More data needed to quantify financial costs of workplace stress, says ILO chief

Islamabad

Work-related stress affects workers in all professions in developed and developing countries alike. It can gravely harm not only workers’ health but also, and all too often, the well-being of their families.

More data and analysis is needed to fully quantify the financial costs of workplace stress, it is abundantly clear that the burden is considerable. A recent study cited in the ILO report, ‘Workplace stress: a collective challenge,’ issued on the occasion of 2016 Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Day, which is observed on April 28 every year, indicates that more than 40 million people are affected by work-related stress within the EU and that the estimated cost of work-related depression is €617 billion a year.

In a message on the occasion, the director general of the International Labour Organization Guy Ryder said, this World Day for Safety and Health focuses on the toll taken on the health and wellbeing of workers worldwide by stress in their working environment.

Target 8 of goal 8 of the UN 2030 Agenda for Suatainable Development calls for “safe and secure working environments for all workers” -- securing safe workplaces extends beyond the protection of workers’ physical safety to their mental and psychological well-being.

“Globalisation and technological change have transformed work and employment patterns in ways that sometimes contribute to work-related stress. High unemployment levels, particularly in the absence of adequate social protection measures can also have undesirable consequences for the mental health of workers. Enterprises are not spared and they face the consequences of work-related stress on their overall performance with increased absenteeism, presenteeism and staff turnover, and difficult labour relations,” the DG points out.

The DG believes that while much still needs to be done to reduce stress at work, there have been welcome developments in understanding the issue in recent years. “Awareness has increased and in most countries policymakers, social partners and professional networks are becoming more involved in the design of legislation, policy, strategies and tools for the assessment and management of work-related stress,” he states.

The ILO believes that the protection of workers’ mental health must focus on preventive strategies. “Assessing and managing psychosocial risks at their origin will help craft the collective and individual measures needed to improve the quality of working life for women and men. The ILO is committed to work with governments, workers and employers and their organizations around the globe to design and implement effective national, regional and enterprise level policies to prevent and minimise work-related stress,” the statement concludes.