Work-related stress is one of the biggest (and most modern) blights to our physical and emotional wellbeing. According to research last year from the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr), staff sickness cost the UK over £6.5bn. The report also said that staff absenteeism cost the average company about £620,000 a year.
Meanwhile, The Labour Force Survey 2011/12 found that around 22.7 million working days were lost last year because of work-related illnesses, whilst another, more recent, study of over 3,000 people discovered that one in three said their stress was work-related.
That’s a lot of lost money, a lot of lost days and a lot of unhappy workers!
Work stress can come in a variety of guises, be it long hours, a workload that’s far too heavy, deadlines that are way too intense, interpersonal difficulties (such as not getting on with your manager), performance expectations, boredom, the threat of redundancy, and more; the list goes on.
Stressed out employees are more likely too feel irritable, experience mood swings, feel unable to cope and generally lead less productive working lives than their more relaxed counterparts.
Work stress itself can lead to a multitude of disorders including anxiety, depression, anger management issues, panic attacks, insomnia, alcohol and drug problems, even tension headaches and migraines.
The Healthy and Safety Executive (HSE) define stress as, “The adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed on them at work,” while the British Standards Institution (BSI) says, “Stress manifests as a physical, psychological or social dysfunction resulting in individuals feeling unable to bridge the gap with the requirements or expectations placed upon them.”
Technically, stress is the manifestation of the flight-or-fight response, a much-needed safety mechanism that helps alert you to danger and take the appropriate action. However, it’s meant to be a one-off reaction to specific challenges and pressures. Once the danger is over, the body (and the person that inhabits it) can return to normal.
Sadly, modern life is a never-ending series of threats and pressures and so the chemicals associated with the fight-or-flight response are constantly dumping toxins in the body, creating physical and emotional ill health.
But, there are things you can do to help restore that balance and become a healthy and productive working member of society once more and no, we’re not talking about changing your job!
Sure, it’s an option but, it’s one that’s a little drastic for some and nigh on impossible for others. Also, it doesn’t change the nature of the beast. What if the new job is even more pressurised than the last?
Which is where cognitive behavioural hypnotherapy (CBH) comes in very handy indeed.
CBH follows the philosophy that it is not the events in life that disturb you, but the views that you take of those events that disturbs you. So, if you’re thinking, feeling and acting in a way that you don’t like, but don’t seem to be able to change, we don’t look at the ‘thing’ we look at what you are telling yourself about the ‘thing.’
Change what you tell yourself, and you can change how you think, feel and act.
Work, then, is the ‘thing’ CBH can help you change your perceptions of. A trained professional can help you cope with pressure more effectively, facilitate solutions to difficult workloads and deadlines, aid you in dealing with those irksome interpersonal difficulties in a better way, conquer your angers and anxieties and lead to an altogether healthier, happier and more productive you.
CBH, in the form of therapy, is an excellent tool for helping you manage your work-related stress. However, when delivered in the form of workshops (and yes, we are talking to all you HR managers out there) it can be an excellent form of prevention.
Just think what it would mean for your company and your staff if you could head stress off at the pass?
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