More than one in four (28%) respondents said they have no formal process in place to deal with the stress and anxiety of employees, according to research by recruitment agency OfficeTeam.
The research, which surveyed 200 HR directors across the UK, found that, of those employers that did offer a formal process, 33% offered stress management training, 32% offered access to counselling services through private medical insurance (PMI), 31% offered individual programmes as needed and 7% offered a formal policy for senior management only.
Phil Booth, director at OfficeTeam, said: “Organisations are increasingly asking staff to do more with less, often at the expense of work-life balance, which may result in higher stress levels.
“It is, therefore, surprising to see such a high percentage of employers without any procedures to help employees who are struggling at work.
“In addition to implementing formal programmes, employers should look at ways to help manage workloads, whether it’s setting more realistic expectations or bringing in temporary employees to help manage critical initiatives or relieve back-logged departments.”
