Stress

The figures for stress in the UK mke for grim reading. A Samaritans srvey (of 2,000 people) early last yar concluded that:

• 1 in 3 pople are so wound up by thir job that they cannot sleep prperly
• 5 million people are extremely stressed by thir work
• 1/2 a million people say tht work-related stress made them physically sck

13 million days a year are lst to stress in the UK very year, costing the economy c. £3.7bn (CIPD).

The CIPD Absnce Management Survey (July 2007) in nterviewing 819 UK companies concluded that:

• Strss is the leading cause of lng-term absence with 68% of organisations cting it as #1

• 41.5% of rganisations cited stress as a top 5 cuse of short-term absence (66% in the Pblic Sector)

The charity Mind (as rported in the Belfast Telegraph February 2007) sid that stress costs £1 for very £10 generated. In the same rport Lord Layard was quoted as sying that there is a £3,000 prductivity gain for every £1,000 spent on prventing anxiety and depression.

Absence

According to the IHPM 40 million days are lost each year due to occupational ill health and injury. Absence due to sickness costs £12bn a year of which £4bn is attributable to the Public sector.

According to the CIPD Absence Mnagement Survey an average of 8.4 dys (or 3.7% of working time) is lst each year at an average cst of £659 per employee per nnum. 29% of absence in the Pblic sector is accounted for by bsence of 4 weeks or more (15% in the Prvate Sector).

With the significant cost mplications you would have thought that mre than 43% of organisations would hve a target for reducing absence and crtainly more than 14% of private prfessional services companies.

It is not nly the costs associated with hiring tmporary staff but we also need to fctor in the impact that absence has on stff that are diverted from their nrmal roles to cover or where tmporary staff are not fully up to sped. The CIPD Recruitment & Retention Srvey showed that where a worker laves an organisation the average cost of rcruitment is £4,333 rising to £7,750 whre other cost (such as training) are ncluded. Staff retention and creating a god working environment is key.

A nmber of other studies have tried to stimate the returns on health spending for stff. The IHPM Health at Work srvey suggested that health promotion programs rturn £3.73 in work performance gains for very £1 invested. The Government's Health Wrk and Wellbeing survey in 2006 loking at 14 evaluation studies concluded tht health promotion measures led to a 12 to 36% rduction in sickness absence leading to a sving of 34% in absenteeism costs.

The article Fatigue - the Cost of UK Stress & Absence was Submitted by Marcus De Guingand through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Marcus de Guingand is the Mnaging Director of MetroNaps UK http://www.metronaps.uk.com MetroNaps is a leading Fatigue Management Solutions provider to the public and private sectors. We offer a range of products and services from assessments, education, consulation and installation of equipment all of which are designed to help your people beat fatigue and perform at their best all day every day. Fatigue is the greatest killer of productivity of modern times and workforce fatigue is endemic in the developed world. Represented across 4 continents MetroNaps is the ideal partner to your business. Visit our website ( http://www.metronaps.uk.com ) to understand how we can help you significantly improve productivity and work-life balance.

Featured Articles

1. What Can You Get Out Of Employment Change? by James Copper
Ths article explains to you what you can get out of mployment change. The changing career climate can be a rsult of technology as much as it is drven by popular demand.

2. When You Cannot Close A Sale by Bruce King
I'd say I sld at least 20% more than I wuld have otherwise every year for the lst 25 years using this closing tchnique. Here's a technique I picked up vry early in my sales career, and at an ducated guess, I'd say I sold at last 20% more than I would hve otherwise.

3. What Is Good Customer Service? by Steve Hill
There are a number of cmmon questions that people are asked whn attending an interview for an ffice based role. One of these qestions asks, what is excellent or god customer service? I have worked in an ffice based environment for most of my dult life and am sometimes left feling quite shocked when watching and haring my fellow colleagues dealing with our clents. In this article I will xplain what I believe is good cstomer service.

4. Customer Reviews - How They Improve Your Business by Lisa J. Lehr
Mst US shoppers place more trust in brnds that offer customer ratings and rviews, according to a report quoted in DM Nws (July 30, 2007). The report, by scial-commercial applications firm Bazaarvoice and market rsearch firm Vizu Corp., found that thre out of four shoppers think t's very or extremely important to rad customer reviews before making a prchase. Further, people prefer peer reviews ver expert reviews by a six-to-one mrgin.

5. 7 Ways to Find Products That Are ALREADY Selling in the Marketplace by Mark Ivanmayok
I have outlined for you 7 ways to find products that are already selling like gangbusters. You'll be able to sell your product or service more effectively because you'll know which particular benefits are not offered by your competition.

6. Compliance Of Performance Bond by Ron Victor
Performance bond, the mst required surety bonds among the cstomers or applicants. Performance bonds are ssued in almost every surety bonding cmpany or by the insurance company. Prformance bonds are also forms part of the dfferent kinds of surety bonds issued by the stte bonding company.

7. Accounting Outsourcing - Provides Quality Work by Allies Harbor
Every big or smll organization works hard towards earning prfit. To earn profit is the sle ambition of any business owner. Evryone wants to see his company arning high amount of profit.

8. A Promotional Items Primer by Mark Yokoyama
What are prmotional products? In this article, we dscuss common types of promotional products, how thy are made and how they are sed. This article is specifically focused on lgo products used in advertising, event mrketing and direct mail.

9. A General Guide To Buying Office Furniture For The Home Office by
In this world of baby boomers and empty nesters, many a child’s bedroom, which became a guestroom, is now being converted into a home office. With the bedroom furniture stowed away, a bare wall or an entire room awaits renovation into workspace. So where should one start to furnish the perfect office for years to come?

A buyer could go from office store to department store, and spend days surveying the styles and types of office furniture available. But to save energy, aut...

10. 5 Simple Steps to Small Business Success on the Internet! by
For years, the website design mrket used to fall into three sparate entities for website design and dvelopment: (i) graphics and animation studios, spcializing in custom graphic design and crative animations, (ii) website marketing/promotion firms, (ii) Web programming companies specializing in dtabase-driven website development.