In 2013/4, 11.3 million days were lost to stress in the UK. That means work related stress cost businesses over £6.5 billion. And this isn’t even taking into account the cost of loss of productivity whilst working due to stress. Stress affects a manager’s business profits, and therefore it should be taken seriously by them.
It’s clear that some people get more stressed than others – there are some situations which cause me to get stressed which won’t cause a co-worker to get stressed. This makes it seem like the burden is on the individual to reduce their own stress – which might actually make them more stressed.
But I want to show that a manager can make a difference to their employees’ stress levels, both through their attitude and through organisational changes that can be made.