ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
“Culture is to the organisation what personality is to the individual ….” Kilmann 1984
On BBC breakfast yesterday morning, Professor Cary Cooper (Organisational Psychology and Health at Manchester Business School) was talking about organisational culture and its effect on stress. He was speaking on the first day of Stress Awareness Week as President of CIPD.
If you are overwhelmed, overtired, overloaded, overlooked and feel overworked then you are probably under stress.
New figures from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) reveal that 15.4 million working days were lost to stress in 2017/18, a huge increase on the previous year. Research by the CIPD and Simply Health in May found that increased presenteeism was associated with rising stress levels. In September, the CIPD urged employers to ensure that line managers were equipped to recognise early signs of stress and mental ill-health. This was backed by an earlier study from the Mental Health Foundation, which revealed that less than a sixth of staff felt comfortable talking to their line manager about stress levels. A culture in which it is acceptable to talk and share both work and personal issues will have lower stress levels.
Lunch breaks, working contracted hours, going home on time and flexible working are a few contributory factors in a healthy workplace together with shared vision and values, supervision and regular team meetings .CIPD research also identified that only 58 percent of organisations carried out risk self-assessments, even though it is a statutory requirement.
Having a wellbeing policy, regular workshops and individual stress audits can change the culture of an organisation from negative to positive. The advantages far outweigh the disadvantages, and the cost is minimal compared to legislation.
“For every £1 you invest in staff well-being, there’s a return of £3 in improved efficiency and productivity.” Stress Management Society
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) estimated that an average firm with 1,000 employees could save £250,000 a year by tackling the causes of work-related stress.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results! EINSTEIN
INTERNATIONAL STRESS AWARENESS DAY – NOVEMBER 7th – Check out www.isma.org.uk for info and fact sheets
Wellbeing and Resilience training available from Stressworx and HR Think