Economic woe causing stress and anxiety

by Richard Kilner

Story link: Economic woe causing stress and anxiety

Health insurer Bupa has released research which shows that workers throughout the UK are living in fear of losing their jobs.

Women are more anxious than men regarding the possibility, with a quarter more women than men asking for advice about coping with redundancy in the last six months.

In fact, since September of last year the nuber of people fearing redundancy has skyrocketed by 183%.

Bupa’s counselling helpline has seen a 41% rise in callers who are feeling particularly stressed at their workplace.

Dr Peter Mace interprets the findings by asserting that although women appear to be feeling the heat more than men, some men are simply refusing to face facts and bottling up their worries.

For some men this will mean feeling depressed and anxious, which will obviously have a negative impact on both their health and occupational performance.

Dr Mace went on to say that it was crucial for firms to look after their employees’ mental state, stating that research proved that 44% of those who used counselling helplines were saved from taking time off work.

In addition a productivity boost of almost half (48%) resulted from counselling services.

Unfortunately it does not seem that the present recession will be over swiftly or without significant economic pain.

A few days ago KPMG reported that UK sales fell by 1.8% on a like-for-like basis, with more expensive goods particularly difficult to shift.

In addition the low interest rates are hitting savers, especially the elderly, hard, and food inflation remains stubbornly high despite overall inflation falling recently.

However the news is not entirely bad. People in safe jobs with mortgages have seen the costs of servicing their debt plummet, and although food inflation persists more expensive goods have fallen in cost of late.