Editors Blog

With the Abba tribute band still to come as another evening of entertainment kicks off at the HR Forum onboard the Oriana, Dr Wolfgang Seidl currently claims top spot for the most entertaining (and yes very informative) talk of the event.

Seidl, psychologist and executive director of employee assistance provider Validium Group, described how stress manifests itself and what HR people and line managers should be looking out for.

With frequent references to Freud and a strong Austrian accent (he acknowledged that his colleagues have in the past asked him to say "Zo, tell me about your mother") he outlined the physiological, emotional and behavioural traits of a 'stressed' worker.

He did however begin by describing different levels of stress and how human require a certain amount of stress to be healthy.

"Stress occurs when your perception of a threat exceeds your perceived ability to cope" 

He emphasised how these perceptions meant stress was different for every individual.

He praised the Brits for having a fantastic sense of humour but then with his own wit he put most of the British speakers at this event to shame with his own.

I won't attempt to reproduce his entire speech here. Suffice to say, here's 10 signs of stress I gleamed from his talk:

1. Weight loss / gain
2. Frequent flus and colds
3. Increasingly accident prone
4. Frequent mood swings: tearful, apathetic, hostile.
5. Presenteeism - "The lights on but there's no one home"
6. Decreased concentration
7. Forgetfulness
8. Decreased alertness
9. Prone to errors
10. Drinking alcohol, more than usual.

Using that last one, many of the 150 HR directors here last night are clearly too stressed.

A study launched today by the Work Foundation finds that musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) which means bad necks, bad backs, lifting injuries and so on, account for half of absence from work in Europe and 60% of long term absence and cost the EU economy up to €240  a year. The authors want government and the health service to consider an 'early intervention premium' which looks not just in savings in medical costs but also at the increase in productivity from getting people with MSDs back to work quicker. They want co-ordinated action between members of the EU. The TUC supports the move and calls for a national occupational health service, something Dame Carol Black pulled back from in her recommendations on health and work last year, possibly after pressure from ministers. All we can do is hope that the NHS starts to take the issue seriously and fast tracks healthcare that gets people back to work. Dr Steve Boorman's interim report on NHS absence in August might help.