Stress news - submitted by urban calm ltd., a wellbeing consultancy and --coaching practice

Stress News

Stress – more than a personal or workplace issue
Written by Katherine Tulpa, Director of Urban Calm® Ltd.,a Wellbeing consultancy

Burnout no longer impacts just executives with six figure salaries or the over 45 age group — it is an increasingly problem amongst younger professionals, as well. New research shows that young professionals in their thirties are increasingly quitting their high powered jobs as a result of Stress (58 percent) or being Unfulfilled/bored (26 percent). — Evening Standard 8 Sept. 2003

With key talent becoming scarce, today’s organisations cannot afford to loose their human capital. Stress — whether it’s a result of or combination of personal and workplace pressures goes beyond work/life balance; when left unmanaged, it can have a negative impact on health, productivity, and society as a whole.

The recent UK@work 2002 survey published by Aon Consulting points out that Stress at work and the growing pressures to improve performance topped the concerns of Britain’s employees. The study, conducted among 1500 employees indicated that 40 percent were not satisfied with their company’s efforts to tackle rising stress levels.

Reports by the Institute of Personnel & Development indicate that Stress is one of the highest reasons for employee absence, and with workplace absence costing British business £11.6 billion in 2002 (according to a survey by the CBI and PPP healthcare), this is a pricey matter.

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) estimates that up to 13.4 millions days a year are lost due to stress at work. The Bristol Stress & Health at work (study 265) showed that 20 percent or “as many as one in five employees reported that they were either ‘very’ or ‘extremely stressed by their work”

Now taking a serious stand on occupational stress, the HSE has also issued a stress code which will become legally binding in 2004. The code, currently in pilot phase, comprises of six stress tests to measure the levels of stress in the workplace. If a company scores below 65-85%, they fail the criteria and could be vulnerable to compensation claims.

Stress will not be an easy issue to tackle. However, a change of awareness with supportive interventions such as corporate wellbeing programmes, stress management, leadership development, relaxation therapies and personal coaching services are all viable options for a start. — Article submitted Sept. 2003

Other Related Links

News Flashes

Work Stress "increases heart attack risk" (BBC news, 5 Aug, 2003)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3124783.stm

Stress code for firms launched (BBC news, 16 June, 2003)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2993116.stm

Breaks ease Stress says study (BBC news, 17 April 2003)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/2954739.stm

Stress Research/Developments

Draft Management Standards for Work-related Stress: Pilot project
http://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/stresspilot/index.htm

Stress Management Fact Sheet
http://www.shs.unc.edu/library/articles/stress.html

Samaritans Stress Survey
http://www.samaritans.org/know/samsweek2003/samsweek.shtm

HSE Occupational Stress Statistics
http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/causdis/stress.htm

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