Today is National Stress Awareness Day. The theme for this year;
“Employee Wellbeing as a Worthwhile Investment in your Business”
So why is employee wellbeing a worthwhile investment? Your employees are your most valuable asset so if they are not working productively then how can you expect your business to be.
Mismanagement of stress is costing UK businesses £30 billion per year with 1 in 6 employees experiencing problems with stress, anxiety and depression at any one time.
But all is not lost. Through implementing simple steps to improve the management of stress in the workplace, employers should save 30% or more of these costs. That’s a saving of £9 billion per year! For more on this, check out our previous articles ‘Why Take Stress in the Workplace Seriously?’ and ‘Writing a Workplace Wellbeing Strategy?’
So what can you do as an organisation to help prevent stress related issues occurring, identify the early signs and help support your valuable employees? Here are some ideas:
- Develop and implement an employee well-being strategy.
- Run a resilience course with your employees.
- Encourage employees to implement self-help strategies. Check out our ’10 Simple Ways to Reduce Stress at Work’ for some ideas.
- Have a ‘Well-being day’. This could include things like a walking event, smoothie bikes, chair yoga and mindfulness meditation.
- Train managers in how to spot the early signs of stress and signpost staff to the appropriate support.
- Identify Well-being Champions/ Mental Health First Aiders
- Display stress awareness information posters within your workplace.
Support employees in running your business by making sure that they are not ‘run down’!