If you are stressed you are not alone

THE number of people suffering from work-related stress in Wales has soared by more than 40% in the last four years.

Stress, anxiety and depression are among illnesses, caused or made worse by work, which are understood to have cost the Welsh economy £484m in 2014-15. The human cost is much greater. Thousands of people do not find work a rewarding experience. Instead, they are under such pressure they feel they are approaching breaking point.

Across Britain, 11.7 million days in 2015-16 were lost to these conditions. If it is hard for an employer to cope with the impact of this on an organisation, think of how home life must be affected for the individuals and their families.

Feelings of fear, helplessness, isolation and despair are realities for many people across the country. Unless these are addressed, we can expect the number of people needing time away from their workplaces to climb yet higher.

In both the public and private sectors, millions of people have been under pressure to do more with less. Tasks which were once shared now fall on a single set of shoulders.

Rounds of redundancies and cultures of belt-tightening only accentuate job insecurity. Stagnating wages and the closing of pension schemes add to financial worries and make it harder to afford stress-busting luxuries like a holiday or going to the gym.

Long-hours cultures leave workers feeling physically, emotionally and mentally exhausted, cause strain in family relationships and also make it harder to cope with caring responsibilities.

If our economy was reliant on machines which were breaking down in the midst of essential tasks, we would expect managers to take steps to ensure weaknesses were addressed and no further damage was done.

These statistics show that people are being paid to do work which is hurting them and pushing them into ill-health. On cold economic grounds this is indefensible and a waste of what is termed “human resources”.

A company is not fulfilling its duty to its shareholders if it so badly manages the people who constitute such an important asset.

Similarly, a charity or a branch of the public sector that burns out its staff will end up letting down those who depend upon its services.

The social benefits of a good job are incalculable and the Government is right to try to get as many as possible into employment.

The joys of workplace camaraderie are among life’s greatest riches and a job can open up unique opportunities to learn new skills and develop as an individual.

But a job in a harsh workplace with neglectful or abusive managers can crush an individual, with profound consequences for society.

The findings show that something is very wrong in too many settings. If compassion and a sense of social justice is not enough to compel us to demand change, then we should be motivated by alarm at the scale of wasted potential – a gentler nation may prove more creative and richer. The Western Mail newspaper is published by Media Wales a subsidiary company of Trinity Mirror PLC, which is a member of IPSO, the Independent Press Standards Organisation. The entire contents of The Western Mail are the copyright of Media Wales Ltd. It is an offence to copy any of its contents in any way without the company’s permission. If you require a licence to copy parts of it in any way or form, write to the Head of Finance at Six Park Street. The recycled paper content of UK newspapers in 2014 was 78.5%