Employee Health Care
Ninety-Three Percent of Employers Combat Stress in the Workplace
Kiplinger News
July 9, 2010
An overwhelming majority of American companies offer stress-relief programs to employees, a new survey by human resources consultancy Buck Consultants shows.
According to the poll - which was performed at a workplace benefits conference in May and involved 250 participants - 93 percent of employers offer stress-reduction measures to their workers. Most - 88 percent - had established between four and 10 anti-stress programs.
The most popular stress-fighting initiative - practiced by 78 percent of workplaces - was employee assistance programs, or EAPs. They assist workers with personal problems by providing counseling.
Also popular were flexible work schedules, put in place by 63 percent of companies.
The benefits of stress-mitigation programs are real. Eighty-two percent of survey respondents say their firm's healthcare costs are at least moderately impacted by worker stress, while 79 percent say stress contributes to employee absenteeism.
Hiring new workers is expensive, and it can be more cost-effective for companies to ensure the well-being of their current employees than to drive them away. While hiring is projected to increase this year - 46 percent of companies with revenue between $1 billion and $3 billion expect to take on new workers in the coming year, according to a recent Ernst & Young survey - keeping current employees happy may remain a priority.
