STRESS at work

Recently, i read an article from www.cipd.co.uk/, and it says that stress really affects the performance of the employee.. I know its just normal to have stress in the office but it would not just only affect our health but also our happiness (that includes our sex life. yikes!) and home life as well. sounds scary ei..? So if you want to know more about it, here's the article i copied from the website.

Work-related stress

It is well recognised that stress reduces employee well-being, and that excessive or sustained work pressure can lead to stress. Occupational stress poses a risk to most businesses and compensation payments for stress-related injuries are rising. It is important to meet the challenge by dealing with excessive and long-term causes of stress.

Recent research has found that:

• Stress is one of the most important reasons behind sickness from work and stress-related absence is increasing.¹
• Three quarters of executives say that stress adversely affects their health, happiness and home life as well as their performance at work.²
• Stress may be experienced as a result of an exposure to a wide range of work demands and in turn can contribute to an equally wide range of health outcomes. It is important to recognise that stress is a state, not an illness.³
• Where employees are stressed because they have no say on how work is done, or need to do work that involves a fast pace and need to resolve conflicting priorities, or have a lack of recognition, understanding and support from their managers, there is a higher risk of the employee suffering a psychiatric disorder.⁴

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have indicated that:

• Stress is likely to become the most dangerous risk to business in the early part of the 21st century.
• One in five workers report feeling extremely stressed at work. This equates to 5 million in the UK⁵.
• Self-reported work-related stress, depression or anxiety account for an estimated 10.5 million reported lost working days per year in Britain⁶.

The legal position

There are three main types of legal duties that employees could use as a basis for a stress claim:

• negligence
• express or implied terms in the contract of employment that may be relevant to stress claims (for example the implied duties regarding health and safety and mutual trust and confidence)
• statute.

source: http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/health/stress/stress.htm