typically provided via Employee Assistance Programmes available to employees and
(frequently) their families. Such services are provided by a specialist provider and
retained by companies. The level of service offered is variable and may range from
telephone counselling and advice to the provision of a series of face-to-face counselling
sessions. Typically employees are provided with a card offering a 24-hour telephone
service. The best services offer a range of help, which may include specialist legal and
financial advice, relationship support and trauma counselling. Some are also providing
online support and support for health behaviour change. It has proved difficult to
rigorously evaluate these schemes because random allocation to treatment and control
groups is not possible when individuals refer themselves for services. Furthermore,
withholding treatment from distressed employees would be unethical. However,
studies do suggest that employees find such services useful and they report improved
well-being (e.g. McLeod and McLeod, 2001) and that they are cost-effective for the
organizations employing them (Csiernik, 2011).
Worksite lifestyle change interventions
Physical fitness is the main lifestyle intervention that has clear benefits in terms of stress
reduction as well as its more obvious benefits for health (see Chapter 1). It can be seen
as both an emotion-focused and a problem-focused strategy (Long and Flood, 1993).
It can distract the individual from stressful emotions and invoke a relaxation response
that is incompatible with stress. However, it can also increase people’s confidence and
self-esteem, which may affect appraisal of their ability to cope with problems, that is,
it may increase task-specific self-efficacy (see Chapter 8). Many workplaces now encour -
age physical activity by provision of sports facilities on site or negotiated rate reductions
with local facilities. It is in an employer’s interest to have a healthy workforce who will
STRESS AND HEALTH IN CONTEXT 85Chris is a qualified social worker with a good track record. He is one of the most
experienced workers in his team. He therefore has one of the heaviest caseloads
including a number of children who are at risk of child abuse. He frequently works
long hours and faces aggressive clients alone. He is feeling increasingly overloaded
and most days can do little more than respond to crises. He often has to cancel
routine visits and is unable to make constructive plans to work towards improving
his clients’ situations. Because he does not have time to get round to all his clients,
he is anxious that one of the children in his care may be harmed before he has the
chance to intervene. He feels that he does not get adequate support from his
manager and gets little feedback about how well he is doing. Recently the situation
has become so bad that Chris feels perpetually anxious and unable to sleep. He is
beginning to feel that he can no longer cope with the job and is considering looking
for alternative employment.
What do you think Chris’ managers should do to alleviate the problem? Consider
the role of each of the types of interventions described in this chapter.ACTIVITY 4.2