Once upon a time, musculoskeletal problems such as bad backs brought on by physical labour were the main cause of long-term sickness absence.
But not any more. According to the latest survey from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, stress is now – for the first time ever – the most common cause of long-term absence.
The reasons aren’t hard to find. In these difficult times where overworking is rife, redundancies loom and too many pay packets are frozen, the pressure is on workers as never before. And it’s no surprise that employers planning to make redundancies in the next six months are far more likely to report an increase in mental health problems among their staff.
Maintaining emotional and mental health among the workforce is no easy task in such uncertain times, says Gill Phipps, HR spokesperson for private health insurance firm, Simplyhealth, which partnered with the CIPD to produce its report.
"I think the place to start is to look at your reported levels of stress – and remember they’re maybe higher than reported," she says. "I think the most important thing is to recognise and understand the signs of stress – an inability to prioritise, putting in long hours, irritability, erratic work patterns, that sort of thing."
Interestingly, so-called presenteeism can often be a sign that organisational stress levels are on the rise. More than a quarter of employers indicate that they’ve been seeing more people coming into work when they are clearly ill over the last 12 months.
But as Gary Johns, a management professor at Canada’s Concordia University, points out: "Secure employees don’t fear retribution for an occasional absence because of sickness."
He recently carried out a survey of presenteeism and found that it was most prevalent amongst workers that engaged in projects as a team and who felt that their jobs were under threat.
Lack of control
"Often, a person might feel socially obligated to attend work despite illness, while other employees feel organisational pressure to attend work despite medical discomfort," Johns explains. "Estimating the cost of absenteeism is more tangible than counting the impact of presenteeism. Yet a worker’s absence — or presence — during illness can have both costs and benefits for constituents."
Public sector workers, who have generally been harder hit by the economic downturn than their private sector colleagues, remain more likely to take time off sick, according to the CIPD. But absence levels are now lower than in past years, presumably reflecting the fact that public servants feel more insecure about their jobs.
"I think that in a lot of public sector organisations, this is quite a new experience – the level of cuts, the cuts to pensions, pay freezes. The private sector has been dealing with this sort of thing for a number of years, but traditionally the public sector hasn’t," says SimplyHealth’s Phipps. "It’s a complete shock to the system and managers dealing with that situation, who haven’t experienced it before, find it difficult."
She points out that, as organisations feel the pinch, employees also tend to feel the pressure in other ways beyond a simple fear of redundancy. Those who manage to keep their jobs often find that their workload has vastly increased, but such practices are unacceptable, Phipps warns.
"Companies should think about what they’re going to stop doing when the positions are made redundant and not just carry on expecting the people left to do everything," she says.
But many of the causes of stress are perennial and the Health and Safety Executive highlights several in its Management Standards for work-related stress. Concerns over change and workload may be particularly high at the moment, but other triggers can occur even in better times.
Feeling a lack of control, for example, can be an important catalyst for stress-related illness and so it is important to give staff as much say as possible in the way they carry out their work.
Employers should also look at how much support and encouragement personnel are given by the organisation, their line managers and colleagues. Promoting ways of working that minimise conflict and implementing clear measures to tackle unacceptable behaviour are vital.
But stress is also greatly reduced if workers have a clear understanding of their role within a company – and that role does not involve conflict. Indeed, stress management basically equates to good general management – and to being proactive, says psychologist Andrew Baird of the University of Derby.
Communication is key
"If you take the tack that every two years you do a risk assessment, it doesn’t make sense," he points out. "It can be too little, too late. And what are you looking for? HSE standards don’t really translate into a form that can be filled in in the same way as a physical risk assessment."
The problem is that stress is basically a self-reported phenomenon, Baird says. And it’s important to remember that, while depression and anxiety, for example, are classed as illnesses, stress itself isn’t.
"It’s a situation where people can’t cope. Maybe they genuinely can’t because of their workload or whatever, but sometimes they’ve simply talked themselves into it," Baird explains. "The point’s been made by a judge that there’s no such thing as a stressful job – it’s only stressful if a person finds it stressful."
Helping people get back to work after a long-term physical illness is a comparatively straightforward proposition. But it’s not always so easy in relation to psychological problems, which may be one reason behind the HSE’s findings that stress is the top cause of long-term absence.
"What we’re beginning to find is that open lines of communication with long-term absentees is key. Once they’ve been off for four weeks, it becomes increasingly difficult because of the loss of confidence and the loss of structure," says SimplyHealth’s Phipps.
This means that it is important to make individuals understand that they are an important part of a wider team. “Offer a phased return, maybe with physical help for the journey to work. It eases them back in," she advises.
From start to finish, however, it is clear that communication is the most effective way to ensure that employees do not feel under undue pressure. If there is a clear and stigma-free way for staff to report issues such as overwork or bullying, it’s much easier to nip such problems in the bud.
"You can never get rid of it – all you can do is manage it so it’s not too problematic. Have a route through which people can complain – it’s about getting your systems in place," the University of Derby’s Baird concludes.
2 Responses
‘Stress’ – what an unhelpful term
‘Stress’ remains an unhelpfully vague term. It is totally subjective and there is no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to measuring work related stress or the impact of particular stressors on different individuals. I suggest you look at Rob Breiner’s work to get a more helpful assessment.
What is crucial from an HR perspective is that managers are not terrified of tackling the issue and are properly advised and trained to do so. It requires an effective balance between offering welfare-oriented support (to fulfil the duty of care, minimise harm, and be a good employer) and clearly identifying where the organisation is and is not accountable (e.g. where the pressure is caused by other factors such as debt or divorce).
The article mentions that stress is not a medical condition but a self-reported state. It would be great if this could be made clear to those GPs who put ‘work related stress’ on fit notes when signing someone off sick for 2 weeks or more. Again managers often have no idea what to do and feel they cannot ‘go behind’ the sick note and ask for more specific information about symptoms (and therefore start to understand possible causes).
How to deal with stress
Stress is, for the first time, the most common cause of long-term sickness absence for both manual and non-manual employees [CIPD].