The cost of stress for companies
Stress at work is costly! It is true that preventing it requires some initial investments and some effort to overcome cultural barriers, but it is also true that neglecting it has a much higher price.
But first things first.
What is “work-related” stress?
It is a psycho-physical condition associated with the feeling of not measuring up to demands and expectations; for workers, this results in a series of troubles that can be more or less serious: headaches, gastrointestinal disorders, sleep problems, irritability, chronic fatigue, and even nervous breakdown.
For the company, this results in: high absentee and employee turnover rates, increase in accidents and work-related injuries, lack of motivation, resistance to change, low productivity. Each one of these factors produces high costs that, often, the company is unaware of, or fails to relate to stress.
Here are some data that emerged from international research about the cost of stress for companies:
– 900 billion dollars spent every year worldwide for the direct and indirect costs of stress.
– In the USA, 62% of workers consider their job to be their main cause of stress.
– In the United Kingdom, the absentee rate has increased by 72% since 2011.
– Again in the United Kingdom, approximately 100 million work days have been lost since 2009 for stress-related causes.
– Replacing an employee may cost to the company up to 5 times their annual salary.
What do you think? Is it time we battened down the hatches?
Corporate wellness triggers a virtuous cycle that benefits everyone.
Happiness at work is a bargain!