Bosses have been told to tackle work stress
The NHS has advised employers to pay more attention to the levels of stress and anxiety in the workplace.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has estimated that mental illness causes a quarter of the UK’s total sick bill, amounting to a staggering £28bn.
According to the organisation a huge component in this situation is bad management and simple steps such as giving employees positive feedback and allowing flexible working hours could cut down the impact by a third.
Not only that but it’s also important that businesses invest money for training managers and mentoring staff to help career development.
Over 13 million working days are lost each year because of stress, anxiety and depression in the workplace. Once sick pay, lost productivity and replacing ill employees have all been taken into account, the cost to employers hit £28.3bn.
In a bid to try and convince employers that they need to act, NICE has designed a calculator which will allow employers to work out how much they could potentially save if they invested more time and money into preventing stress, anxiety and depression. A firm of 1,000 staff would save approximately £250,000.
Lancaster University Professor, Cary Cooper , is an expert in psychology in the workplace and helped to draw up the recommendations. He said “You cannot underestimate the importance of saying ‘Well done’ to staff, but so often it does not happen.