Every business owner knows that productive employees are the greatest asset at the company’s disposal. Consequently, regular staff absences can cause major disruption to the venture, and stress-related absence is perhaps the biggest growing problem across the board.
Studies by CIPD show that 37% of UK businesses have seen stress-induced employee absences increase in recent times. Entrepreneurs wishing to avoid a similar fate must take control of the situation right away.
Why Are Stress-Related Absences On The Rise?
Stress-related absence hasn’t grown by chance. The research into the problem, uncovers some very worrying stats, all of which go a long way to highlighting why this spike has occurred. They include:
- Over 6 in 10 believe heavy workloads are at fault;
- Management style is blamed by 43% (up from 32%);
- Almost 2 in 3 have observed people using holidays to complete unfinished work.
The above factors show just three reasons as to why stress-related absences are on the rise, especially as many managers are not properly trained to deal with the issues.
How To Stop Stress-Related Absences
Business owners can’t completely rid themselves of stress-related absences, but should be willing to go the extra mile in a bid to reduce it. Ultimately, it all boils down to the company culture and treatment of employees. Companies can look to:
- Hire enough people to complete tasks;
- Insist on regular breaks, especially from computer screens;
- Invest in their own managerial training.
Stress is a major productivity, and keeping absences at a low will bring significant results for employer and employee alike.
