Stress Awareness Month: The importance of managing workplace stress
Stress has become incredibly common in today’s fast-paced world. In fact, a staggering 74% of people have felt overwhelmed or unable to cope within the last year, with work-related stress being the primary culprit for 79% of those individuals.
As April arrives, so does Stress Awareness Month, a time for us to raise awareness of stress and its impact on the workplace and offer practical solutions to improve the mental wellbeing of your organisation.
Stress in the workplace; a grim picture
Stress is particularly prevalent in the workplace. Deloitte suggests that 40% of overall staff turnover can be attributed to mental health challenges, with factors such as burnout, fatigue, disengagement, insecurity, and uncertainty contributing to increased problems like absenteeism and presenteeism.
According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), work-related stress, depression, and anxiety led to the loss of 17.1 million working days in 2022-23, with the financial toll of poor mental health on UK employers surging to an estimated £56 billion annually, marking a 25% increase since 2019.
The importance of a people-focused preventative culture
With UK workplace absences at the highest rate in over a decade, it is essential that organisations implement a people-focused culture to reduce and prevent work-related mental health problems such as stress.
Prioritising and investing in workplace wellbeing by creating a supportive culture where employees feel comfortable talking to their managers about health issues, and providing access to health services and employee assistance programmes will benefit both employees and employers alike.
Every £1 invested by employers in mental health yields a £5 return, with increased productivity, reduced staff turnover and prevention of absenteeism and presenteeism. Investment in occupational safety and health must, therefore, not be misperceived as an unnecessary cost.
Corey Edwards, Senior Policy and Public Affairs Manager, The Institution for Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH)
An SME stress solution
If you are an SME looking to manage workplace stress and improve the health and wellbeing of your teams, we’ve got you covered.
Medigold Health Protect provides clinical support and wellbeing tools wrapped up within a simple annual subscription, exclusively available to small businesses.
If you would like to:
- Introduce a positive and preventative culture around employee health
- Provide your employees with premium health and wellbeing services and tools
- Support managers and HR teams with work-related stress and absence cases
- Provide director-level guidance on industry standards and statutory health risk management.
Then protect is for you! To find out more, visit Medigold Health Protect – Medigold Health (medigold-health.com) or email salesenquiries@medigold-health.com and a member of our friendly team will be in touch!
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