What is the impact of stress on business performance?
Managing stress is a major challenge for the UK workforce and the latest HSE statistics show the scale of the problem with 12.8 million working days lost due to work-related stress, depression or anxiety in 2018/19. Many organisations know they need to do something about it but are unsure where to start. After all, it’s hard to see and it’s not always obvious there is a problem, right?
Not so. You might not be able to see that stress is a problem as easily as if you had a leaky roof or if your IT system wasn’t working, but that doesn’t mean you can ignore the issue. And if you do ignore it you will be giving an edge to your competitors because the negative impacts of stress in the workplace act like a brake on productivity, creativity, motivation and everything else that comes hand in hand with feeling good about your job.
But how do you make a case for action? You need to thoroughly understand the negative impact of stress in the workplace, how it undermines performance and what you can do manage it and mitigate the consequences. Here are a few of the main ways stress can impact on your business. It’s up to you to decide whether they are important enough to do something about.
Sickness absence
When stress gets too much for them, people go off sick. This is the simple truth. It is devastating for the individual and the company suffers too. Why let things get to this stage? Isn’t it better to give your managers and supervisors the skills to recognise stress in their teams and do something about it before it goes too far? In our blog article on leadership skills for stress management and wellbeing we talked about the link between leaders’ behaviour and employee stress and wellbeing. Take a look and see how to make a start.
Presenteeism
This is the term used when someone comes to work when they’re not well for whatever reason. If the reason for them not being well happens to be stress then it is likely that their productivity will be limited. And it is not just productivity. They will be more likely to forget things, make mistakes, carry out even simple tasks badly and become withdrawn. This is because stress puts the brain into a state of high alert, ready for fight or flight and this undermines the performance of the higher order cognitive processes and concentration necessary for effectiveness in the modern workplace.
Staff turnover
It is well known that when people cannot cope with pressures placed on them at work, they start looking for a new job. If the problem is endemic then more people will follow. High staff turnover means the unwelcome burden of increased recruitment costs and the additional time and effort spent integrating new starters. It is often said that people leave their manager, not the company and this leads us right back to the link between leaders’ behaviour and employee stress and wellbeing. The bottom line is, if your managers and supervisors are trained to recognise and manage stress in their teams, people are less likely to leave.
Managing stress in the workplace – together with Cafe Therapy
These are some of the negative impacts of stress in the workplace and it is easy to see that if you do something about them then both the individuals and the organisation will benefit.
Cafe Therapy can help you manage stress in your workplace by partnering with your company to deliver enlightening and effective training and workshops, as well as helping you access, evaluate and act upon feedback from your people. Our thoughtfully designed presentations and activities bring people together and foster a spirit of community and co-operation and bring real results for your company. Drop us an email and start a conversation with Cafe Therapy.
