in today's workplace The survey findings below confirm this trend: "1 in 3 partners of people who work more than 48 hours in a typical week, say that this has an entirely negative effect on their personal relationship" [CPID Report] "42% of managers feel illness rates in their organisation have gone up over the last 12 months. One in three managers, however, claim a culture of not taking time off work for sickness exists in their organisation. Only 53% feel they would be treated sympathetically if they were ill" [Chartered Institute of Management 2007] "Stressed workers suffer a greatly increased risk
of heart disease. Stressful jobs have a direct biological impact on the body.
Workers under 50 who said their work was stressful were 68 per cent more likely
to develop heart disease than the stress-free'" "Stress is still seen as the biggest threat to the welfare of UK workers with more than four in ten senior human resource professionals surveyed singling out stress as the main health concern of the workforce"
[HSA]
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