Bosses
and staff are at odds over the impact of workplace stress on productivity,
according to a new survey.
The
report revealed more than a fifth of employees see stress as the biggest
negative factor affecting their productivity at work.
However,
while UK managers agreed stress was a factor in poor productivity, only 11 per
cent deemed it the biggest contributor.
Carole
Spiers, chair of the International Stress Management Association, fears the
impact of stress can have a catastrophic effect on staff and the businesses
they work for.
"Employers
need to wake up and recognise that a stressful working environment can wreak
havoc on the output of a business. Inevitably it will increase staff turnover,
resulting in recruitment problems, and absence rates will rise due to sickness.
"Many
of us spend a third of our lives at work and being stressed for much of this
time can only damage our quality of life as a whole," she added.
The
research also pointed to a disparity in attitudes over pay, with employers
citing wages as a key motivating tool to productivity. Surprisingly, staff
failed to highlight pay as important during the research.
The
survey ‘People and Productivity’ was commissioned by Investors in People and is
based on 1,568 interviews with employers and 1,275 with staff interviews across
a range of sectors and regions.
Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance
Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday
