News Analysis: Employee stress costing UK plc

A report by mental health charity Mind has shown that 10% of UK workers have visited a general practitioner to seek support as a result of recessionary pressures in their workplace, with 7% starting a course of medical treatment for depression since the start of the recession.

With staff facing longer working hours, morale under constant pressure and estimates that mental health problems cost UK businesses £26bn a year, this is not an issue that broker managers can afford to ignore.

According to the charity, the poll of more than 2,000 workers supports previous findings that mental health problems are the second-biggest cause of absence due to sickness at work, being experienced by one-sixth of people of working age each year.

Spotting the problem
Paul Cann, human resources director at Groupama, agrees that it is a serious problem. He says: "Managers should be aware that people have different stress tolerance levels. Educating them for signs of stress and how to help an employee is key."

Cann said that broker managers should not overlook steps such as a regular support meeting or tips on health, diet and exercise, all of which can be achieved at low cost. He also believes that good lines of communication, including information on how the business is doing and what its plans are help employees to feel they are more in control, reducing uncertainty and stress levels.

Allianz has a team of 42 wellbeing champions across its offices, with the volunteers developing their skills at an annual conference focused on the year's key topics. Banu Gajendran, occupational health and safety wellbeing manager at Allianz, believes that the size of a company's budget should not be an issue in staff wellbeing.

She explained: "The perception is that it costs a lot of money, yet it could be as simple as getting a scheme in place to enable access to something such as massage or reflexology to give staff a boost." She also points out that it can be a positive recruitment tool: "Showing that we have policies in place helps us when graduates ask about such benefits."

Many human resources departments have shrunk, with some smaller businesses relying on only one person to control staff wellbeing, as well as being charged with other tasks. Helplines might be useful in any situation. Matthew Judge, director of the large corporate health care division at Jelf Employee Benefits, has noted an increase in the number of employee assistance programmes offering counselling and therapy benefits.

He said: "Outsourcing a helpline facility to discuss stress confidentially with a counsellor is fairly low cost and one of the simplest steps to take." He added that you could hire them for as little as £10 a year per employee - depending on the size of the company - and that it is common to have the option of face-to-face sessions built into the package.

Wide cover
Judge also pointed out that stress is not just about work - it can be caused by debt or personal relationship problems - and so many policies as such cover not only employees but their dependants as well. He added: "Every pound is being scrutinised at the moment but clients see employee care programmes as valuable in these more stressful times. Those clients that have a helpline have seen increased usage and those who don't are thinking about [introducing] it."

Whatever approach broker managers take, Cann pointed out that the downside of not dealing with stress is increased sickness levels, equalling decreased productivity. He concluded: "It absolutely hits the bottom line: doing nothing is a false economy."

Source: PB – June 2010