Topics: Articles, Workplace Stress
Corporate Stress: Send in the Stressbusters
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More and more UK firms are discovering the human and economic benefits of hiring in-house stressbusters. Eighty per cent of the blue-chip companies contacted by stressbusting.co.uk provide some form of stress therapy… ranging from office massages to 24-hour helplines and office punchbags. Charles Donovan learns how to unwind at the office
Mark Borkowski can still recall the disaster that prompted him to rethink his approach to employee stress at his publicity agency, Mark Borkowski PR. ‘One of my staff had a profound physical and mental breakdown,’ he recalls. ‘It was something that I knew that I could never let happen again.’
True to his word, he hired a stress therapist. Since her arrival there have been no more breakdowns. ‘I’ve been a devotee of various forms of alternative medicine for the last 15 years, and I knew it was the best thing for staff welfare,’ continues Borkowski.
Now, once a month, Alexandra Whittall visits Borkowski PR’s offices in central London. Every employee, from the training floor to the boardroom, has a 45-minute session in a closed room with Whittall, and can choose from a number of treatments, including reflexology, massage, Reiki, and what Whittall calls ‘listening ear’, in other words simply talking about anything that’s on their mind.
Feedback has been very positive, says Borkowski: ‘All of us work extremely hard, and this gives us a chance to stop for a moment, and focus on relaxation and peace. It’s worked wonderfully for team spirit, and inspiration, and I think it also helps staff relax when they’re at home.’
FOLLOWING AMERICA’S EXAMPLE
Borkowski PR is by no means alone in its approach to work-related stress. In the US companies have long been aware of the dangers of an overstressed workforce. General Motors has a program that includes meditation and tai-chi at work and offers a 24-hour helpline for its workers; at Ernst and Young’s tax centre in Indianapolis, workers can nap in a recreation room, and have soothing fish tanks in the workplace.
Many UK companies are now following suit. Apple, Powergen, Lastminute.com and Telewest now have confidential counselling and leaflets about stress. Cable and Wireless meanwhile, has adopted the US idea of a 24-hour staff helpline. Law firm Mishcon de Reya recently invited its lawyers to unwind by e-mailing their poetry to resident poet, Lavinia Greenlaw.
Of the 40 UK companies we contacted, 80 per cent provided some form of in-house stressbusting services. Thus, staff at Freeserve, the Internet service provider, have weekly visits from a masseuse and chiropractor, flexible working hours, the option of working from home, and no enforced dress code.
FROM PUNCHBAGS TO FENG SHUI
Less orthodox treatments are also available - punchbags, basketball and table football sets are placed around the offices. A Feng Shui consultant has rearranged the office furniture to maximise inter-personal harmony, and team meetings are never held around a desk, but on sofas. Staff at Freeserve are even encouraged to devise their own job titles.
Freeserve’s E-space manager Janice O’Neill admits that technological advances have increased stress. ‘Expectations are higher - you no longer have to wait for anything in the post, and e-mail means that there is speed pressure on everyone.’
Borkowski agrees: ‘Before, you had a nine-to-five existence, and work didn’t stray beyond those confines. Now, you’re connected the whole time - mobile phones and e-mail have removed time barriers - you can be contacted at 11pm if necessary. Technology is meant to help us, but, on the contrary, it means that the whip is bigger. The hamster wheel revolves faster and faster.’
BREAKING THE STRESS CYCLE
Alex Whittall, the stress therapist who visits Borkowski PR, predicts that within the next five years, every company will have to have someone like her on hand.
‘People cannot work 14-hour days indefinitely. If the spirit becomes dulled, a sense of apathy takes over. Overworking causes stress, and then the stress itself prompts sufferers to work even harder. People can’t even stop when they get home; hence the drugs, alcohol and fast music that people need at weekends.’
Among the other causes of office stress are caffeine (’like kick-starting a motor-bike, it’s so abrupt,’ says Whittall), deadlines, pollution, bad food and lack of fresh air and natural light. Technology, says Whittall, is damaging not simply because of the increased pace it facilitates, but on other levels too. ‘Mobile phones and computers emit radiation. It horrifies me. They are energy saps, as is the television.’
For those whose employers have only limited stress-reduction programmes, Whittall advises: ‘If you can, find a yoga or meditation class. Have some physical exercise.’ She also suggests simply sitting down alone. ‘Then just focus on your breathing for ten minutes. This helps bridge the gap between mind and body, and strengthens and supports the nervous system. It lets you slow down. And don’t get stuck to your desk - take an half-hour walk each and every lunchtime.’
• Charles Donovan contributes to The Evening Standard, The Sunday Telegraph, The Independent and Woman & Home magazine.
• Sessions with Alex Whittall cost from £40. Tel: 07808-294118
