Stress has become an epidemic

STRESS has become the number one cause of absenteeism in the workplace, official figures show. The number of employees citing work-related anxiety and depression has doubled in a decade to more than a million.

Critics say the trend is yet another worrying sign of Britain's 'sicknote culture' and suspect many of the claims of stress are bogus.

Absenteeism is particularly rife in the public sector, with employees such as teachers, social workers and other local government staff claiming an average of 10.7 sickness days a year. In contrast, private sector workers take an average of 7.8 days.

Stress-related illness is believed to cost £3.7bn a year in lost productivity and healthcare costs, a third of the £11.6bn total lost to illness. The average cost of absence now stands at £588 annually per employee, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

With doctors admitting they are writing sicknotes on demand rather than acting as 'health police', there are fears that stress is becoming the latest convenient 'catch-all' excuse to stay off work.

Ruth Lea, of the Centre for Policy Studies think-tank, warned last night that the condition was being used as the 'new backache'. 'It's become acceptable, almost traditional, to talk about stress in the workplace,' she added. 'Ten or 20 years ago people didn't use the term at all, they would say, frankly, what do you expect?'

'There's a difference between stress and pressure. Because stress has become more acceptable it's become the new backache. People say, sorry, I've got stress.'

Lea said the workplace was becoming the 'fall guy' for problems in other aspects of people's lives, such as family, money and home. 'We all accept that to some extent people have stress,' she said. 'But sometimes stress in people's lives tends to get focused on the workplace. Frequently it's not work issues that cause the stress.'

Jackie Pierce, researcher for a three-year study on workplace absenteeism for the University of Surrey, said there was a sense that stress had become an acceptable replacement for conditions which have been around for years.

'Is it just old wine, new bottle?' she said. 'Nobody really knows what stress is and GPs won't use it as a diagnosis. They feel that if it is medicalised you run the risk of thinking a pill will fix it, but it won't. I think stress is a more acceptable, less stigmatised, label for many mental health problems.'

The latest figures from the Department for Work and Pensions, from November 2004, showed that, of the number claiming incapacity benefit, 1,025,000 cited mental and behavioural problems such as stress and depression. That is nearly double the 592,000 who were claiming for similar reasons in 1995. Around 560,000 blamed musculoskeletal conditions such as lower back pain for their absence.

A survey by company bosses ordered by the Health and Safety Executive found that around half a million people in Britain experience work-related stress at a level they believe is making them ill. The 'risk-assessment' study last year found that up to five million feel 'very' or 'extremely' stressed by their work.

Cary Cooper, professor of organisational psychology and health at Lancaster University, said one of the major reasons for the increase in stress-related problems was the 'Americanisation' of the British workplace.

Longer working hours, job insecurity and a management style focused on short-term performance targets had all changed the working environment significantly over the last decade, he said. Technology was also becoming a heavy burden, he said.

'Rather than being our support system, making life easier, we are now electronically overloaded with mobile phones, text messages and emails,' he added. 'Communication is faster, demanding an immediate response.'

The issue of stress will be the focus of a special conference on absenteeism being held by the Working Families charity in London today. The organisation, which campaigns for a better 'work-life balance', has published a report which shows that nearly half of all workers surveyed felt they were more stressed at work now than five years ago.

In Sickness and in Health found that companies which try to detect stress and improve their employees' work-life balance have been rewarded with lower levels of sickness absence. Flexible working, allowing compassionate leave and offering staff the option of working from home all helped cut absenteeism, it found.