The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) said that the cost of work related mental illness was £28bn which represents a quarter of the total sick bill for the United Kingdom.

The report suggests that poor managers were the biggest cause of problems.  However it also said that simple measures such as allowing flexible working, providing staff with positive feedback and giving extra days holiday as a thank you could cut the impact by as much as a third.  NICE also urged employers to invest in more training for managers and mentoring for staff to help support their career development.

Counting the cost

Workplace stress is estimated to cost U.K. employers £28.3bn a year largely due to lost productivity, paying staff whilst they are off work and replacing ill employees.

NICE has designed a cost calculator to show the potential savings of better supporting stressed staff in the workplace.  It suggests that for the average firm of 1,000 staff a saving of £250,000 a year could be made.

Professor Cary Cooper, a leading expert in workplace psychology at Lancaster University helped compile the reports recommendations.  He said “You cannot underestimate the importance of saying ‘Well done’ to staff, but so often it does not happen.  Managers will tell you when you are doing something wrong, but not when you are doing it right.”

Recession

However, the problem is not just to do with staff taking time off from work.

“Presenteeism, where people come to work but add no value, is if anything more of a problem, especially during a recession. People are so scared that they go to work when they are not fit to” said Professor Cooper.

A recent survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) revealed that nearly a quarter of workers in the UK describe their own mental health as either moderate or poor, yet nearly all of them continued to work regularly.

The recommendations were welcomed by the government’s national director for health and work, Dame Carol Black who produced a report advising employers to take more of an active role in promoting good health for their employees back in 2008, saying that it provided “clear, practical advice to promote mental well-being”.

Who should take action?

Employers in organisations of all sizes – in larger organisations this might include chief executives and board members, human resources directors and senior managers.

Trade unions and other employee representatives – this will usually be the owner-manager and in medium-sized businesses the business manager.

What action should they take?

Adopt an organisation-wide approach to promoting the mental wellbeing of all employees, working in partnership with them. This approach should integrate the promotion of mental wellbeing into all policies and practices concerned with managing people, including those related to employment rights and working conditions.

Ensure that the approach takes account of the nature of the work, the workforce and the characteristics of the organisation.

Promote a culture of participation, equality and fairness that is based on open communication and inclusion.

Create an awareness and understanding of mental wellbeing and reduce the potential for discrimination and stigma related to mental health problems.

Ensure processes for job design, selection, recruitment, training, development and appraisal promote mental wellbeing and reduce the potential for stigma and discrimination. Employees should have the necessary skills and support to meet the demands of a job that is worthwhile and offers opportunities for development and progression.

Employees should be fully supported throughout organisational change and situations of uncertainty.

Ensure that groups of employees who might be exposed to stress but might be less likely to be included in the various approaches for promoting mental wellbeing have the equity of opportunity to participate. These groups include part-time workers, shift workers and migrant workers.

environment that improves morale?

Five Minute Angels is a company that specialises in helping organisations to thrive by improving morale and employee engagement whilst also reducing employee costs.  The service provides qualified and professional massage therapists to offices across the U.K. to enable employees to feel re-energised and to help prevent stress related illnesses.

A report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development highlights some of the benefits of improving morale & lowering stress in the workplace and some of the key findings are as follows:

•    The prevalence of work-related stress is increasing
•    The proportion of sickness absence due to stress is estimated to be 40%
•    19% of employees leaving an organisation cite stress of the job or role as the key reason for leaving the organisation

The massage itself has been specifically designed for the office environment and requires only a minimum of space, does not use oils and is carried out with the client fully clothed, lasting between 5 and 20 minutes.

All massage therapists are fully insured and the rigorous training and recruitment process ensures that you have the highest standard of therapist for your workplace.

So, what’s in it for you?

•    You can reduce stress related illness and absenteeism
•    Increase staff retention which in turn leads to lower training and recruitment costs
•    Reduce your exposure to litigation by improving your employee health and well being
•    You can improve employee motivation, morale and engagement

Here’s an offer especially for you:

Meet with your local account manager for a 20 – 30 minute presentation to go through what these benefits could mean to your company and then organise a free trial (max 2 hours) to allow some of your team to experience for themselves the benefits of this service.

