Our increasingly busy, complex and demanding lifestyles sometimes make us feel out of control. We feel powerless to make the changes to gain the right balance between work, relationships and leisure activities. We worry about money, health and not having enough time.

The key point is that we feel the demands and pressures come from outside of (the individual) ourselves. We feel threatened and our ‘fight or flight’ response becomes triggered and the result over time can become harmful. Over a prolonged period physical and emotional health can deteriorate, resulting in health risks that can be life threatening.

Stress in the Workplace
Work-related stress, depression or anxiety affected 563,000 people in Great Britain (2001/2), with an estimated thirteen and a half million working days lost (moved this word along) due to these work-related conditions. On average 6.8 days are lost through sickness each year for each employee (recent CBI statistics). More than 150,000 workers are sick for more than a month. Work-related stress is reported to cost £370 million per year. There is a higher employee turnover rate, which affects training costs for business.

On 3rd November 2004, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) launched new Management Standards and tools to help employers and employees to work together to prevent excessive work place stress.

How proactive is your company at reducing and eliminating stress in the work place?
Stress is a growing cause of absence with 52 per cent of employers reporting an increase. It is the biggest cause of long-term absence for non-manual workers and the fourth biggest cause for manual staff – Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development

More and more employers are realising when they take positive action to reduce and prevent stress-related illness and absenteeism, it affects their profitability and staff retention, as well as minimising their exposure to stress-related claims.

“Employers offering a confidential counselling service with appropriate referrals are unlikely to be in breach of duty. Even with counselling, employers cannot afford to ignore warning signs of employee stress. Training managers is key to limit the legal liability and improve morale” – UK Court of Appeal Indication 2002

How can we recognise stress?
The effects and symptoms of stress are many and vary greatly between individuals.
Some effects are:

Actions to reduce stress
Relaxation techniques can be used effectively to reduce immediate symptoms. It is sometimes possible to make changes in your perception of the causes of stress and therefore the responses to it. Alternatively external action may be possible to reduce the cause of stress.

Steppingstones Stress Management Programmes

Programmes of ½ day, 1 and 2 day, are tailored to the needs of your organisation and specific staff and can be delivered in-house or off-site. Workshops are designed to provide the opportunity for participants to explore the 'stressors' in their lives. They will learn to develop practical strategies that can be actively employed to tackle stressful situations. By the completion of the workshop they will walk away with a workable tool kit to assist themselves and others to reduce stress and manage themselves in relation to stress-inducing events.