Study shows employers are failing to support their stressed workforce
More than half of employees (51%) in the South West say they know a colleague who has had to quit work due to stress.
The research, by Capita Employee Benefits, also reveals that almost eight in 10 workers (78%) have been stressed at work in the past year.
Findings show employers in the South West are failing to support their stressed workforce as over a quarter (28%) of people, who have personally suffered with stress, say after they addressed the issue with their employer nothing was done.
Based on findings of a survey of people in full-time employment in the South West, the research shows nearly half of employees (48%) feel that their employer has a responsibility to help them manage their personal health and wellbeing.
Alistair Dornan, head of health and risk management at Capita Employee Benefits, commented: “A shocking 15.2 million working days were lost to stress, depression and anxiety in 2013* and, as these results show, employees clearly feel they’re not getting the support they need to be able to deal with stress to the point where people know colleagues who’ve been forced to quit. Considering the cost of absenteeism, lowered productivity and talent leaving organisations on organisations’ bottom lines – it’s vital employers start taking stress seriously.
“To tackle the growing stress epidemic organisations must encourage an open dialogue about stress with staff. Half the problem with stress is that it can be a silent issue – with people simply taking time off because they can’t face work.
“Employers need to be able to spot stress trends so they can look to create ways of mitigating that stress before it takes hold. Conducting a detailed risk assessment and auditing the health and wellbeing of an entire workforce will help an employer to spot patterns. For example, if once a year a department has higher than average absenteeism rates, then stress could be a contributing factor. Providing targeted health benefits for the whole of workforce such as expanded access to private healthcare, health coaching and even simple personal health awareness events – could help to deal with stress and prevent absenteeism, potentially saving an organisation thousands of pounds in lost days. It may also mean organisations are able to hold on to talented staff who may be tempted to quit.”
A report into the findings from the employee insight research was published earlier this month and is available now via Capita Employees Benefits’ website.
