Absence in the workplace as a result of sickness is doing the long-awaited economic recovery no favours. Ann McCracken reviews the causes, symptoms and potential solutions to workplace stress.
In 2008, Dame Carol Black, UK Government Director for Health and Work, indicated that ill health is costing the UK £100bn per annum, enough to run the entire UK National Health Service1. Apart from the financial cost, the psychological effect on individuals and organisations results in a nation focused on ill health rather than wellness. While not all sickness is due to stress, the typical symptoms of stress such as a susceptibility to minor ailments like headaches, migraines, irritable bowel, anxiety, depression and musculoskeletal problems, can all lead to time off work.
The absence problem
Ann McCracken, Chair of the International Stress Management Association (ISMA), says: ‘Stress, together with depression and anxiety accounts for over 13.5m workdays being lost each year, making it the single biggest cause of sickness absence in the UK.’
Absent employees cost organisations money. According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), employee absence is running at eight days per employee, per year, at a direct cost to business of £635 per employee, per year2. Indirect costs have been estimated to be twice the direct costs3 making a total of £1,900 per employee per year.
Public sector organisations have a higher absence rate than the private sector and at an average of ten days per annum, sickness absence among the 523,000 civil servants costs over £375m per annum. Similar levels of sickness absence exist in other parts of the public sector, which employ around five million people, (18% of the workforce) at a sickness cost of £95m.
Private sector organisations have a lower absence rate – around 6.4 days per year but in an organisation of 2,500 employees it is still £4.75m off the bottom line.
Since there is evidence that most work-related stress is due to poor management4, it is vital that businesses have a solid stress policy in place that managers can apply. In fact employers are required by law to assess the risk of stress-related ill health arising from work activities and take action to control that risk.
The legal position
Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 places duties of care on employers and employees. For example, section 2 (1) places the duty on employers to ensure the health and safety of all employees at work, as far as is reasonable and practicable. In 1988 a further amendment to this stated, ‘ill health resulting from stress caused at work has to be treated the same way as ill health due to other physical causes present in the work place’. See also the article ‘ Another Statistic’ in The People Bulletin, 22 April 2009.
1999 saw the introduction of The Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations, which requires all employers of five or more people to carry out regular risk assessments, identify hazards and take action. In 2001, HSG 218 was produced which offers practical advice on dealing with workplace stress and identifies the key workplace hazards that would become the basis for a risk assessment.
Responsibility for managing stress was placed on managers. This means that managers need to be aware of the effect of too much pressure on their staff. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) provides guidance for Work Related Stress through its Management Standards, introduced in 2004, which are designed to help employers manage the causes of Work Related Stress and are based on a Risk Assessment model. This enables managers at all levels to focus on identifying the key workplace issues and involve staff in resolving these issues through developing Best Practice. HSG 218 was revised in 2008 to incorporate both the Management Standards and a Competency Framework to identify good and poor practice for managers to deal with workplace stress issues5. While the guidance does not have the force of law, failure on the part of employees to follow official HSE guidance would be taken into account in the event of any HSE investigations or employee litigation.
Additionally, to help managers understand what behaviours are required to tackle stress effectively, HSE has developed a self-assessment questionnaire contained within a Management Competency toolkit. A further suite of tools is currently being developed to complement this toolkit and HSE is calling for volunteers to test the prototype6.
Stress management professionals
ISMA is the leading UK professional body in the specialist field of stress management and has been promoting well-being and stress prevention in this country since 1989. ISMA organises the annual National Stress Awareness Day, to be held this year on Wednesday 4 November7, when they will be working together with HSE and Boots, the high street chain, to deliver free access for all individuals to stress advisors.
NSAD is now in its 11 year and every year it helps people across the UK that are suffering from stress by highlighting the many coping strategies and the sources of help available. This year it is going one step further and is offering free one-to-one expert advice to anyone who wants to reduce the harmful effects of stress in their lives.
ISMA created NSAD out of necessity rather than requirement. Stress can be an insidious build up of many pressures and challenges. Most people are now aware that big issues in life that can be exciting for some are just too demanding for others. This can result in stress, with redundancy and moving home being just two examples of many. The aim, through the Stress Awareness Day, is to increase public understanding about the effects of stress, the treatments available and, most importantly, to help individuals suffering from stress to seek help using a team of stress experts. NSAD will be providing free drop-in advice and access to stress advisors located in selected Boots nationwide and other venues.
There will be a network of over 60 stress advisors, provided by ISMA that will be located in a number of Boots high street stores and HSE offices. Covering the length and breadth of the country, the advisors will be offering free confidential consultations on a drop-in basis, although appointments can be booked prior to the day. Each appointment will last anything up to 30 minutes and will take place in a private consultancy office and customers will be provided with an NSAD stress information pack to take away with them.
Implications for HR managers
HR professionals are more than welcome to consult the advisors either on an individual basis (they may well be suffering from workplace stress) or in their capacity as employers when checking the robustness of their own stress management policies. A workforce which is more aware of the issues surrounding stress will want to be reassured that employers have all their policies and procedures in place
In 2008, Dame Carol Black, UK Government Director for Health and Work, indicated that ill health is costing the UK £100bn per annum, enough to run the entire UK National Health Service1. Apart from the financial cost, the psychological effect on individuals and organisations results in a nation focused on ill health rather than wellness. While not all sickness is due to stress, the typical symptoms of stress such as a susceptibility to minor ailments like headaches, migraines, irritable bowel, anxiety, depression and musculoskeletal problems, can all lead to time off work.
