It’s reported that two out of five employees claim that work stress have triggered health issues. Government stats say that depression, anxiety and work-related stress accounted for 39% of work-related illnesses in the year 2013/14.
Managing stress continues to be an uphill task due to its intangible nature and is also a rather subjective matter. End result though is the increase in unhealthy lifestyles such as smoking, drinking, over indulgence of junk food, lack of exercising and even cardiovascular issues that damage health irreversibly.
General Practices therefore are becoming somewhat notorious for stress implications arising due to stressful work environments. The decrease of professionals and increase of amateur trainees in this field are also contributing to this trend.
There are numerous laws that govern stress in the workplace and employers are also required to manage the stress levels of employees with the aim of educating themselves on what can be done to minimise stress in the work place.
Preventive Measures:
Prevention is always better than cure, especially in this case. Hence it’s important to be sensitive of one’s employees in identifying stress signals and even carry out stress audits that will enable employers to resolve the matter before it blows out of proportion.
Remedial Action:
If stress does become a problem then it would be wise to carry out a Stress risk assessment, both for the Practice and its employees to ascertain impact. Lowering the bars of expectations / turnaround times can also help reverse some adverse effects caused by work stress.
Mentoring / Professional Help:
Seeking professional help in terms of Occupational Health Consultancy, training along with Mentoring can also greatly help improve the situation.
