Surviving Stress at Work

About the Book

Surviving Stress at Work aims to educate both employers and employees about the negative effects of stress, and to show how each can play a part in reducing both its causes and the subsequent effects - the epidemic of ill-health and absenteeism in the British workplace. The latest statistics show that 1.2 million Britons suffer from work-related stress and that absenteeism alone costs the UK £10.2 billion per year - a sum greater than the gross national product of Kenya. There is little indication that the situation is improving.

Surviving Stress at Work examines the prevalence of work-related stress in the UK, including who is most susceptible and what are the most common triggers: work overload, bullying, being in the wrong job, pressures of trying to balance work and home, and experiencing job insecurity. Using the latest scientific research from periodicals such as The New England Journal of Medicine and The Lancet, the book describes the role stress plays in the functioning of the human body. A variety of positive strategies are then offered - legal, medical and body. A variety of positive strategies are then offered - legal, medical and 'spiritual' - to help stressed-out workers put their lives back on track. This includes who to talk to, suggestions of how to move forward, and why scientists claim that nurturing your body, through such things as massages and meditation, really does work.

The book is written from the perspective of a Careers adviser with over thirteen years' experience. It also includes the stories of many victims of work-related stress interviewed by King. Surviving Stress at Work is, ultimately, a positive book that will act as a 'survivor's manual', providing practical ways for the readers to understand and overcome work-related stress and, in doing so, to get the most out of their lives and careers.

About the Author

After graduating with a degree in International Relations from Sussex University, Melanie King worked for two years in Thailand, first with hill tribe refugees temporarily housed in camps, then as a journalist on a national newspaper. She has worked and travelled extensively around the globe with jobs that have included helping victims of torture, writing CVs for Bosnian refuges, editing publications at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London, and working in Brussels as Assistant to the Director of the Institute for South and South-East Asian Affairs. In 1991, King trained as a careers adviser and spent 12 years advising school, college and university students in various settings. Based in Oxfordshire, she now works as a freelance careers adviser and writer.