Stress is lead cause of absenteeism

Three-quarters of HR professionals say the number of employees taking time off with stress-related complaints has risen in the last five years, according to research from recruitment firm Reed.

Half of the survey’s respondents believe unmanageable workloads are the main cause of the problem.

Other factors blamed for rising stress included employees’ personal circumstances (cited by 15 per cent as the main cause), organisational change (12 per cent) and pressure from managers (nine per cent).

Companies are not ignoring the problem, the survey suggests. Half of the respondents claim their company canvasses employees’ stress levels once a year, and 18 per cent say this happens on a quarterly basis.

Nevertheless, a third of companies admit they have no facilities in place to monitor stress levels, and offer no counselling or support.

A separate Reed survey of 2,500 jobseekers last December revealed that almost three-quarters (73 per cent) felt their companies should be doing more to look after their well-being by offering gym membership discounts, free fruit, stop-smoking schemes or lunchtime yoga sessions.

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Marc Barber

Marc Barber

Marc was editor of GrowthBusiness from 2006 to 2010. He specialised in writing about entrepreneurs, private equity and venture capital, mid-market M&A, small caps and high-growth businesses.

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