European Companies Recognised for Workplace Stress Initiatives
More than 100 companies and organisations that are official campaign partners of the
‘Healthy Workplaces Manage Stress’
campaign have been honoured for their anti-stress initiatives at a special ceremony held in Brussels.
Estimates suggest that psychosocial risks and workplace stress collectively cost European economies billions of euros annually and 50-60% of all lost-work days are attributed to work-related stress.
Companies that have addressed the issue were recognised by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA), which named German engineering multinational Siemens as winner of an award in the area of managing work-related stress and psychosocial risks, part of the
‘Healthy Workplaces Good Practice Awards’
competition and a new category created especially for official campaign partners.
Siemens won an award for its holistic psychosocial risk and resource management framework,
‘Life in Balance’
initiative. A company-wide programme, it focuses on five key areas: awareness, leadership involvement, communication, training and the employee assistance programme. The initiative has led to a high level of improvements in service, lowered costs and better management reporting at Siemens, while the company’s absenteeism rate has decreased by 26% since the initiative began.
Spanish renewable energy company Acciona Energia and France’s Airbus also were commended for their contribution to efficient management of work-related stress and psychosocial risks.
“Previous campaigns by EU-OSHA have highlighted the importance of management and workers tackling workplace health and safety issues together,” said European Commissioner (EC) for employment, social affairs, skills and labour mobility Marianne Thyssen, who congratulated companies for taking workplace stress seriously.
“Strong leadership by management and full involvement of workers in the problem-solving process are key ingredients to success. I am impressed by your commitment to eradicating workplace stress.”