Employers can show staff they care on national stress awareness day

Sickness absence costs UK businesses an estimated 11.6 billion every year and more workers are reporting work-related stress than ever. National Stress Awareness Day (NSAD) (2nd November 2005) offers employers the ideal opportunity to take a closer look at the wellbeing of their staff and take steps to cope with mental illness in the workplace. FirstAssist, the leading health and wellbeing provider, is offering advice on reducing stress in the workplace to enhance productivity and staff wellbeing.

A recent Evidence Review, launched by the British Occupational Health Research Foundation (BOHRF) and sponsored by FirstAssist, revealed that effective intervention at work, combined with support from line managers, can play a key role in helping individuals who have common mental health problems.

Tim Ablett, Chief Executive of FirstAssist, explains, ìWith over 105 million days lost to stress each year, employers need to look at alternative ways of managing staff absence. For some, sickness absence is just a symptom of a bigger problem and external factors could be contributing to staff stress levels. Poor communication or staff relationships and bad working conditions, including inflexible hours or unreasonable demands, can all add up to a stressed workforce.

ìAt FirstAssist we are urging businesses to embrace employee wellbeing to create a positive working culture and reduce absence. Effective health and wellbeing initiatives such as sickness absence management, employee assistance programmes and access to rehabilitation services, including counselling, help to maintain a healthy and productive workforce. Something as simple as flexible working hours can make a significant step in reducing staff absence and getting the best from employees.

ìWe also advise employers to conduct a Stress Audit, which will help them get to the root cause of stress, rather than just addressing the symptoms. National Stress Awareness Day should encourage employers to combat stress in the workplace to reduce absence by enhancing morale and productivity.î

NSAD is an annual event organised by the International Stress Management Association UK (ISMA UK). The purpose of NSAD is to raise awareness of stress and of the ways to tackle it.

How to spot stress in the workplace
- Tiredness and irritability
- Reduced quality of work
- Indecisiveness and poor judgement
- Loss of sense of humour
- Physical illness such as headaches, nausea, aches and pains
- Employees seeming jumpy or ill-at-ease, or admitting to sleeping badly
- Increased sick leave
- Poor timekeeping
- Staff changing the pattern of their working days - perhaps by staying late or taking work home with them

Firstassists top tips to combat workplace stress
- Conduct a risk assessment ñ stress audit
- Discourage staff from working excessive hours
- Reward employees with benefits
- Offer employees an Employee Assistance Programme, including access to a counselling service to air personal issues in confidence
- Introduce flexible hours
- Improve communication and support mechanisms for employees
- Review all working conditions
- Introduce health screening