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However, too few employers understand what stress is, how it affects people, or how to identify and manage it.  The following article by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development looks at the negative impact stress can cause organisations and the benefits associated with an effective corporate health & well-being strategy.

CIPD – Building the Business Case for Managing Stress in the Workplace

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Stress in the workplace is a growing problem for individuals and employers and government. HSE research finds that the prevalence of work-related stress has increased from 820 per 100,000 people employed in the previous 12 months in 1974 to 1,300 per 100,000 people employed in the previous 12 months in 2005.

More than 30% of respondents to the CIPD 2008 Absence Management survey identified an increase in stress-related absence, with just 11% reporting a decrease.

The growing impact of work-related stress on public health is reflected by the increasing proportion of incapacity benefit claims that are the result of mental or behavioural problems, including stress. The proportion of Incapacity Benefit (IB) claimants suffering from such conditions has increased from 28% in 1997 to nearly 40% today (Department for Work and Pensions 2006).

It is important to consider some of the reasons for the increase, because it is only by pinning down the causes of growing levels of stress and other mental health problems, such as depression and anxiety, that solutions can be identified.

One likely reason is changes in the nature of employment in the last decade and a half, which have led to an intensification of work. The economist Francis Green finds that work intensity increased significantly between 1992 and 2001 (Green 2001). Green identified a number of factors that have contributed to the intensification of work over this period, including competitive pressures increasingly being passed on to employees, and the decline of union representation and power. He also cites as a cause of work intensification the introduction of HR policies designed to encourage greater worker involvement and commitment, including incentives that link effort with pay. The final factor reported by Green as contributing to increased work intensity is technological advances. The development of the Internet, emails, mobile phones, laptops and Blackberrys have increased the pace of work and also blurred the line between work and home for many employees, making it harder for them to switch off and recharge their batteries.

Other developments that over the last two decades may well have contributed to the increased prevalence of stress and other mental health problems in society as a whole include an increase in social isolation as a result of the breakdown of traditional communities and the growth in single occupancy households.

In addition, increased reliance on electronic communication technologies such as the Internet, emails, instant messaging and social networking websites such as Facebook and Bebo mean that people are no longer having as many of the face-toface conversations with family and friends that help put life and its problems into perspective.

Finally, the huge increase in personal debt over the last few years, concerns over higher living costs and, more recently, growing worries over job security against a backdrop of rising unemployment, are also likely to undermine positive mental health and increase stress levels.

All of these trends are likely to continue and increase, particularly as the economic environment becomes tougher, putting people under greater pressure than ever before, both at work and at home.

Against this background, the business case for employers to invest in the well-being of their employees by taking steps to identify and manage stress more effectively becomes cast iron.

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The figure for absenteeism is at least £662 per employee, according to Hewitt Associates, although this rises by as much as 60% once indirect costs such as lost productivity, overtime and recruitment are included.

The survey showed that many companies could be underestimating the extent of absenteeism in their organisation because less than two thirds of respondents said they properly record it.

Unsurprisingly, the biggest causes of absence were found to be flu, musculo-skeletal injuries and stress and depression. More than half of employers (56%) stress is an issue in their organisation – but only a third provide stress coaching for managers.

James Kenrick, head of UK corporate healthcare consulting at Hewitt Associates, said: “The report makes it clear that stress is predicted to be the main cause of employee ill-health in the next three years. If the UK economy worsens, stress levels can undoubtedly be expected to rise further, making this the biggest threat to employee health in the UK.”

Hewitt Associates, however, estimate that if employers implement employee wellbeing schemes such as office massage, gym membership or healthy eating programmes, they will see a return on investment of £3 for every £1 that they spend.

Kenrick added: “Reducing absenteeism is the ultimate goal for employers. To achieve this, they need to approach the problem of stress from a total health management perspective. This means collecting quality data on the reasons behind absenteeism and developing a co-ordinated programme to encourage good health in their workforce.”

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