Boosting productivity by reducing stress

A pioneering research programme that pinpoints the causes of stress-related absence from work has helped a council to save nearly 2 million per year.

A quality of working life (QWL) survey of 14,000 staff at Somerset County Council enabled the authority to introduce reforms that cut average sickness absence levels by over two days per head in just two years.

The development of the QWL programme by Manchester-based Robertson Cooper ñ the UKís fastest growing business psychology company ñ comes at a time when public and private sector organisations are facing a growing crisis over staff absences.

A study by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) suggests workplace absences cost businesses 11.6 billion last year alone.

Among hard hit companies are Tesco, which is proposing not to pay people for the first three days of absence; the Post Office which is losing 240 million annually due to absence; and British Airways, where the average absence rate per employee is 16 days per year ñ more than double the UK average of six days.

Dr Joe Jordan, Managing Consultant at Roberston Cooper, comments: ìThe work done at Somerset County Council shows that by using relatively modest resources, workplace absence is a problem which can be effectively dealt with, for the benefit of staff, employers, and tax-payers.

ìThe QWL survey tackles the cause of stress, rather than the symptoms. QWL research, which involves Robertson Cooperís ASSET. It identifies the nature of stress in a way that provides a platform for removing the cause,î adds Jordan.

Somerset County Council commissioned the QWL survey as a result of the cost of sickness absences (3.7 million in 2001/02); the increasing significance of stress-related litigation; and to boost operational efficiency in frontline services.

ìAt Somerset, we dealt with several people, for example, social services and the fire service and the QWL research enabled us to explain in laymanís terms the nature of the issues they were facing. Once they knew this, they could produce action plans to integrate the solutions into their working practices,î says Jordan.

ìIn 2001/02, the government set a target of 9.1 days per employee lost due to sickness absence and required local authorities to achieve this within five-years,î says Jordan. ìAt Somerset the absence rate was reduced from significantly above this target ñ10.75 days in 2001/02 ñ to well below it, 8.29 days in 2003/04. There is no reason why this canít be replicated in any public or private sector organisation.î

A cost/benefit analysis of the QWL initiative shows a net saving of 1.57 million resulting from costs of 390,000 for the QWL survey, which identified the sources and severity of workplace stress, and for measures to deal with the issues.

Many of the solutions were implemented using existing resources and for relatively small sums of money. ìThere was a fear that huge resources would be needed to tackle these issues, but this wasnít the case and a recurring annual saving of 1.9 million resulted,î adds Jordan.