Balancing the Positives and Negatives of Stress at Work

a post by Brendan Street (Professional Head of Emotional Well-being, Nuffield Health) for ByteStart: the small business portal

Stress is an inevitable part of everyday life and our bodies are hard-wired to respond to it. However, it’s clear stress is taking a negative toll on businesses across the country.

Poor mental health costs employers between £1,205 and £1,560 per employee every year. This cost is for all employees, not just those who are ill, so we asked Brendan Street of Nuffield Health to show how employers can cut the cost of stress.

Last year, stress, depression or anxiety accounted for 44 percent of all work-related ill health cases and 57 percent of all working days lost due to ill health. 15.4 million days were lost due to work related stress in 2017/2018.

The main causes of stress in the workplace are workload pressures, mounting responsibility and a perceived lack of support from senior management.

Let’s start by exploring the difference between helpful and unhelpful stress and what this means for employers looking to improve the well-being of their workforce.

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Hazel’s comment:
I tend to skate over ByteStart’s blog posts because I no longer run a small business but every so often I come across a post such as this which may be applicable to a much wider audience.

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How to spot, and respond to, mental health problems in your business

a guide for employers written exclusively for ByteStart by Poppy Jaman, CEO of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) England, and CEO of City Mental Health Alliance, a coalition of London based businesses working to increase understanding of mental health issues and to create a culture of good mental health in the City.

A bit of background: I was first introduced to Bytestart not long after I had set up my own business in 1995. I would not have survived without the advice given – seriously I would not have. I’m glad I have continued reading the regular posts.
Now there’s this fantastic guide for employers / line managers about dealing with mental health issues in the workplace.
If you are an employee who is affected then showing your manager this item might help.

Each year around ten million adults in the UK will experience mental ill health, meaning one in four of us will experience a mental health issue at some point in our lifetime.

Over the past decade, mental health awareness has accelerated, and more and more employers now understand that mental health is not only a serious issue for society but for businesses too.

With ‘mental health in the workplace’ as the theme for this year’s World Mental Health Day, we asked Poppy Jaman, CEO of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) England, to share her advice on how to look out for, and respond to, signs of mental ill health in your employees.

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What small businesses need to know about the General Data Protection Regulation

via Bytestart by Stuart Crook a data protection expert and Associate at the national law firm, Stephensons.



Despite Brexit, the UK government has confirmed it will abide by the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which is due to come into effect on 28 May 2018.

The aim of General Data Protection Regulation is to encourage companies across the European Union to think seriously about data protection. In practice, the new GDPR lays down some fairly stringent legislation, for both large and small businesses, governing the standards by which personal data is collected and stored.

To help UK businesses understand the new laws, and avoid the heavy punishments failure to abide by them bring, here’s a guide to the GDPR legislation.

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