Video: Employee Wellness Conference: Dealing with stress - the elephant in the room

Understanding how to recognise and prevent stress is key in the workplace, according to Professor Derek Mowbray, director of the Management Advisory Service.

Speaking at the REBA Employee Wellness Conference 2016 Mowbray described stress as the elephant in the room – “It’s people coming to work in body but not in mind,” he said.

Watch the 'The Elephant in the room' video in full by clicking above.

He said that as a controlled community the workplace environment was dictated by leaders and managers who could help. He said preventing the events and behaviours that can trigger off stress reactions was as he described it “a matter of attitude and understanding the triggers that can make it happen.”

He advised delegates to look at the risks within their businesses and better control them to prevent strain which can lead in turn to stress. “We have to stop them from turning into actual threats,” he said. “The cost is huge in terms of human misery, in terms of performance and in terms of money,” he said.

The aim, he said, was to better prevent pressures and tension turning into stress and strain. “It’s about feeling in control – it’s absolutely the key,” he said.

This video was filmed at the REBA Employee Wellness Conference 2016.