Bosses advised to tackle work stress
5 Nov 09
Employers need to pay more attention to the levels of stress and anxiety in the workplace, key NHS advisers say.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) said the cost of work-related mental illness was £28bn - a quarter of the UK's total sick bill.
Bad managers were the single biggest cause of problems, the group claimed.
But it said simple steps such as giving positive feedback, allowing flexible working and giving extra days off as a reward could cut the impact by a third.
As well as taking measures like these, NICE urged employers to invest in training for managers and mentoring for staff to help career development.
More than 13m working days a year are lost because of work-related stress, anxiety and depression.
Once the pay of staff, lost productivity and replacing ill employees are taken into account, the cost to employers hit £28.3bn a year.
To read the full guide on Promoting mental wellbeing through productive and healthy working conditions click here