National Stress Awareness Day 2022
National Stress Awareness Day 2022 takes place next week on the 9th November 2022. It will form part of International Stress Awareness Week which will run from the 7th – 11th November 2022.
Launched back in 1999 by the International Stress Management Association (ISMA) (UK), National Stress Awareness Day highlights the problem of stress, including in the workplace
To mark National Stress Awareness Day 2022, the ISMA have arranged for the the 3rd Online Global Stress and Wellbeing Summit to be held on that date. The theme of this year's event is "Working Together to Build Resilience and Reduce Stress".
The Chair of ISMA (UK), Carole Spiers, states in the communiqué announcing the Summit that: "The Summit covers themes relating to managing stress, building resilience and achieving wellbeing in the workplace, which are relevant for our international audience which includes stress management professionals, HR managers, psychologists, therapists, business leaders, specialists in organisational change and others interested in reducing stress."
Spiers adds: "It is fitting that our Summit follows the recent publication of new global guidelines by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) on mental health at work. They have called for concrete actions to address mental health concerns in the working population, referencing an estimated 12 billion workdays lost annually due to depression and anxiety, at a cost of nearly US $ 1 trillion to the global economy. It is urgent that action is taken and we hope our Online Summit will help to raise awareness and encourage positive changes that benefit both employers and employees."
National Stress Awareness Day 2022 has been reported elsewhere as taking place on the 2nd November 2022. However, the official ISMA communiqué announcing the 3rd Online Global Stress and Wellbeing Summit confirms that it will take place on the 9th November 2022, stating that the Summit is "being held on Stress Awareness Day itself".
HSE Statistics
The importance of National Stress Awareness Day is brought home by statistics released by Health & Safety Executive (HSE), which state that there were 822,000 cases of workplace stress in 2020/21, which amounts to 2.48% of the workforce. Whilst the number was similar to the previous year (2019/20), in which there were 828,000 cases, the figures for both years are significantly higher the last full pre-covid pandemic year for which statistics are available, (2017/18) in which there were 595,000 cases.
The 828,000 cases reported for the 2019/20 year resulted in 17.9 million days of absence from work, with each person taking 21.6 days off work on average. This is an increase of 2.5 million days when compared with the figure for 2017/18 (15.4 million days). In terms of all cases of work-related ill health, in 2020/21 workplace stress accounted for 50% of the total. The previous year, it was 51%, and 55% of all those who were absent from work at some point during the period.
Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic
In the ISMA communiqué, Professor Sir Cary Cooper CBE who will be delivering the "opening keynote" at the Summit taking place on National Stress Awareness Day, states: "The pandemic brought about some salutary changes including hybrid/remote working and a greater awareness of the importance of wellbeing in the workplace. But stress and mental health issues are still widespread, together with the stigma attaching to them."
Record Fall In The Value Of Real Salaries
The latest Salary Trends Report by ECA International (ECA) has revealed that whilst UK workers have had a salary increase of 3.5% on average in 2022, the fact that the UK has had an average rate of inflation of 9.1%, has mean't that UK workers have on average sustained a real terms 5.6% fall in the value of their salaries.
The ECA confirmed in their report that the 5.6% real terms fall represents the largest fall in UK workers salaries since first publishing their Salary Trends Report in 2000.
