We live in a much faster-paced world that we used to and most people accept and expect stress in their lives as they strive to balance the demands of their work and home lives. Deadlines to meet, changing priorities, longer working hours, e-mails, commuting. Most of us are put under pressure to handle situations that are not life-threatening but nevertheless provoke stress signals. These can lead to a range of unpleasant and debilitating feelings and symptoms, such as headache, backache, stomach upsets, anxiety attacks and lethargy. This in turn leads to lack of productivity, burn-out and long-term illness if not prevented.
WorkScales offers a range of services to help you combat stress in your organisation, from designing stress assessments geared towards your staff, introducing stress management policies, carrying out stress management workshops for staff and managers to help prevent stress in the workplace, and helping staff who are off sick or suffering from stress.
How Sick is your Organisation?
Figures vary on the estimated number of working days lost in the UK through stress-related illnesses, but they definitely run into millions. According to an IHC report last year by one of the UK's largest independent healthcare brokers, 40 million days are lost each year in the UK to workplace absenteeism. Of these, they reckon 13.4 million working days a year are lost to stress, anxiety and depression, and 12.3 million to back and upper limb problems.
Whichever way you look at it, stress and its related symptoms cost British industry a lot of money. A recent survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development shows the average level of employee absence has increased for the first time in two years. 2007 saw 3.7% of working time lost compared to 3.5% in 2006.*
The CIPD annual Absence Management survey reveals employee well-being has recently climbed up many corporate agendas as a critical area of action, with 42% of organisations saying they have implemented a well-being strategy compared to just 26% for the previous year. *
The increased interest in providing employee wellbeing support among employers was accompanied by an increase in the average annual level of absence, which climbed to 8.4 days per employee a year, from 8 days for the previous 12 months. There was also a significant increase in stress at work with 31% of employers reporting an increase in stress-related absence. *
*Source: Recruitment Consultant magazine - 16 July 2007
What can be done?
Although it is generally accepted that some absences cannot be avoided, there are many ways to bring your organisation's absenteeism rates down and productivity up.
When looking at causes of work-related stress, both the individual and organisational symptoms need to be addressed. Long-term effects of stress on employees leads to burnout, depression and exhaustion. Stress can also be directly attributable to more fatal illnesses, such as heart disease and cancer. The organisation as a whole may be "sick" and exhibiting signs of low morale, low productivity, increased sickness absence and an upsurge in staff turnover. It is no good just tackling individuals if the reasons for the stress are not dealt with. A healthy workplace is the first step to recovery.
WorkScales recommends an initial stress audit to highlight the areas that the organisation needs to address. A stress management policy should be introduced, which includes looking at the organisation's management style, support offered to employees, problem-solving capacities, equality issues, bullying, sexual and racial harassment policies, inflexible working hours or long hours culture. The physical environment in which people work also needs to be addressed; staff may well be asked to work in unreasonable conditions, either physically or mentally, and these issues need to be looked at and addressed by senior management.
Ensuring that staff feel valued and motivated towards organisational goals can take longer to implement and this may involve a change of culture - perhaps from a traditional hierarchal structure to a more coaching style of management. Adequate resources need to be allocated to management training, communication and staff training, so that they are all clear about their responsibilities and what the organisation is striving to achieve. Poor management, too much or too little work, lack of training and poor working relationships all have a huge effect on morale and turnover of staff.
Offering your staff some emotional support, such an introducing an EAP and/or stress counselling is recommended, particularly if you wish to avoid the risk of litigation by stressed-out employees. Educating your staff and managers about stress, so that they can recognise it and do something about it before it becomes a problem is also a recipe for keeping the workforce healthy. Introducing a Stress Management Policy is also a good idea, so that staff are aware that stress is recognised as something that can be tackled without shame or embarrassment.
The onus is now on the employer to ensure that staff are looked after both physically and mentally. With the shortage of good staff available in Hertfordshire, it is vital for all organisations to avoid unnecessary recruitment and induction costs, not to mention litigation costs if an employee decides to sue! Keeping the staff you have motivated makes good business sense!
Stress in Teaching
There are many factors inherent in teaching that contribute towards raising stress levels, including classroom discipline, perceived low social status, lack of parental support, long hours, overwork and lack of government support, constant change with little accompanying information, as well as the demands of the National Curriculum. All these contribute to "burn out" and stress-related illnesses.
In February 2007 the following article was published the Guardian.
Although many of these factors cannot be changed without a great deal of government intervention, there are ways that can help boost individual teachers' morale and safeguard them against stress becoming out of control. Often, it is the self-limiting beliefs of teachers, i.e. that they "should" or "must" work in a certain way, that make them vulnerable to stress. If they fail to live up to their often very high and sometimes unrealistic goals, they feel demoralised and pressure starts to build up.
WorkScales offers workshops and training programmes that help tackle stress and make teachers aware of their own stress levels and self-limiting beliefs. These workshops arm them with coping mechanisms, build up their self-confidence, improve their ability to communicate and manage time effectively.
Below are two workshops that we are running this year for both employees and managers:
STRESS MANAGEMENT AT HOME AND WORK FOR EMPLOYEES (ONE DAY)
Learn how to tackle your stress, as you unwind in the beautiful surroundings of this four star hotel. Great networking opportunity as you enjoy your FREE table d’hote lunch looking out over the lake.
Venue: St Michael's Manor, St Albans.
Date: Thursday 4th September, 2008. 9.30 am for 10 am start to 4.30 pm finish.
Contact us for further details/booking form on 0845 638 1330 or e-mail info@workscales.co.uk.
Cost:
Individuals/charities: £325 inc VAT - or just £245 for "early bird" booking! (Quote EB LS0409).
Organisations: £355 + VAT - or £275 + VAT for "early bird" booking! (Quote EB WS0409).
******
STRESS MANAGEMENT FOR MANAGERS (ONE DAY)
Learn how to recognise stress in your staff and understand the main factors that affect staff performance and cause work-related stress. Improve your communication skills and learn what resources to use to ensure minimum absences and stress-related illnesses. Unwind in the beautiful surroundings of this four star hotel. Great networking opportunity as you enjoy your FREE table d’hote lunch looking out over the lake.
Venue: St Michael's Manor, St Albans.
Date: Friday 19th September 2008. 9.30 am for 10 am start to 4.30 pm finish.
Contact us for further details/booking form on 0845 638 1330 or e-mail info@workscales.co.uk.
Cost:
Individuals/charities: £345 inc VAT - or just £265 for "early bird" booking! (Quote EB LS1909).
Organisations: £375 + VAT - or £295 + VAT for "early bird" booking! (Quote EB WS1909).