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Workplace stress
HSE
(Health & Safety Executive) research suggests that nearly
13 million working days are lost due to stress, depression and
anxiety. In addition around
half a million people in the UK experience
work-related stress at a level they believe is making them ill.
In
an IOM (Institute
of Occupational Medicine)
study into stress in the workplace they found that some organisations were failing to resolve
stress-related problems facing their employees. They describe this as
the “new litigation time-bomb”.
New
legislation means that if organisations
fail to address these issues they are open to litigation by employees
who can prove they are suffering from work-related stress.
The
Head of Human Sciences at the IOM says “it became evident to us
during our research that some organisations
still view stress in the workplace as a weakness and generally are
not committed to tackling it”.
As
a result of research the IOM have devised a seven point plan to
assist organisations in developing a stress
management programme.
- Training for senior
managers to raise awareness of work place stress and gain their
commitment
- A policy driven
approach with defined goals and objectives
- Development of a
stress management steering group
- An integrated risk
management process, using a risk assessment tool which can be
administered by in-house trained risk assessors
- Use of internal
resources and expertise to develop/implement risk reduction
strategies
- Setting up of
alliances and partnerships in order to tap into expertise if not
available in-house
- Continuous monitoring
of the interventions and on-going assessment of risks.
Tackling
work-related stress requires a partnership based on trust and honesty
between the employer, the manager and the employee. Stress in the
workplace is a symptom of an organisational
problem, not an individual weakness.
Why
not talk to docleaf now about how EAP (Employee Assistance Programmes) can help your business nd its people perform more effectively.
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Arson incident tests a company’s crisis response.
The
tragic death of a staff member of one of our retained clients, in a
house fire, served as a reminder that crises do not always occur away
from base. In this case, the matter generated a high
level of media interest as the staff member was the sister of a high
profile person and arson was suspected.
In
such a situation, it was imperative that the matter was handled
sensitively when informing staff and with all other subsequent
communications. In addition it
was important to be sensitive to the nature of information released
to prevent further distress to the family members of those
involved.
In
this instance, docleaf set up their confidential telephone support
help-lines for staff members to call on a 24/7 basis. Offering specialised support to those who may have been
affected demonstrates that they work for a company that shows care
and compassion towards its staff.
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Simulations – the best way to see if your plans work
On the 3rd April, we
ran a full scale simulation exercise for a retained American client;
Ambassadors International Programmes. The purpose of running the
exercise was to test the effectiveness of their crisis response
plans. A scenario was selected based on a student itinerary due to
depart later in the year. Over a period of 4 hours we ran the
simulation at a fast pace. docleaf staff and actors role played out the
scenarios of concerned relatives and demanding journalists.
Responses were recorded that
were received which was all fed back to the team in the US
for their follow up. Ambassador’s conducts a full scale simulation on
an annual basis. The benefit
was when they had a real crisis to deal with last year -the London
bombings, they responded immediately and effectively.
Simulations are a fantastic
method for testing how your business and crisis team is equipped to
deal with a crisis and ensures that amendments are made to your
crisis plans to deliver the very best level of response.
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