Impact of stress related illness surpasses 70s industrial action
June 25, 2009
According to recent research carried out, the UK economy is suffering heavily at the hands of work related stress, and the cost of this is actually higher than the money lost to strikes that took place in the volatile period of industrial action during the 1970s.
The ever-rising problem of work related stress and mental ill-health is now costing industry around 13.5 million working days each year. In the 1970s the highest number of working days lost was 12.9 million a year – this was during the ‘Winter of Discontent’ in 1978-1979, when so many strikes took place that refuse was not collected in many places and some hospitals had to limit admissions to emergency only patients as workers were picketing entrances to hospitals! So the fact that the current situation is actually worse is very worrying.
Stress is now having a very damaging effect on the economy due to increasing levels of absenteeism, but also increasing ‘presenteeism’: i.e. people turning up for work but being unproductive, a lot of which can be attributed to increasing stress levels. Employees suffering from stress are unable to perform at their optimum level, which in itself can lead to more stress through worrying that they cannot achieve all their work and the fear of consequences from management.
Stress management is now a top priority for HR and health and safety teams, as it can clearly have a devastating effect on the bottom line, which most businesses are highly focussed on at the moment. The Health and Safety Executive has a set of management standards for the management of stress in the workplace, covering areas such as effective job design to ensure workers are capable of carrying out their work, and ensuring people take enough breaks during the day.
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