The absence problem
Ann McCracken, Chair of the International Stress Management Association (ISMA), says: ‘Stress, together with depression and anxiety accounts for over 13.5m workdays being lost each year, making it the single biggest cause of sickness absence in the UK.’
Absent employees cost organisations money. According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), employee absence is running at eight days per employee, per year, at a direct cost to business of £635 per employee, per year2. Indirect costs have been estimated to be twice the direct costs3 making a total of £1,900 per employee per year.
Public sector organisations have a higher absence rate than the private sector and at an average of ten days per annum, sickness absence among the 523,000 civil servants costs over £375m per annum. Similar levels of sickness absence exist in other parts of the public sector, which employ around five million people, (18% of the workforce) at a sickness cost of £95m.
Private sector organisations have a lower absence rate – around 6.4 days per year but in an organisation of 2,500 employees it is still £4.75m off the bottom line.
Since there is evidence that most work-related stress is due to poor management4, it is vital that businesses have a solid stress policy in place that managers can apply. In fact employers are required by law to assess the risk of stress-related ill health arising from work activities and take action to control that risk.
The legal position
Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 places duties of care on employers and employees. For example, section 2 (1) places the duty on employers to ensure the health and safety of all employees at work, as far as is reasonable and practicable. In 1988 a further amendment to this stated, ‘ill health resulting from stress caused at work has to be treated the same way as ill health due to other physical causes present in the work place’. See also the article ‘ Another Statistic’ in The People Bulletin, 22 April 2009.
1999 saw the introduction of The Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations, which requires all employers of five or more people to carry out regular risk assessments, identify hazards and take action. In 2001, HSG 218 was produced which offers practical advice on dealing with workplace stress and identifies the key workplace hazards that would become the basis for a risk assessment.
Responsibility for managing stress was placed on managers. This means that managers need to be aware of the effect of too much pressure on their staff. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) provides guidance for Work Related Stress through its Management Standards, introduced in 2004, which are designed to help employers manage the causes of Work Related Stress and are based on a Risk Assessment model. This enables managers at all levels to focus on identifying the key workplace issues and involve staff in resolving these issues through developing Best Practice. HSG 218 was revised in 2008 to incorporate both the Management Standards and a Competency Framework to identify good and poor practice for managers to deal with workplace stress issues5. While the guidance does not have the force of law, failure on the part of employees to follow official HSE guidance would be taken into account in the event of any HSE investigations or employee litigation.
Additionally, to help managers understand what behaviours are required to tackle stress effectively, HSE has developed a self-assessment questionnaire contained within a Management Competency toolkit. A further suite of tools is currently being developed to complement this toolkit and HSE is calling for volunteers to test the prototype6.
Stress management professionals
ISMA is the leading UK professional body in the specialist field of stress management and has been promoting well-being and stress prevention in this country since 1989. ISMA organises the annual National Stress Awareness Day, to be held this year on Wednesday 4 November7, when they will be working together with HSE and Boots, the high street chain, to deliver free access for all individuals to stress advisors.
NSAD is now in its 11 year and every year it helps people across the UK that are suffering from stress by highlighting the many coping strategies and the sources of help available. This year it is going one step further and is offering free one-to-one expert advice to anyone who wants to reduce the harmful effects of stress in their lives.
ISMA created NSAD out of necessity rather than requirement. Stress can be an insidious build up of many pressures and challenges. Most people are now aware that big issues in life that can be exciting for some are just too demanding for others. This can result in stress, with redundancy and moving home being just two examples of many. The aim, through the Stress Awareness Day, is to increase public understanding about the effects of stress, the treatments available and, most importantly, to help individuals suffering from stress to seek help using a team of stress experts. NSAD will be providing free drop-in advice and access to stress advisors located in selected Boots nationwide and other venues.
There will be a network of over 60 stress advisors, provided by ISMA that will be located in a number of Boots high street stores and HSE offices. Covering the length and breadth of the country, the advisors will be offering free confidential consultations on a drop-in basis, although appointments can be booked prior to the day. Each appointment will last anything up to 30 minutes and will take place in a private consultancy office and customers will be provided with an NSAD stress information pack to take away with them.
Implications for HR managers
HR professionals are more than welcome to consult the advisors either on an individual basis (they may well be suffering from workplace stress) or in their capacity as employers when checking the robustness of their own stress management policies. A workforce which is more aware of the issues surrounding stress will want to be reassured that employers have all their policies and procedures in place.
[1] www.workingforhealth.gov.uk/documents/working-for-a-healthier-tomorrow-tagged.pdf
[2] www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/hrpract/absence/absncman.htm
[3] A 2001 report by Norwich Union
[4] www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/health/stress/stress.htm
[5] http://news.hse.gov.uk/2007/11/30/managing-the-causes-of-work-related-stress-hsg218/
[6] Further information is available on: www.hse.gov.uk/stress/volunteer.htm
[7] www.isma.org.uk/national-stress-awareness-day/