October 2003
Beating stress in the workplace
Stress has increased significantly over the past three years claims a recent study by the institute of Management. It is estimated that as many as 270,000 people take time off work each day in the UK because of a work related illness.
This, according to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), costs UK industry more than £7billion each year.
With Britons putting in the longest hours in Europe, employers need to think seriously about the impact stress in the workplace can have both on the individual employee and the company as a whole.
We can all do something about stress, and so quite appropriately, this is the theme that the International Stress Awareness Day, which will take place on Wednesday.
Stress at work can be damaging and, if intense and long-term, can lead to mental and physical ill-health problems. Symptoms of stress include anxiety, short temperedness, tension, depression and in extreme cases, nervous breakdowns and heart disease.
Employers need to tackle stress in the workplace as they would any other occupational hazard, by assessing the risks and taking practical steps to remove or minimise them.
Taking action to reduce stress in the workplace can be very cost-effective. The cost of stress may show up as high staff turnover, reduced work performance, poor timekeeping, more customer complaints and an increase in sickness absence. As much as 75% of sickness is said to be stress-related according to the CBI.
Stress in one person can also lead to stress in staff who have to cover for their colleagues. Additionally, employers who don’t take stress seriously may leave themselves open to compensation claims from employees who have suffered ill health from work-related stress.
One company that is taking a pro-active approach to reducing stress in the workplace is Thorpe Molloy Recruitment. Since July this year, the accountancy, HR and administrative recruitment specialists have been running monthly reflexology sessions for staff in their Edinburgh and Aberdeen offices in the lead up to National Stress Awareness Day.
A temporary relation room has been set up in both of Thorpe Molloy’s offices which a reflexologist visits once a month to give each member of staff a 45-minute foot treatment.
Director of Thorpe Molloy, Karen Molloy, said: “We are committed to the health of our employees for the very practical reason that they make a huge contribution to the success of Thorpe Molloy. We therefore wanted to use this opportunity to pro-actively promote Stress Management to our own employees.”
Stress Management is the ability of an individual to manage the perceived pressures they face on a day-to-day basis. This can be done through a variety of techniques including the use of complementary therapies such as reflexology, which can reduce stress by creating a state of deep relaxation. As well as helping to reduce stress, reflexology can also help to relieve minor aches and pains, strengthen the immune system and improve concentration and work performance.
“We strongly believe that prevention is better than cure,” said Karen Molloy.
“Reflexology and other complementary therapies are becoming increasingly popular as a means of combating work-related stress. Such treatments have benefits for the company as well as the employee as they can help to reduce stress-related illness and in turn cut the cost of sick leave, increase productivity, develop staff enthusiasm and boost staff morale.”
Therapist Joan Veale has been running her own reflexology business, Joan Veale Reflexology, since 2000. She is providing the reflexology sessions at Thorpe Molloy. She says many organisations in the UK are now providing access to reflexology in the workplace – surveys in Denmark have shown that absenteeism has reduced by over 13% in company employing a reflexologist.
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