Alice Chen has given some timely advice on handling stress. But there is a worrying disconnect between the poor mental health of on an organisation’s workers and its understanding of the potentially significant consequences.
Stress today has a more damaging impact on productivity than industrial unrest did at its peak in the1970s, according to research by Warwick University.
The Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health suggests that the proportion of sickness absence that can be attributable to mental health could be as high as 44 per cent.
But more worrying is its suggestion that ‘presenteeism’ may be a much more costly problem than absence. This is when employees work while they are ill, performing below their normal level.
At a seminar we ran, it was clear that issues of stress and the associated mental health outcomes (such as anxiety, depression, addiction, compulsion) are not well understood by employers. Many appear unwilling to confront these issues, often seeing them as taboo.
Meanwhile, within certain operating cultures such as pressured sales teams, stress is seen as integral — and stress-related coping strategies such as alcohol or substance abuse can often then become accepted or tolerated.
Yet, more than one in every four workers may be suffering some form of stress-related mental health problem. Increasing stress clearly evident from the effects of recession, this makes the issue one that is potentially very serious in terms of scale.
There is some evidence to suggest that organisations are developing policies to raise awareness about stress and mental health. But overall, not nearly enough is being done.
What should organisations be doing?
- Conduct an exercise to review risk and the likely cost to the organization (absence, turnover, productivity, client service) to focus attention and get management buy-in to investigate the problem
- Assess the nature and scale of the problem — conduct a stress audit or incorporate an assessment within your annual staff survey
- Identify the key work related stress drivers such as work-life conflict, bullying/harassment, resourcing, job design and workloads.
Once you’ve done this, you can tailor it to address likely causes. But in all cases there must be a change in attitudes to create better understanding of mental health at work.
The manager’s role in spotting mental health problems and dealing with the day to- day management of such problems is crucial. How effective and approachable they are could make a difference to the bottom line.
(Pic: glovsky225 cc2.0)
