In a recent survey in the United Kingdom, it was estimated that as many as 80% of industrial accidents are caused by stress. This same survey also estimated that stress was costing society upwards of £7 billion a year, which is close to $14 billion!

This is a serious amount of money for something so innocuous to be costing. This is not only direct costs from stress such as lost working days, but indirect costs such as law suits, hospital costs, injury payments and so on.

With recent UK legislation, employers are obliged to offer some sort of stress awareness training to their employees. It doesn't matter whether the employee takes this training or not, so long as it has been offered, the companies have fulfilled their legal obligation.

However, it's not really up to the companies to take the action against stress. It's up to you as an individual to take action to reduce this stress. With companies having these anti-stress policies, it makes it much easier for you make the changes in your workplace than it once was.

Some of the main causes of stress in the workplace include:

• Increased workload
• High demands
• Organizational changes
• Lack of recognition
• Poor work organization
• Lack of training
• Long or difficult hours
• Lack of support
• Personal and family issues
• Poor management communication
• Inadequate staff numbers and resources
• Lack of control or input

If your work is causing you undue stress then you can legitimately approach your employers and ask them for help to reduce these causes of stress.

There are many different ways you could ask for your employers help in reducing your stress, but if you go in with all guns blazing making demands you are going to get shot down in flames pretty damn quickly.

There are however a few very simple guidelines you can follow to make sure you get the best results and get the changes you want made.

Firstly, make sure you have some solutions to the problems you are facing. Have at least two solutions that benefit both yourself and your employer. If your solutions are one sided and only benefit you, then they will be rejected instantly.

Don't be confrontational when talking to your employer about the stress you are facing. Don't whine and complain either. Approach the issue in a business like manner and you will be taken more seriously and treated with respect.

Be reasonable with your requests. If you are belligerent and unreasonable, such as asking to work at home all week, do nothing and still get paid, then you are going to be declined instantly. Make sure your requests are reasonable and benefit you both and you have much more chance of successfully making the changes you want.

Stress in the workplace is a serious problem, but with the right attitude and approach, you can reduce this stress in such a way as to benefit both yourself and your employer.