Employers Warned On Stress

Employers are being warned to watch for early signs of mental health problems in the workforce if they want to avoid cases of long-term sickness absence.

New Directions in Managing Employee Absence, a research report by the CIPD and Active Health Partners, has revealed that employees suffering mental health problems such as stress, depression and anxiety go off work for an average of 21 working days.

The research, which studied the absence records of 30,000 employees in 40 organisations, has also found that women, older workers and those in the public sector are more likely to take longer periods of sick leave.

“This study shows how important it is for managers and HR practitioners to be aware of the signs of mental ill-health so that they can act early and provide support before the individual’s condition deteriorates to the point where they go off on long-term sick leave,” said Ben Willmott, CIPD adviser, employee relations.

One public sector employer seeking to reduce work related stress is the Metropolitan Police Service. Dr Eileen Cahill-Canning, their chief medical officer said: “It’s not the intrinsic facets of the job that are the most stressful – for instance, being involved in front-line policing. It’s more universal factors such as how well you are managed and how much control you have over your job. We give our line managers stress toolkits when they enter our leadership academy, and 65 per cent of them say they have changed for the better as a result.”