One in six workers is experiencing depression, anxiety or stress, costing the UK economy £26bn
When you hire staff, you want them to perform at their best so your investment yields a positive return. That’s just good business sense. While you also want them to enjoy their work, get on with their colleagues and be self-starters, what you don’t bank on is that one in six workers experience depression, anxiety or stress. According to The Office of National Statistics, this costs the UK economy an astonishing £26bn.
You may wish for a stronger workforce. However, it is often the strong and the diligent who are more likely to suffer. Why? Because they care about doing a good job and their sense of duty and responsibility will cause them to power through. These are the people who, when firing on all cylinders, will produce the best results for you. And, when they crash and burn, will cost you dearly.
Emotions are like signposts for remedial action, yet for some reason we are brought up to ignore them. This is compounded by deadlines, the effect of change initiatives, and insufficient support and training. The consequence of powering through is that the problem gets out of control and can lead to breakdown or burnout. Like your very expensive, very beautiful performance car which breaks down in the fast lane of the M25 because it didn’t get the service it needed to keep it in tip-top condition.
Stress is telling the sufferer “I’m overwhelmed”; anxiety is a fear about what might happen (very prevalent in a fear-based culture); depression is what happens when all emotions are ignored and the person is out of resources (internal and external) to support them through a difficult time so it is the mind’s way of saying “I give up”. They are signals, not problems and the sooner they are recognised and addressed, the soonest mended, as the old saying goes.
This requires four things:
1. A culture of openness
2. Self-insight on behalf of the employee to recognise where they are and how to deal with it
3. The ability of their manager to recognise and manage each employee according to their individual needs
4. An effective and pro-active stress resilience and wellness strategy
Performance and productivity are only sustainable where a positive approach to stress-resilience and wellness exists within the organisation. Because taking care of people is taking care of business.
© Tricia Woolfrey 2016
Tricia Woolfrey is an expert in stress-resilience, performance and productivity.
www.pw-consulting.co.uk 0845 130 0854