Managers ‘need to tackle stress levels’

Good management involves effectively tackling stress levels and there are a number of key strategies for stress management, a recruitment consultancy says.

Although methods will vary from person to person, managers need to integrate self-awareness, regular exercise and holiday breaks, according to Stark Brooks.

It was estimated 442,000 individuals in Britain believed they were experiencing work-related stress at a level that was making them ill during 2007/08, according to the Labour Force Survey.

Sally Toumi, managing director of Stark Brooks, said the most effective managers are the ones who realise that if it is a case of going to the gym to relieve the pressure, then to be sure that they do that.

“For other people it is just about having a sounding board, a mentor. And that doesn’t have to be someone within the business; it can be somebody else that they can talk to,” she added.

According to the Health and Safety Executive, one in five people say they find their work either very or extremely stressful.