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Page | 5 www.boostress.eu Additionally, this European research ensures that, throughout the project and also for the exploitation of our results, the resources and tools developed by the BooStress project consortium will be transferrable to young employees in other EU Member States; adding to the impact that the BooStress project can have at European level. Stress in the European Workplace Work-related psychosocial risks and stress, together with their associated negative health and business outcomes affect a remarkable number of European workplaces (EU OSHA, 2014). Despite this effect, research shows that 70% of businesses in Europe have no procedures or systems in place for dealing with workplace stress (EuroFound, 2010). While employers have a legal responsibility to reduce risks including psychosocial risks, to workers’ health and safety stemming from the Framework Directive (89/391/EEC), in many organisations there is a misconception that addressing psychosocial risks is challenging and will incur additional costs when, in fact, the evidence suggests that failure to address these risks can be evenmore costly for employers, workers and society in general (EU-OSHA, 2000; Bond et al. 2006). In a recent EU-funded project carried out by Matrix (2013), the cost to Europe of work-related stress was estimated to be €617 billion annually. The total was made up of costs to employers resulting from absenteeism and presenteeism (€272 billion), loss of productivity (€242 billion), health care costs of €63 billion and social welfare costs in the form of disability benefit payments (€39 billion). Another study conducted in the United Kingdom in 2007 by the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health estimates that the overall cost to British employers of stress, anxiety and depression amounts to “£1,035 per employee per year (€1,220). Of this total, £335 (€400) (32.4 %) is due to absenteeism, £605 (€710), or 58.4 %, to ‘presenteeism’ and £95 to staff turnover (9.2 %).” These studies highlight the impact that workplace stress, anxiety and other psychosocial issues can have on individual employees and employers, and yet little is being done to address this issue on a practice-level. With the dearth of resources available to professionals to help manage their workplace stress, the incidence of workplace stress also appears to be on the increase; affecting evermore employees across Europe and adding to the problem that the European workforce and employers are facing. In February 2018, the University of Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Southampton and Surrey published the result of a study they lead to identify the main factors causing stress among students and professionals in Great Britain and to ascertain the effects this is having on the health of British citizens. What they found is that on average 85% of British adults experience regular stress; with 54% of these individuals worrying about the effect it is having on their health. This research also highlighted that in general women suffer more from stress than men do, with women typically experiencing stress on 3 days more per month than men. Additionally, the researchers found that young adults suffer more from stress than any other age group; with 18-24 year olds experiencing stress on 12 days per month and 69% of these young people worrying about the impact that it is having on their health. When the study assessed the factors which contribute to rising stress levels among young professionals in the UK, it found that in general those aged 18-24 worry most about money and those aged 25-34 worry most about factors related to their employment and careers (Forth with Life, 2018). This study shows the impact that financial and professional stress and anxiety are having on young adults and young professionals and our research confirms that the trends that are presented in the findings from this study are comparable across other EU Member States. On a European level, according to the EU Labour Force Survey, in 1999–2007 nearly 28% of respondents, corresponding to approximately 55.6 million European workers, reported that their mental well-being

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