Stress in the workplace is costing us money!

By Julie Paine 9 Nov 2023 12:57

 

Stress is affecting our work, our lives, and our finances! Most people think that stress won’t affect them, until, one day it does! It could be yourself, a work colleague, a loved one or a member of your staff. The chances are, you have already felt it’s impact in some way, so can appreciate the disruption and emotion it creates. Stress can be caused for many reasons. A heavy work load, conflict,, uncertainty about one’s future, it can be anything, but it's always important to remember, you are not alone!

In 2022 over 8 million of us were suffering with stress and anxiety (report commissioned by Deloitte) The ONS published, that in the three months leading up to January of this year there were 2.5 million of us on long term sick leave. That’s staggering, but people aren’t just a statistic, something needs to be done!

Businesses are a human institution, without happy people they don’t thrive! You could imagine this as a finely tuned wheel, where the business is the centre of the wheel, and the staff are the cogs, that make the wheel go round. If you remove just one cog, the wheel begins to malfunction. Likewise, if just one person becomes anxious and stressed, it can impact many others not just in the workplace, but at home too. This means it’s the responsibility of us all to understand the issues we’re faced with, and find out what we can do about them.

The first step is to acknowledge the problem, support the person or people involved and reassure them it's a temporary situation and a solution can be found.

This way, people will feel supported and valued, and no longer afraid of the outcome. Then and only then, will we see stress in the workplace diminish, good staff being retained, and businesses no longer wasting valuable resources trying to find new staff.