It is estimated that the UK loses 40 million working days annually due to stress, illness and injury. And with new Government statistics showing that Britain is doing much worse than previously thought on stress prevention in the workplace - compensation claims are soaring.

It is this stress and the illness developed as a result of it that is, according to the CBI, estimated to be costing UK industry £12 billion each year. Stress is now officially the number one cause of sickness absence.

The Department of Health estimates that 3.6% of national average salary budget is paid to employees off sick with stress.

"Promoting and maintaining health, safety and well being at work is not a fad – it makes sound business sense. I believe that employers that instigate change now will reap long term benefits for their productivity, their people and their community," said Patricia Hewitt Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.

Stress is not the employee's inability to cope with excessive workload or the unwelcome attentions of bullying co-workers and managers; stress is a consequence of the employer's failure to provide a safe system of work as required by the UK Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

In 2005 the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) published new best-practice guidelines The Management Standards on how to minimise and manage stress in the workplace. This an Approved Code of Practice on Stress.

Under the guidelines, employers must: 

	Identify the hazards
	Decide who could be harmed and how
	Evaluate the risk
	Record significant findings
	Undertake assessments at regular intervals

Trauma related absence is likely to be long term, lasting weeks or even months for an individual and may even lead to ill health retirement or the individual leaving costing business experience, replacement recruitment and all money invested in that individual making trauma treatment more than cost effective. 

Stress in the workplace can have a significant impact on the bottom line of an organisation in the shape of: 

	An increase in sickness absence, which can have a domino effect on remaining staff
	Reduced staff morale
	Reduced staff performance
	Staff seeking alternative employment, leaving the organisation with the expense of recruiting and training replacements.

The key to reducing the impact that stress can have on your organisation and the individuals within it, is to take a two-pronged approach to managing stress, from both the organisational perspective and the individual perspective.

The Red Poppy Company provides a range of management services for both the individual sufferer and the organisation. 

This two fold approach provides support for the individual to help them manage the effects of the stress enabling them to get back to work and provides the policies, training and infrastructure within the organisation to reduce impact that stress can make.

For more detailed information on the services provided by the Red Poppy Company go to the Services on Offer page.