How Stressed Are Your Team Members?

How stressed are you? Right now?

Let’s refine that further. For all the leaders out there,
workplace stress presents a real problem when you look at the numbers. However
leadership itself presents a major source of stress and if this sounds
familiar, you may be the ones pushing through and ignoring those telltale
signs. Physical symptoms, heartburn, headaches, difficulty sleeping – all those
signs and more are indicators that you are battling circumstances that our
bodies are not designed to cope with.

One of your employees goes off sick with stress or
depression, and you are left trying to balance the labour books. Other team
members have extra work to complete to cover the sick person’s absence and the
ripple effect is real.

The Health and Safety Executive released some shocking
statistics for 2024/25. Cases of workplace stress resulting in absence numbered
964,000, with just under half of these being new cases. A whopping 52% of all
self reported workplace ill health was caused by stress, depression and
anxiety, with the financial cost to UK employers of £51 billion (Deloitte,
2023). This is broken into £7.3 billion from actual absence, £23.8 billion from
presenteeism, and £19.5 billion from staff turnover. Stress and mental health
are no longer simply byproducts of working life, they are real and impacting
your bottom line.

There is now ISO 45003 which outlines the factors causing
stress and the organisation’s responsibility to mitigate it as far as possible.
The HSE is taking this seriously – recently a Notice of Contravention was
handed to the University of Birmingham, and more Notices are likely to follow.
So the question remains – what do you, as a business leader, actually do about
it?

This is where my company comes in. ReSpeak Resilience
Speaker Bureau Ltd doesn’t just provide keynote speakers for events, we offer
training and development packages based around resilience and mitigation of workplace
stress. Each workshop is shaped around the provisions contained in ISO 45003,
and crucially, impact assessments are carried out before, immediately after,
and at three month intervals after the workshop. We have a unique assessment in
the form of the Perception Gap Analysis, anonymous questionnaires sent out to
both management and the team, which cites each tabled factor in ISO 45003 and
asks the individual to score each question. Statements such as “I have autonomy
over my work” and “My workplace has a positive, supportive culture” are scored
in Likert format, with options for qualitative comments. The anonymity of each
questionnaire allows staff – and management – to reveal their true feelings
without fear of reprisals.

The service isn’t just a workshop then back to business as
usual. Part of the package is group and / or individual coaching to support and
embed the learning delivered in the workshop, and the end result is a detailed
report on the organisation’s stress risk factors, and measured change as a
result of the workshop and training. Your ROI – the return on the investment
into the package – is clearly presented along with the steps taken to mitigate
the impact of stress on employees. This is auditable evidence that you, the
leader, have taken steps to address the psychosocial risks of stress at work –
your accountant and your Health and Safety departments will be delighted with
the end result.

The impact of resilience training and wellbeing programs
have been well documented. Deloitte estimated that for every £1 spent, £4.70 is
recouped in enhanced productivity and reduced sick days. Organisations are now
including sickness as a profit and loss item, with a very real impact on your bottom
line. ReSpeak aims to put a stopper in the persistent leak of money due to
stress and poor mental health, so if this is something your organisation is
battling right now, get in touch. You can reach me via [email protected] or
+44 07494 073280 to chat further about your stress and resilience issues, I’m
looking forward to helping you get to the bottom of the factors affecting your
company.