Rising employee stress caused by the recession will damage productivity, warned Will Cavendish, director of health and wellbeing at the Department of Health.
Fear of redundancy is causing a rise in the destructive behaviours of some staff, including poor sleeping habits, over-emotional reactions, and a greater reliance on alcohol. Cavendish said: "Focusing on staff health and wellbeing is as important in a recession as at other times because organisations are less able to sustain costs such as high sickness absence."