The health implications of workplace stress

Workplace stress: Bad for health

There could be greater risks to employee heath in the workplace apart from repetitive strain injury and bad posture from an uncomfortable chair. According to a report from Stephen Bevan, the managing director of the Work Foundation, workplace stress has the potential to give workers an "increased risk of experiencing further health conditions, such as anxiety disorders and depressive illnesses."

The report was written in response to a study conducted by Aviva revealing that businesses are facing a stress epidemic. Along with concerns about the economic recession, it was discovered that nearly half of all workers admitted to being stressed, while an astonishing one in five were living with depression.

In addition, it was seen that employees are working harder, with 55 percent going to work even when they are ill.

The cost of stress

With such concerns, Bevan recommends that all businesses and/or their HR departments establish an employee assistance programme, complete with a helpline, with barrier-free training offered to managers to identify early warning signs.

"It is important that [staff] do not bottle it up and find somebody ... they can talk to about how they feel and what is at the root of their problem," he remarked.

Europe has recently been hit with scandals regarding workplace stress with a French telecom company even seeing a spree of suicides. It is a serious concern with the UK estimating that the cost of work related mental illness was GBP£2 billion, which represents a quarter of the total sick bill for the United Kingdom.

And what is the biggest cause of problems? Poor managers.

It's something to think about.

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