Pressure on to tackle stress as business loses out

Date:

02 November 2009

Release No:

097/2009

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is supporting National Stress Awareness Day as statistics reveal more than 11 million working days were lost to work related stress last year.

This startling figure translates as a £4 billion cost to society and HSE wants companies to be made aware of the real cost, not only to people but also to business.

The theme of this year's International Stress Management Association (ISMA) campaign is 'stressing the positives' and HSE is urging employers to take positive steps against work related stress by using its Management Standards.

The Management Standards highlight the components of good job design that keep stress levels in check and enhance productivity.

HSE also wants managers and supervisors across Britain to test their management skills with a self-assessment questionnaire.

And to help managers develop further, more tools are being produced that provide a third party view of their performance from staff, managers and peers.

HSE Chief Executive Geoffrey Podger said:

"We must make a conscious effort to deal with work related stress as we lost over 11 million working days to stress last year and more than 400,000 people reported suffering from work related stress.

Pressure is part and parcel of all work and helps to keep us motivated, but excessive pressure can lead to stress which undermines performance, is costly to employers and can make people ill.

There is no doubt that managers have a key role to play in helping to reduce work related stress by using the Management Standards.''

HSE is calling for volunteers to test the prototypes of the new tools mentioned. For more information, visit www.hse.gov.uk/stress/volunteer.htm.

To read the latest guidance on work-related stress, visit HSE's stress website www.hse.gov.uk/stress

Notes to editors

1. The Management Standards and advice on how to use them are available at www.hse.gov.uk/stress. The Standards, informed by the expert research linking job design to ill health, consist of six main factors that contribute to work-related stress: demands, control, support, relationships, role, change.
2. The Health and Safety Statistics were released on 28 October 2009; see http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2009/statistics.htm for the press releases and http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics for the full statistics.

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