Frequently Asked Questions

Please feel free to ask for more information if these do not answer your questions adequately.

Why should I bother with stress management?

Life is changing. Technology is becoming ever more commonplace; social networks are deteriorating; employment is becoming less secure; etc. As a result stress is on the increase. Some people think it is better not to talk about stress but this is a dangerous view to take. Not talking about something doesn’t make it go away and usually makes things worse. There are many reasons why it is wise to tackle stress now.
There is always the legal argument of course. Organisation that don’t take the mental health of their workforce seriously are opening themselves up to very costly legal claims. The Government has passed legislation that makes looking after the mental health of workers a legal requirement (see www.hse.gov.uk for more information).
Then there is the economic argument as well. Organisations that cause stress in their workforce are likely to see reduced productivity. Where there is high levels of stress there is sure to be a depressed atmosphere. This depressed atmosphere will be picked up by any customers or potential customers who may make contact. People tend not to buy from places that feel depressing.
There will be a high turnover of staff with stressed out staff preferring to seek employment elsewhere rather than admit to the problem. There is the obvious loss of income from those off sick. Employers will also find that it is often the hardest most dedicated workers who suffer with stress the most.
We know you take your moral obligation as an employer has to his/her employees seriously. If there were
no courts and workers never took time off there would still be a moral obligation on every employer to ensure that the work they were expecting employees to undertake does not make them ill. Every year workers have breakdowns, suffer from depression and even commit suicide because of workplace stress. You wouldn’t want to expose workers to dangerous chemicals so why expose them to dangerous attitudes?

Isn’t stress just a malingerers disease?

It is true that some people are always looking for an excuse to get out of doing any work. Such people are a problem for employers and stress is an ideal excuse for them to use (you won’t stop them doing this by
avoiding the subject). However because there are a few who abuse the system it does not mean that others are not suffering. It is a sad truth that it is often the hardest working who suffer most from stress. No one is immune from stress, everyone will fall victim to it if the pressure is great enough. Certainly some are tougher than others but given enough pressure everyone will burn out.

Why don’t I just put on an internal programme using own Staff?

Of course you can do this yourself, we don't have a monopoly on stress information. We don’t want to take over the important role that HR professionals play in an organisation. However we have dedicated over twenty years (so far) to the study of stress and its management. We believe that stress needs a very broad approach - something which is not easy to achieve and takes a good understanding of many disciplines and many hours of study. In our experience we have discovered that because stress is
such a difficult subject to talk about it helps to have people who are independent from the organisation.
When we lead workshops it is possible for people to talk about very painful things without feeling that admitting to suffering with stress will get them a bad reputation with their employer. Yes you could do it yourself but often it is wise when faced with a such complex issue to make use of a specialist.