New work, new stress

Policy paper

Pat McGuinness, Industrial Society, 12 pages, £10.00

This policy paper calls for the government, policy makers and health and safety professionals to rethink the concept of stress and address the real issue at the heart of the stress "epidemic". This, says the paper, is the growth of the global economy and the associated pressures to compete ever harder on quality, price, efficiency, speed and competence.

It says that, in an effort to successfully compete, businesses are changing the way they operate at a furious rate without sufficient consideration of the human implications.

It says that current stress auditing techniques are unreliable and that employers are continuing to put the responsibility on individuals to control stress-related illness, with little attempt to diagnose and deal with problems at organisational level.

It calls on the government and the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) to drive home to employers the message that job enrichment equals lower levels of employee stress and improved organisational effectiveness.