Managing Workplace Stress

Citation

Williams, S. and Cooper, L. (2002), "Managing Workplace Stress", Facilities, Vol. 20 No. 10, pp. 349-349. https://doi.org/10.1108/f.2002.20.10.349.1

Managing Workplace Stress is one of the books in the Fast Track “A Best Practice Blueprint” series which is the outcome of a new publishing partnership between the CBI and John Wiley & Sons.

Stress damages people. It also damages their organizations. The impact of workplace stress should not be underestimated. It is seen in the human cost of ill health, broken relationships, career failure, and wasted lives. It is also present in the commercial costs of lower productivity, reduced performance, poor customer service and failure of innovation.

Stress in the workplace is commonly recognized as one of the main factors that cause mental health problems. According to surveys conducted by the Department of Health and the Confederation of British Industry, 30 percent of sick leave in the UK is related to stress, anxiety or depression. The financial costs to employers are thought to be in the region of £3.7 billion per year.

Stress is hard to define and difficult to manage because it takes many forms. It is often hard to know what to do because stress takes so many forms.

This book is intended to break down the ignorance barrier and provide a practical, systematic approach to managing stress at work – in whatever form it takes.

Controlling organizational pressure and improving employees’ coping skills can lead to positive growth rather than negative stress. This book offers a key stress diagnostic tool that provides a valuable aid for the individual and a powerful source of management information for the employer.

Managing Workplace Stress provides an effective framework on which to undertake appropriate interventions, and also provides a proactive stress audit program.

The internationally applicable approach of this book provides an essential stress debrief for facility managers, senior executives, as well as stress and workplace health care professionals and consultants. The systematic method outlined in this book will be of benefit to people in organizations, especially facility managers who want to understand the issues before providing the remedies. The overall message is very simple – diagnosis before treatment. Find out what is going on and take appropriate action.