Uncontrolled stress and anxiety cause poor performance and reduced productivity. Loss of focus caused by distracting stress can lead to costly accidents and mistakes. In an attempt to manage stress and anxiety, many people turn to some form of self-medication including alcohol, illegal drugs, over the counter medications, prescribed but misused medications, inappropriate eating behaviors, and other distracting behaviors like addictions to sex or shopping. Treatment center insurance Georgiaand Unmanaged stress and anxiety can also contribute to physical and emotional symptoms such as: insomnia (poor sleep,) headaches, back pain, high blood pressure, abdominal symptoms, panic/anxiety attacks, poor concentration, learning disabilities, depression, poor impulse control (anger or rage), poor decision making, reduced ability to communicate, and reduced creative problem solving.
Stats on Substance Abuse:
Alcoholism accounts for 500 million lost workdays per year.
7% of full-time workers use drugs
7% of full time workers are heavy drinkers
This can translate to over $7000 loss to companies per employee.
Since 1985, businesses have been affected by huge increases in workers compensation claims for stress related incidents.
Health care costs have increased dramatically - Treatment center insurance Georgia
A large part of this can be attributed to accidents and health challenges that are either created or made worse by stress. 70-90% of visits to physicians are for stress related complaints. In a recent study, 55% of workers are now reporting that their work is very stressful and another 20% report levels of distractions due to work stress.
In society there have been dramatic increases in incidents of "road rage," "air rage," anger, "Going Postal," and other inappropriate behaviors that are driven by stress. Since 1985 there has been a huge increase in the use (and abuse) of caffeine and caffeinated products. Think about how many more coffee and Espresso shops are now available and what has driven this trend. Caffeine increases levels of stress and anxiety while reducing rest during sleep or interrupting sleep cycles. Poor sleep is proving to be an epidemic that reduces performance and increases accidents and mistakes.
The costs of stress on business are huge and yet there is still an attitude of denial that causes a lack of responsibility both for organizations and individual workers. People seem to expect that the stress is normal and that they do not have to do anything, positive, to counteract its effect. This "head in the sand" response does not take into account that when stress management is practiced preventively, it actually saves time and energy, improves the quality of life, and increases productivity.
Organizations that have adopted stress management philosophies have also benefited from increased worker loyalty, reductions in reports of burnout, reduced turnover, reduced health claims, increased morale and productivity, and better customer service.
Business leaders and progressive developing managers have found the personal and professional benefits of practicing preventive strategies which improve the work environment. There are cutting-edge techniques that have been developed for business from sports psychology models that have been used by "world-class" athletes to achieve better results in high level competition. When these are tailored to the organization's requirements, the positive results are obvious. Increased sales, improved customer service, increased focus, improved quality of life, better communication, enhanced creative problem solving, and reduced rates of turnover are some of the many reported benefits.