BWS issue 36 November December 2015 | Page 26

24 BUSINESS WOMEN SCOTLAND feature Stress in the workplace The 17th National Stress Awareness Day was held on the 4th of November to help people beat stress. The theme this year was ‘Employee wellbeing as a worthwhile investment in your business’. Greg Levine, Director of Corporate Healthcare at VitalityHealth, comments on National Stress Awareness Day: “Long working hours, lengthy commutes, high demands and constant connectivity to mobile devices have become typical attributes of the modern day office environment, and it is only natural that employees are becoming increasingly stressed as a result. Research from Britain’s Healthiest Company shows that almost three quarters (73%) of employees in the UK suffer from at least one dimension of work-related stress, with time pressure being cited as the biggest contributing factor. “Stress has been proven to significantly decrease staff productivity. While many organisations are beginning to offer stress management programmes more can be done, and National Stress Awareness Day should act as a wake-up call for employers to invest in the health and wellbeing of staff.” In the last 5 years more than 13 million people have taken time off work due to stress. There is still a huge stigma to say that you may be suffering from stress in the workp X