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Media Releases
2007

18 September
2007

Is work beginning to stress Britain out?

Is Work Beginning to Stress Britain Out? 

  • 73% of managers have experience of employees claiming to suffer from work related stress
  • 99% of managers think it’s getting easier for employees to bring claims of stress
Leading law firm Shepherd and Wedderburn held an employment seminar on 'Supporting Managers' last week which produced some surprising results. The seminar was the first in a series that the firm is holding to help businesses keep up to date with developing legal issues and impending legislation.
 
The seminar covered a wide range of topics including discrimination, trust and confidence, disciplinary and grievance procedures. However, it was the subject of stress at work which raised the most interesting debate.

Over 80 per cent of the attendees said that they didn’t think their employers were doing enough to tackle the problem of stress in the workplace and only 27 per cent of those who attended said they had no experience of employees claiming to suffer from work-related stress.

One of Shepherd and Wedderburn's Employment specialists, Sheila Gunn commented: ”Stress is still a growing problem in the workplace. The biggest area of failing is that organisations are either not identifying the problem or are not dealing with it effectively. Stress often triggers a short-term response, where employers spring into action, plans are created and promises are made. However, these are all too often not followed through, meaning that the problem isn't effectively dealt with and can turn into a claim or a serious employee relations issue.”
 
Figures suggest that the number of employee related issues and claims is increasing.  When managers were asked whether they thought it was easier for employees to bring claims of stress, a staggering 99 per cent said yes. Ninety-one per cent of these thought that this was a direct result of well publicised legal claims and compensation awards which have helped to raise awareness of the condition within the workplace.
 
Sheila Gunn concludes that the legal balance between stress and other injuries can be surprising: ”The law says that although medically imprecise, stress can amount to a disability and therefore it is much easier to bring about a claim, as opposed to other areas such as personal injury, where courts have taken a fairly robust line and set a high threshold for employees to get over in order to succeed.”


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