12/ Stress in the Workplace. - How stressed are we at work in Britain?

Well, now thanks to research conducted across fifteen industrialised countries, we know that were relatively calm. The French are extremely stressed, while the Danes know how to relax. But the British workers who are stressed, are really stressed. Jenny Scott has the details. - Morning Barbara. - Hi, Kathy, how are you? - Im fine. - Good, yeah. - Not everyone feels like hugging their colleagues first thing in the morning. But staff at this construction company in Sutton Coldfield say its just one way of keeping stress under control. Manager here have embraced Eastern philosophy, and they focus on keeping workers happy.

- We have a day off on our birthday and usually the day before when the persons in, we havea little celebration. The girls come in with a birthday cake with candles on. - Its a small detail but one of many introduced three years ago which has helped this firm to more than double its profits. - Absenteeism within the company is little to nothing. I would say that on statistics, we have, I would probably count it on one hand the amount of people that might take the odd day off. - Well many of us may feel stressed at work but how do we fare against other countries? Well, the Swiss and Danes are among the least stressed workers around. But at the other end of the scale, those in France and Canada really feel the pressure.

Overall, stress levels in Britain arent actually that high. Were ranked sixth out of 15 industrialised nations. So just what is it that sends our blood pressure soaring? Well, long hours are by far the worst culprit. Demanding and dangerous jobs can also add to stress. On the other hand, if youve got an interesting and rewarding job youre more likely to be able to cope. Plus good relations with your colleagues also helps to calm things down. - And its not just our health thats at stake, its the health of British business too. - Absence cost UK industry about 12$ billion last year. And stress is a key cause of absence. So stress is expensive for UK businesses. - And when faced with that stress, we vote with our feet. Many of us plan to change

jobs because of it absenteeism here is among the highest in Europe.