Treasury employees ‘given stress advice’

Employees at the Treasury have been offered advice on how to deal with stress, it has been reported.

According to the Telegraph, civil servants have been provided with a 71-page document which includes lessons and messages designed to help them overcome feelings of stress, as the economy emerges from recession.

An Introduction to Stress Awareness and Management includes tips such as urging employees to allow themselves to make mistakes and recognising that errors can occur on occasion.

The document also advises managers to take an interest in the well-being of their staff, as employees are their asset.

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Grant Shapps, a Conservative MP who uncovered the document, said: “The government is clearly under pressure but rather than deal with its record £180 billion deficit, it has opted to issue advice to staff encouraging them to postpone difficult decisions until later and helpfully reminding them to check that they are still breathing throughout the day.”

He added that the Treasury was likely to be a stressful environment in which to work but that the document underlined the government’s inability to focus on important issues.

According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, job satisfaction in the UK has fallen this year, with stress thought to be one cause.