The Sydney Morning Herald http://www.smh.com.au/news/9904/05/text/national9.html Stressed-out workers costly, bosses told Date: 05/04/99 By GEESCHE JACOBSEN Australia will become a "sicker, poorer nation" if employers fail to reduce workplace stress, which is damaging the health of employees and costing the nation as much as $1.2 billion a year, a health expert has warned. Dr Rob Moodie, chief executive of VicHealth, said workplace stress was widespread and increasing. As companies fail, or reduce staff, uncertainty and workload rise, increasing stress. Looking after employee health need not cost companies extra money because this would pay off in improved productivity, Dr Moodie said in an article in the Medical Journal of Australia. "It's not just for altruism, there's a bottom-line issue in there as well," he said. A Japanese study had shown that people who worked more than 11 hours a day had more than twice the rate of heart attacks than those who worked seven to nine hours a day, Dr Moodie wrote in an editorial in today's issue of the journal. Social support in the workplace, such as "opportunities to chat with workmates", was important in coping with stress. Companies should examine the way they were organised and talk and work with staff or else they might experience low morale, more absenteeism and diminished creativity. "The competitive environment will mean companies will cut costs but it's how they cut that's important," Dr Moodie said. The top five causes of stress, according to an ACTU survey, were a lack of communication, increased workload, job insecurity, organisational change and poor work organisation. Workers' compensation payouts related to stress have risen sharply recently, exceeding $200 million a year, he said. This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying or mirroring is prohibited. ************************************************************************* This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
