Stress Solutions for Business
What is your business's most valuable resource? Computers, photocopiers, telephones ... or people?
Office machinery needs looking after if its going to last a long time and so too do people. If a computer gets a virus we get it fixed as soon as possible but more importantly we try and avoid the virus by protection from anti-virus software. At thespencepractice, we specialise in caring for the performance of people, in particular those who have responsibility for other people.
The biggest health threat to your team is stress, according to recent statistics from the Health & Safety Commission. Stress is now the single biggest cause of ill-health absence from work. On average a total of 13 million days are lost to stress per year. The cost of this to society as a whole is over £3.7 billion per year.
About 1 in 5 people say that they find their work either very or extremely stressful and over half a million people say that work-related stress has actually made them ill.
According to the CIPD the average cost of absence now stands at £588 pa per employee. MIND the mental health charity suggests that for every £1000 spent on helping people to be healthy and motivated at work could result in £3000 in increased productivity.
"There is a difference between stress and pressure. Most people experience pressure on a daily basis and we need it to motivate us and enable us to perform at our best. It is when we experience too much pressure -excessive demands, tight deadlines, or conflicting priorities- that we start to feel unable to cope. It is when we experience excessive pressure without the opportunity to recover that we start to feel ill." - Extract from Sign Up - a joint publication of the Department of Health & HSE
How Stress Affects Organisations
Stress within organisations can and often does lead to long term absenteeism and can quickly spread throughout the company. It can be especially damaging if you lose one of your key personnel for a lengthy period. Whether it affects a key member of staff or a number of staff on the shop floor, it will affect your 'bottom line' - your profits.
The CBI estimates that absenteeism, as a result of stress, is costing British industry approximately £11.5 billion a year.
Employees have successfully sued their employer for large amounts of damages when they have claimed that their stress was caused by the unreasonable behaviour of their employer. In addition to the courts, the Health and Safety Executive stipulate that companies do have a responsibility to their employees for the state of their mental health.
What can you and your organisation do to protect you from the 'stress virus'?
- Accept that it exists and be open about it - invite discussion
- Set up systems and procedures for dealing with it
- Assess your risk with a stress audit and risk assessment
- Train and coach your managers and supervisors in awareness and intervention strategies
- 'Weed out' the bullies
- Seek professional help and guidance.
What can our Stress Solutions do for you?
- Provide a consultancy service to set up systems and procedures for dealing with stress
- Help you assess your present and future risk
- Help, as a priority, those already 'signed off' from work, to help them recover and get back to work
- Train and coach your managers and supervisory staff, providing them with strategies for preventing the negative effects of stress and performance improvement
- Promote good health and provide a powerful smoking cessation programme for your staff.
... which means that your organisation benefits from:
- Reduced absenteeism
- Improved productivity and an increase in profits
- Adherence to Health & Safety legislation
- Protection from litigation from disgruntled employees.
... creating an ideal environment to aid recruitment and retention of staff
Why choose Stress Solutions?
We have the knowledge, experience and skills to help people to find solutions to a wide variety of problems and we have helped thousands of clients over the last 10 years. Before we offer any of our services to you, we find out what your needs are. You will be offered a free initial consultation in order to assess your requirements and to ensure that Stress Solutions are right for you.
