Stress staff cost council £4m

Stress was given as the second highest reason for staff absence – coming in just behind illness such as flu and colds.

Also, 18 per cent of staff claim they are subject to "personal harassment" at work. A report to be discussed by a scrutiny committee admits that there are big resource implications for the council in terms of dealing with stress.

In the report Jim Savege, deputy corporate director for human resources, said: "Stress is presently the second highest cause of absences for the county council overall.

"In 2004/05 the salary costs for the days lost due to stress amounted to £4,192,701."

He said that the council must "effectively manage" stress to reduce the number of employees going off sick but that there could also be an increased risk in civil and criminal action against the county council.

The figures were revealed in a report which will discuss the findings of the authority's "Overall Organisational Stress Survey", carried out between May - July last year.

This revealed that all age groups have concerns over the way "change" is managed at the county council with concerns about the demands put upon workers also a worry.

These have been addressed as being "areas of concern" for the council, which has a legal obligation to protect it's employees from high levels of pressure.

The survey also showed 18 per cent felt they were "harassed" at work, six per cent said they were bullied and nine per cent said they were discriminated against.

In total 7,768 council employees returned the surveys. The council says it is going to formulate action plans – and already has an absence management policy in place, which is helping reduce the number of people off work claiming "stress".