Following the news that more than half of 25 to 35-year-olds are having a íquarter-life crisisí, a survey by Croner has found that nearly eight in ten employers could be contributing to íBurn-out Britainí by failing to manage the main factors identified by the HSE known to cause stress at work.
Seventy-nine percent of health and safety professionals polled by Croner, one of the UKís leading providers of business information and advice, have not taken any action to implement the HSEís new stress íManagement Standardsí introduced last year.
Over half (55 percent) of the survey respondents are unaware of the HSEís Management Standards, while 24 percent have taken no action to put them into practice.
The HSE identifies six sources of stress, or ístressorsí, thought to contribute to workplace stress: demands of the job, control over how to work, support from colleagues and management, working relationships, clarity of role, and organisational change.
When the Management Standards are enforced later this year, employers will have to meet a percentage target of staff who must think each Standard is being achieved, or the employer will fail an assessment.
However, the survey by Croner, which is part of Wolters Kluwer UK, reveals that only seven percent of organisations have taken any steps to implement the Management Standards, with fourteen percent saying they are currently considering it.
Figures show that work-related stress accounts for ninety million working days lost per year, costing businesses around 3.7 billion.
Katherine Hunter, health & safety expert from Croner, says: Under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act (1974) employers must ensure staff are not made ill by their work. However, our survey suggests that companies are not doing enough to manage the six key stressors identified by the HSE.
Misconceptions about stress need to be challenged to make people aware that it is not a weakness on behalf of the employee, but a serious occupational health condition.
Employers must take responsibility for stress caused by work and the working environment and adopt the attitude of íprevention rather than cureí.
Stress is costing UK business billions each year in lost working days, not to mention the potential costs of compensation claims. It is in everybodyís best interest to understand stress, and we are advising employers to manage and monitor both working practices and the work environment to ensure they are not a health risk to staff.
For further information on stress and other health & safety issues in the workplace visit www.healthandsafety-centre.net
Majority of employers contributing to burn out Britain
Eight in ten failing to manage work-related stress, says survey