15 September 2015 – Stress management support for Scottish workers is on the rise, new research has revealed.
According to a study commissioned by PMI Health Group, 49 per cent of Scottish employers now offer stress management benefits such as EAPs and counselling – up from 42 per cent last year1 and 19 per cent in 20132.
“Stress and mental health issues are not uncommon in the modern workplace but if these are not managed effectively they can have an extremely negative impact upon mental wellbeing, affecting productivity, morale and a company’s bottom line,” said Mike Blake, PMI Health Group Director.
“Scottish employers are increasingly recognising this fact and with stress cementing its status as the number of cause for long-term UK sickness absence for non-manual workers3, their efforts to tackle the problem look set to continue.”
The research findings also suggest stress management benefits are growing in popularity among Scottish employees. Six per cent of workers selected counselling services and Employee Assistance Programmes among their top three most valued benefits, compared with four per cent in 20134.
Blake added: “Counselling intervention has been shown to be particularly effective for treating and reducing sickness absence while improving employee wellbeing, reinforcing both the moral and business case for its provision.”
