Alistair Henderson, the Energis director of technology and application, believes that employers need to address the issue of stress to safeguard not only the interests of their staff but also of their businesses. He says: “Employers need to understand that their staff are their greatest asset, and that the way this asset is managed is crucial, not only to morale and company culture, but as an investment for future business success.

“Considering the detrimental impact on business if stress goes ignored, it is extremely concerning that few employers are taking measures to support their staff in stress management.

“This report shows there is a clear need to empower employees with the means to identify and control the impact of stress upon performance themselves.”

One of the problems is that bosses are not equipped to assess their employees’ stress levels and suffer from stress themselves. With this in mind, Energis is currently working in partnership with other leading British companies to deve- lop a PC-based system that will enable people to monitor their stress levels from their desk and encourage them to ask for support.

According to the CBI, stress-rela- ted absence accounts for the loss of 187 million working days a year in the UK at a cost of £12 billion. Energis commissioned Continental Research to interview 200 managing directors, financial directors and managers throughout the UK in businesses with turnovers of more than £1 million.

It reveals that Yorkshire and Humberside is the most stressful place to work with Greater London coming second. Forty-five per cent of executives experience stress on a frequent basis and 28 per cent say it is a daily experience. The survey also shows that men are more lik- ely to experience stress than women and that employers do little to help them cope, with only 26 per cent saying their employer had taken steps to reduce workloads.

Women fare better, with 42 per cent of them saying their employer allowed them to take time off compared with 31 per cent of men. Thirty per cent of women say their boss took steps to reduce workloads compared to 24 per cent of men.

All jobs contain some elements of stress, occupational psychologist Philip Lindsay says, and without them there would be a lack of challenge. “It is not stress per se — it’s distress — the point where healthy levels of stress are exceeded and people start to suffer along with their job performance,” he says. “To tackle the issue effectively, both employers and employees must first try to recognise the situations that cause stress and anxiety levels to soar, and then take measures.”

Mr Lindsay says: “The symptoms of stress should set alarm bells ringing with employers as they will almost certainly have an impact on performance.” Due to lack of support from employers, some executives are adopting their own methods of coping with stress. The most popular is exercise while many also practise relaxation techniques. Mr Henderson says: “Addressing the issue of stress could have a profound effect on staff satisfaction, productivity, profitability and competitive edge.”

Mr Lindsay has drawn up a list of do’s and don’ts:

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