UK workers suffer most stress
Workplace stress is at a four-year high, according to a report by management group Kenexa High Performance Institute. The UK has the highest stress, notes the four-year study of 60,000 workers in six countries: the UK, the US, Germany, China, Brazil and India.
Some 35 per cent of UK employees are experiencing unreasonable levels of stress at work and the UK’s stress level has risen by 10 per cent since 2008, says the study: Stress: What’s the Impact for Organizations?
There has been a marked increase in workplace stress in every country, industry and job type.
Healthgivers must be healthier
The UK government has accepted recommendations by an independent advisory panel that NHS managers’ performance appraisals include looking at how they support the health and wellbeing of their staff.
NHS Future Forum said NHS organisations should design and implement strategies for improving employee mental and physical health and wellbeing, reporting annually on their progress. It also suggested that healthcare professionals be asked to include healthy living advice when speaking to patients and that employers get a greater say in developing workplace health initiatives.
STOICs and WIMPs
The UK is a nation of STOICs (sick though often inbox checking) as the pressures of job insecurity and modern technology lead people to work despite being ill, according to Professor Cary Cooper.
Cooper’s study, Sick Notes, with health insurance provider Ellipse, found that 80 per cent of people continue to work when they are unwell, whereas before they would have phoned in sick. The study identifies different absence types. The Wickie (working sickie) is a common sight, even though 80 per cent of employers say presenteeism is a bad thing.
Other types include the WIMP (works ill moans persistently); Remote Republic (people who work flexibly outside the office); the MIA (missing in absence), when employers miss absences, and the Serskis (serial skivers).