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More employees admit 'feeling stressed'

Published On 16 March 2007 at 09:59:06

Employees are suffering higher stress levels because of working practices such as emails, according to a stress management consultant.

Commenting on recent research that found office workers in the UK were at greater risk of developing blood clots as a result of long hours spent at their desk, Alistair Taylor of In Equilibrium said that emails could contribute to this.

"People are far more likely to send an email than they are to send a letter or a memo," he said, adding "if you are not disciplined and you are the kind of person who doesn't like to have things hanging over them then email certainly does cause a lot of stress".

But Mr Taylor also pointed out that it has become more acceptable for employees to admit they are feeling pressured as a result of Health and Safety Executive acknowledgement.

"The HSE has issued management standards to help people measure stress, the HSE are now acknowledging it, not as an illness but as a real condition," he said, adding that the onus is now on the employer to ensure staff are trained properly and able to manage their workload.

"As a result, people, when they are asked whether they are stressed, are much more willing to say yes because in the past they were probably more wary of saying yes because it was frowned upon."

Mr Taylor added that more people confessing to feeling stress is "not necessarily jumping on the bandwagon - just being more honest".

 

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