Time for You

Stress and illness in the workplace

In an MORI poll research, stress was cited as having a negative effect on the health of over a third of the working population (amounting to approx. 8.5 million people). It is estimated that up to 75% of all illness is stress-related.

The effects of stress:

· Substantially reduced efficiency and accuracy of work produced

· Reduced performance in physical tasks

· Negative effect on abstract planning, decision-making and creativity

· Tiredness and irritability

· Weakening of the immune system and the development of physical illness

Approximately 360 million working days are lost annually in the UK at a cost of £8 billion, and half of these absences are ‘stress related’.

Peter Matthews, International Stress Management Association, states that companies would be well advised to have in place a ‘stress management policy’ and an ‘employee stress management programme’ or they could find they are faced with a spate of legal claims for stress-related conditions, caused by stressful work environments.

Unless employers proactively address the NOW they will have a significant problem on their hands.

What can be done?

….enhanced working ability

Some countries overseas, notably Denmark, have been addressing this problem for a number of years.

Their occupational health services have been working closely with employers to provide a flexible approach to the reduction of stress and work related illness. As part of this initiative, some firms now involve complementary therapists in the maintenance of well-being amongst their workforce.

Time for You can offer a range of complementary therapies that can be delivered in the workplace, or in our therapy rooms as part of your stress management programme. Reflexology has proved very popular in this field, and reflexologists are increasingly employed by companies in Denmark, with impressive results.

How can reflexology benefit your company?

Regular treatments not only help to reduce stress and tension, but they may also speed recovery from a wide range of acute and chronic illnesses. Benefits to your company may include:

· Increased morale, satisfaction and loyalty of the staff

· Enhanced concentration, efficiency and accuracy

· Improved creativity, planning and decision making

· Better relationships amongst staff and between staff and management

· The ability of staff to cope more effectively under pressure

· Speedy recovery and return to work after illness, accident or surgery

· Pain relief fore stress related conditions, such as headaches, migraine, etc

· Enhanced staff resilience and resistance to infection and disease

· Optimum care for your staff by complementing conventional medicine

Reduced sickness and absenteeism, increased productivity and financial benefits for the company may be visible results. Less obvious, perhaps, are the possible positive effects on morale amongst employees who feel they are being treated with respect and a caring attitude.

How can complementary therapy be used in your organisation?

The benefits of complementary therapy can be made available to your staff in a number of ways, depending on the degree of input your organisation wishes to have

- From simply helping staff to become aware of the help that complementary therapies can offer

- To providing subsidised treatments in-house for your employees.

Options include:

· Talks by a Time for You practitioner and leaflets made available to educate staff in the benefits of the therapies; in this case your organisation’s involvement would be minimal, and might be confined to making a room available and publicising the talk; any employee take-up would be a purely personal matter

· Staff could be encouraged to attend for a course of treatment, and incentives could be offered by the organisation to enable them to attend regularly

· Working times could be made flexible to accommodate daytime treatment sessions for staff who wish to participate; or treatments could take place after working hours

· Employees can be fully responsible for the cost of their own treatment; or treatment can be subsidised in part or in full by your organisation.

If you would like more information about the therapies that Time for You can offer you and your staff, please contact Rachel on 01948 710817 or timeforyou88@hotmail.com.