There are two particular days that stand out in terms of hating work?” and we may as well say it’s part and parcel of the debate around staff wellbeing. Firstly, there’s the moment?you wake up early in a rush to grab the trainAfter a holiday. It’s not surprising given that you’re swapping cocktails on the beach and quiet nights in for a commuter’s armpit to the face.
But there’s another spectacle that occurs most”Monday mornings. Monday Blues” is how author Alexander Kjerulf describes it: ?When negative emotions such as depression, tiredness, hopelessness and a sense that work is unpleasant but unavoidable kicks in at the beginning of the week.
It’s such a common experience that it’s been labelled a cultural phenomenon, making it easy to?write off as just the way things are, Kjerulf said. But it can be much more than just passing tiredness; it is?often a serious warning sign that something is not right at work. If you were happy, you?d be excited and energised on Mondays, not tired and depressed. Is staff wellbeing really one of business’ top priorities at this point
The feeling starts Sunday evening, prevents you from sleeping and has you enterthe office like a zombie zoning in onthe coffee pot. It kills your productivity and, essentially, can affect your health. ButAs daunting as Monday’s are, that particular day can’t be blamed for a poor state of wellbeing it’s your job 2,000 Brits have said. They toldBeneden?work had become a daunting prospect, with 87 per cent blaming the workplace for making them ill. Another 25 per cent suggested depression wasn?t the preserve of Monday mornings.
?We are a nation of hard workers, with 46 per cent saying they still go into work despite being ill,” the report said. And whether or not ill, once in work, those surveyed confessed to having regular health issues. Among the cited “frequent occurrences” was backache (84 per cent), eye strain (42 per cent) and migraines (27 per cent). In addition, 44 per cent reported regular stress, with 91 per cent feeling tiered constantly throughout the week. Sunday night anxiety aside, 58 per cent claimed work worries kept them awake at night. This”had Helen Smith, business development director at Benenden, suggest it’s thus unsurprising?our working lifestyle attracts criticism And, of course, there’s plenty of research to back her statement?up.
What criticism does the UK face over staff wellbeing?
Our wellbeing programmes just aren?t cutting it. The UK is facing a shift in demographic that will bring with it’significant health challenges ?people are living longer and will be working well into their 60s and 70s. This is according to Rachel Suff, public policy adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, who claimed ?older employees have less short-term absence but they are more likely to have developed chronic conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure. Employers should factor this into staff wellbeing programmes.
It seems we’re lacking in support for staff that truly need it. Liz Egan, the head of the Working through Cancer programme, explained: ?Employers need to prepare more for the increase in people working with chronic conditions. As an example, today, around 750,000 people of a working age are living with cancer but, by 2030 this number is expected to increase to 1.7m.
From mental health to presenteeism, we unveil what people believe is keeping a healthy workforce at bay.
What we’re mostly criticised about, however, is mental health. We’re definitely making progress, but staff wellbeing is still suffering, and it’s largely due to a lack of communication. Mind once said mental health affects one in six British workers a year, with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development estimating the cost of mental health to the UK economy to be ?70bn per year equating to 4.5 per cent of GDP. Employers are losing £26bn each year and greater openness and understanding could help get rid of the stigmas around it.
Stress is a large factor. We have stress by the bucket load and we can’t seem to shake it off. And throwing a spanner into the works is presenteeism. In fact, the Centre for Mental Health calculated that?presenteeism from mental ill health alone costs the UK economy £15.1bn a year. Presenteeism stemmed from policies used to monitor or reduce staff absence, such as strict trigger points for disciplinary action, job insecurity, limited paid sick leave, or few absence days allowed without a medical certificate, it explained.
Job demands, such as workload and understaffing, along with the difficulty of finding cover and personal financial difficulties, will also always be key reasons for why people might not take a day off as well. But while we thought we were out of the ?recession” fire pan, we took a leap into Brexit uncertainty and along the way we fostered a culture of more time put into work equaling a better chance of staying employed. Not exactly the best philosophy if we re to increase staff wellbeing.
Some 4mBrits work on average 43.6 hours a week, 350,000 more than a decade ago, despite the European directive that had been put in place aimed to reduce time spent in the office. It’s what former TUC general secretary John Monks described as a national disgrace. “Our long hours working culture leads to stress, ill health and family strains,” he said. In comparison, the European average is 40.3, with France falling at 35 hours.
Burnout is thus a big problem in the UK. YouGov and Virgin research in 2015 found that 51 per cent of full-time staff had experienced anxiety or burnout in their job. A survey of more than 2,000 UK GPs by Pulse also revealed 50 per cent of them were at high risk of burnout. Let’s also not forget what’s been deemed as one of the largest studies of burnout among social workers in the UK, claiming 73 per cent of staff had levels of exhaustion so high it was above the threshold considered “at risk” for burnout. So we become ill?due to exhaustion andchoose to infect the rest of the workforce because we’re too worried what would happen if we called in sick.
For good measure, British workers have linked staff wellbeing to the appearance of the office, suggesting offices were frankly making them ill. At the forefront of the Ipsos poll was the explanation that UK workers felt uncomfortable, uninspired and unable to concentrate contributing to stress and the need to stay overtime to work on tasks they couldn?t complete throughout the day. Almost one in five workers described UK offices as being cold, while 13 per cent twice as high as the global average thought their workplace was, for lack of other words, ugly.
Taking all of the above into account, it’s no wonder we re lacking in productivity and dreading each Monday morning.
Image:?Shutterstock
