Today is National Stress Awareness Day

Today is the 17th National Stress Awareness Day, which is held to celebrate helping people to beat stress. The theme this year is “Employee wellbeing as a worthwhile investment in your business”.

“Long working hours, lengthy commutes, high demands and constant connectivity to mobile devices have become typical attributes of the modern day office environment, and it is only natural that employees are becoming increasingly stressed as a result. Research from Britain’s Healthiest Company shows that almost three quarters (73%) of employees in the UK suffer from at least one dimension of work-related stress, with time pressure being cited as the biggest contributing factor,” says Greg Levine, Director of Corporate Healthcare at VitalityHealth.

“Stress has been proven to significantly decrease staff productivity. While many organisations are beginning to offer stress management programmes more can be done, and National Stress Awareness Day should act as a wake-up call for employers to invest in the health and wellbeing of staff.”

Research from Britain’s Healthiest Company (BHC), by Vitality, Mercer and The University of Cambridge shows UK companies are waking up to the importance of managing employee stress but more can be done.

The research reveals:

• Almost three quarters (73%) suffer from at least one dimension of work-related stress

• Time pressure is the most common stress factor followed by employees not being consulted about change at work, and a lack of choice about tasks done at work

• Around 60% said their job made organising their life outside of work difficult and more than a third (36%) said they worked in excess of 40 hours per week

• 50% of employees said they were able to work flexible hours and more than 50% were able to work from home

• Corporate work-life balance programmes are the most effective at reducing stress at work, with 71% of employees who tried them saying they were of benefit

• But while over 70% of companies surveyed are offering at least one initiative designed to tackle stress, just one third (34%) offer separate work-life balance programmes. Of the 41 companies offering this type of programme, on average only 8% of employees use them

• Of the 41 companies offering this type of programme, on average only 8% of employees use them