Post by Admin on Jan 30, 2014 8:53:56 GMT
Stress can lead to burn-out, whether you're a chief executive or a shelf stacker. Are you ready to start working?
Workers in the UK took an average 5.3 days off work in 2012, according to the 2013 CBI/Pfizer Fit for Purpose survey, with stress, anxiety and depression given as the main causes of absence. Sick leave is costing the UK economy £14bn a year, the report suggests. So there is a strong financial incentive for businesses to keep their "human capital" as healthy and happy as possible.
Most large businesses offer some form of stress and anxiety counselling, coupled with flexible working to help employees manage their work/life balance. For example, telecoms group BT offers its staff a real-time online chat facility with Relate, the family relationships charity, that can provide anonymous and convenient help. But a growing number are also using the latest diagnostic testing equipment and a range of new technologies to help them spot problems before they arise.
Joe Dunbar, director of operations at IPRO Interactive, a health diagnostics provider serving sport, the military and the corporate sectors, says: "We can now measure employee stress levels using a portable saliva testing machine that can give us an accurate reading in minutes, rather than hours in a laboratory."
The reader, which costs about £1,500 and is manufactured by German medicare company Qiagen, measures levels of the main stress hormone cortisol, as well as other hormones such as testosterone and immunoglobulin. High stress levels can reduce our immune systems and make us more susceptible to illness and coronary heart disease, research shows.
Learn more:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25316690
Workers in the UK took an average 5.3 days off work in 2012, according to the 2013 CBI/Pfizer Fit for Purpose survey, with stress, anxiety and depression given as the main causes of absence. Sick leave is costing the UK economy £14bn a year, the report suggests. So there is a strong financial incentive for businesses to keep their "human capital" as healthy and happy as possible.
Most large businesses offer some form of stress and anxiety counselling, coupled with flexible working to help employees manage their work/life balance. For example, telecoms group BT offers its staff a real-time online chat facility with Relate, the family relationships charity, that can provide anonymous and convenient help. But a growing number are also using the latest diagnostic testing equipment and a range of new technologies to help them spot problems before they arise.
Joe Dunbar, director of operations at IPRO Interactive, a health diagnostics provider serving sport, the military and the corporate sectors, says: "We can now measure employee stress levels using a portable saliva testing machine that can give us an accurate reading in minutes, rather than hours in a laboratory."
The reader, which costs about £1,500 and is manufactured by German medicare company Qiagen, measures levels of the main stress hormone cortisol, as well as other hormones such as testosterone and immunoglobulin. High stress levels can reduce our immune systems and make us more susceptible to illness and coronary heart disease, research shows.
Learn more:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25316690