A poll by magazine Personnel Today found that a whopping 97 per cent of HR professionals think stress is the largest current threat to British businesses.

The survey highlights the importance of good stress management to the health of the UK workforce. Workplace stress in Britain is on the increase, as workers attempt to juggle busier lives and stress has overtaken pack pain as the highest single cause of absence.

More than a third of the 600 executives quizzed (36 per cent) predicted a declined in the overall health of UK employees over the next five to ten years.

The Health and Safety Executive estimates that sickness absence costs Britain around £12 billion a year, with stress responsible for around £3.7 billion of the total.

Many British workers fail to take their full holiday entitlement each year and the UK has the longest working hours culture in Europe.

The Personnel Today study, entitled Who's Looking After Our Health?, indicates that long working hours and insufficient holidays are two of the biggest causes of workplace stress.

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