Research

The need for an organisation to have a confidential counselling service makes good business sense when you consider the following statistics:

According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), an estimated 13.4 million working days were lost in 2002 due to work related stress The Chartered Institute for Professional Development (CIPD) found that absence costs employers an average of £522 for each employee per year. This amounts to an estimated annual cost of £13 billion for the UK economy One in five employees suffer from work related stress each year An appeal court ruling in February 2002 on stress related illness at work ruled that "any employer who offers a confidential counselling advice service with access to treatment is unlikely to be found in breach of duty" The HSE classes stress at work as a risk factor within the Management of Health and Safety at Work regulations 1999, and has established targets for reducing the incidence of both work related ill health and working days lost to work related ill health by 20% and 30% respectively by 2010 (HSE, 2000) The McCleod report (BACP, 2001) conducted an analysis of workplace counselling studies since 1954 encompassing 10,000 participants. It concluded that, beyond doubt, workplace counselling is a highly effective intervention