Why is wellbeing and stress management training so important?

Stress at work is now the biggest cause of long-term absence from work amongst non-manual workers and the third biggest amongst manual employees. (CIPD 2007) The cost to organisations is very high, with the 2006/7 Self- Reported Work Related Illness Survey (SW106/07) showing that the number of working days lost each year to stress, anxiety and depression is 13.8 million, with an average cost of £165 per day. Occupational groups including teachers and nurses and public sector professional and managerial groups have high prevalence rates of work-related stress. By putting in place appropriate strategies and training to support health and wellbeing at work, your organisation will benefit by:

Improving:
• recruitment and retention
• staff performance, commitment and morale
• staff loyalty and advocacy
• satisfaction of customers/service users
• your organisation's reputation and image

Reducing:
• recruitment costs
• staff absence costs
• disruption caused by staff absence and turnover
• the risk of an employee making a formal complaint

A happy, healthy workforce speaks for itself!