More than half of employers are taking measure to manage stress at work, according to early findings from the 2011 XpertHR stress management survey.
The findings, released today to coincide with National Stress Awareness Day, found that 52.2% of the 205 organisations surveyed are taking action to deal with workplace stress.
According to the survey, the main reason for employers focusing on this issue is to promote employee health and wellbeing, as opposed to general compliance with health and safety legislation. However, just one employer in four (19.8%) has conducted research into the causes of stress within their organisation.
The top two measures taken by employers are offering flexible working options as a means of reducing stress (74.3%) and initiatives to manage stress-related absences (70.8%).
Just a quarter (25.7%) of employers have provided any training of relevance to stress management within the past 12 months.
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Employers are ambivalent about whether or not their actions to manage or prevent stress have had a tangible impact within their organisation – for example, just one-third think that there has been a measurable effect in the areas of stress-related absence and on absences from work generally.
The full findings of the survey will be published in December 2011.
