Stress counselling in British businesses has trebled since 1991, reveals survey

Citation

(2001), "Stress counselling in British businesses has trebled since 1991, reveals survey", European Business Review, Vol. 13 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/ebr.2001.05413bab.003

Stress counselling in British businesses has trebled since 1991, reveals survey

Stress counselling in British businesses has trebled since 1991, reveals survey

Keywords: Stress, Counselling

War for talent drives companies to combat stresses and strains of global economy

The percentage of UK industrial and service companies offering stress counselling has trebled in the last nine years, rising from 18 per cent in 1991 to 53 per cent this year, according to the 2000 Survey of Employee Benefits by Hay Management Consultants. More companies are also offering benefits such as child care facilities, sabbatical leave and homeworking to help employees cope with the strain of their jobs and achieve a better balance between their home and working lives. Childcare facilities are now offered by 17 per cent of companies surveyed and sabbatical leave by 26 per cent (2 per cent and 18 per cent respectively in 1990). Over the last five years, the number of companies permitting homeworking has risen from 39 per cent to 65 per cent.

With talk of the end of a job for life, it is also interesting to note that the percentage of companies offering outplacement counselling has nearly doubled in the last ten years. A total of 77 per cent of respondents to this year's survey now offer outplacement counselling, compared with only 36 per cent in 1990.

Julie Alderdice, consultant at Hay Management Consultants, commented: "Technological advances – particularly the internet and e-mail – have placed employees are under far greater pressure. Not only has the pace of work accelerated, but, in the 24 hour global economy, work is encroaching more and more on homelife. To make matters worse, the greater pace of economic change means that people can no longer take comfort in the security of a job for life.

"Stress levels are building and the balance between work and home life can no longer just be accepted but must be actively managed. The good news, however, is that with an increasingly service-based economy people are more important to their companies than ever before. Employers are, therefore, now taking positive action to make it easier for employees to do their jobs. This is generally part of an overall strategy to improve the way people feel about the company and to boost the emotional reward they receive from work."

Companies are also increasingly allowing flexible benefits. Of the organisations surveyed in this year's survey, 68 per cent provide employees with choices concerning the levels of benefit or the option to obtain a benefit by paying the extra cost. But, as Julie Alderdice commented, "Choice means responsibility".

So, while the provision of benefits such as stress counselling or childcare may, at first glance, appear to be a form of twenty-first century paternalism, a return to paternalism it is not. Contrary to any hint of paternalism, it is notable that employees are more than ever encouraged to bear risks, a trend that is increasing particularly in relation to cars and pensions.

A small, but increasing number of organisations (16 per cent), are considering the removal of the company car and its replacement with either with cash or a salary supplement, whilst 18 per cent of respondents questioned had already done so.

At the same time, employers are increasingly moving away from final salary pension schemes to money purchase schemes, which involve employees bearing the investment risk. In the 1990 Hay Survey of Employee Benefits, 98 per cent of employers operated a final salary scheme and only 11 per cent operated a money purchase scheme. In contrast, responses to this year's survey show that now 78 per cent of organisations surveyed operate final salary schemes and 22 per cent are now operating money purchase schemes.

Similarly, the linking of elements of employees' remuneration to their company's financial performance, through profit related pay and share schemes, is gradually becoming more widespread, and is increasing to the extent that people are now sharing their employer's risk. Some kind of long-term incentive scheme is now operated by 53 per cent of organisations surveyed.

Julie Alderdice concluded: "Companies have two main aims in scoping the benefits packages they offer. One is to make working for the company a generally more rewarding experience and thus assist both staff retention and recrnitment. The other is to align the employee's interests more clearly with the company's strategic goals. We are certainly not witnessing a revival of the corporate paternalism that became popular in post-Second World War Bntain. Employee benefits are all about rewarding and engaging talent. The pressures of global competition and the war for talent leave little room for companies to factor social responsibility into the benefits equation."

For further information please contact: Julie Alderdice, Hay Management Consultants. Tel: +44 (0)20 7881 7003; E-mail: julie-alderdice@haygroup.com or contact Charlotte Fuller, Marketforce Communications. Tel: +44 (0)20 7608 3222; E-mail: cfuller@marketforce-communications.co.uk