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A recent report claiming stress has contributed to payouts of over $17 million to Victorian school teachers may be just the tip of the iceberg. According to Dr Lindsay McMillan, Chief Executive of Converge International, stress is costing Australian businesses billions of dollars.
“Work related stress is the second biggest cause of worker’s compensation claims in Australia,” he says, “But the hidden costs are much higher.”
“Up to 70% of all time lost in workplaces is due to stress, along with 40% of all job turnovers.”
Then there’s something called stress related “pre-absenteeism”, which refers to people who are at work in body but not in spirit. It can reduce productivity by as much as 30%.
Overall, it’s estimated that every employee with untreated depression costs a business $9600 in lost productivity and absenteeism. With one in every three employees suffering from moderate to extreme stress, that adds up to over $1 million for organisations with 300 staff.
Dr McMillan believes more organisations need to look at the training solutions offered by companies like his own. Converge International is an organisation committed to reducing stress in Australian business as well as dealing with health, productivity, risk issues and critical incidents.
AAP