Economy is losing billions as stress takes toll on staff
STRESS caused by overwork is damaging the performance of employees and the self-employed, costing the economy billions of pounds each year, according to research.
A survey published by Barclays Bank of 400 small business owners shows that they are losing sleep, eating badly and surviving on caffeine and cigarettes as they struggle to keep up with the competition.
The survey follows a report by the Industrial Society which shows that absenteeism costs Britain at least £13 billion a year, with the highest absence rates in the public and voluntary sectors.
That figure is a conservative estimate, the society says. It is based on the amount of salary wasted in a year and does not take into account the cost of temporary cover, loss of productivity and customers or overtime bills.
Since the society's last survey in 1994, the public sector has seen an increase of 25 per cent in absence rates, which means that employees are taking on average one day in 20 off sick. While workers are reluctant to cite stress as the reason for their absence, their managers now recognise it as one of the most common causes - second only to colds and flu.
Jean Balcombe, head of information at the Industrial Society, said a "crisis of trust" was at the heart of the problem, with employees hiding their stress, personal problems and child care responsibilities from their employers.
The long-term disability insurance firm UNUM has published its own survey of the claims it has received for mental and psychological illness over the past five years, showing that they have risen by 90 per cent.
Anxiety and depression have forced one in five of UNUM's claimants to stay away from work for up to six months, with teachers and health workers hardest hit.
David Drury, a health and safety officer for the public sector workers' union Unison, said official statistics on stress-related illness were only the tip of the iceberg. The problem was hidden because people were ashamed to tell their employers they were suffering from stress and because "they do not necessarily recognise the symptoms in themselves".
The Industrial Society has its own explanation for the trend. "The evidence suggests that many organisations are now suffering from being too ΓÇÿlean and mean'," its report says. Since the recession, the attitude of those organisations has been to treat people as "units of production", it says.
Cary Cooper, professor of organisational psychology at the University of Manchester Institute for Science and Technology, believes insecurity bred by short-term contracts has led to people being scared to take time off when genuinely ill.
The Industrial Society report finds that flexible hours, job sharing and flexible holidays seem to be the key to stress-free employees.
Employers with such working criteria are rewarded with lower than average absence rates.
