With work related stress, depression or anxiety affecting over half a million people in Great Britain, the cost to employers can be estimated as the loss of 14 million working days at a cost of over £500 million. Reducing the hazard of work related stress is not only a legal requirement but also a common sense attitude with significant benefits to many organisations in both the public and private sectors.
In essence, stress management is no different to any other risk assessment based compliance requirement. However the problem here is that employers and those tasked with the responsibility of stress management do not always understand how to relate their knowledge of managing generic risk, like COSHH, with the techniques they need for managing stress. Individuals and the organisations that employ them also have a fear of admitting to the problem, an attitude that can mask the hazard until it becomes a debilitating illness, personal tragedy and an expensive loss to the organisation.
At Sypol we advocate that dealing with work related stress needs an organisation-wide approach starting in the boardroom. Our experience shows that by changing the workplace to prevent harm occurring in the first place removes the hazard and enhances the individual’s ability to cope.