Employee Engagement - The Competitive Edge: by Michael Koscec - Entec Corporation - Friday, December 05 2008
Stress-Related Illness At Work Can No Longer Be Ignored By Organizations Striving To Be Competitive. Why Does Health Matter?
Workplace stress, anxiety and burnout are becoming more and more pronounced and widespread throughout the workforce. In July 20, 2000 the Economic and Business Roundtable on Mental Health published a study, "The Unheralded Business Crisis in Canada - Depression at Work" [1] that showed that the cost of these and other mental illnesses at work is growing exponentially. Unfortunately there are many other hidden costs that can also be ascribed to this source of unhealth or "dis-ease". Organizations where staff are working under conditions of debilitating stress or along side others who are over-stressed experience:
decreasing employee satisfaction;
increased use of Employee Assistance Program services (EAP);
social and work disruption caused by individuals who under-perform or who are often absent, increasing the stress on everybody;
increased conflict;
lowered innovation and collaboration and motivation;
decreasing meeting of deadlines; and
most serious of all, a reduced quality of customer service.
