Big Companies Bury Heads in Sand Over Stress

ANDOVER, England, June 4/PRNewswire/ -- Stress continues to torment companies according to the
Employee Benefits/ HSA Healthcare Research 2008. The survey, which is
released today, finds that although stress remains a key issue for all
employers, it appears to be especially concerning for large companies, and
those within the public sector.

In fact, 47% of companies believe stress is a key cause of
sickness absence. This figure rises to 64% of respondents with more than
10,000 employees, and goes up to 86% among public sector organisations
according to the research.

Glenn Rhodes from Healthplan provider HSA, which sponsored the
research, comments: "Over the years we have supported this survey, stress has
increasingly become an issue for organisations. Despite this, many seem to be
burying their heads in the sand over the problem. This is especially
prevalent within larger organisations, which suffer more sickness absence
from stress, yet almost half have no strategy in place to tackle it.
Companies need to plan for how best to support their employees' stress, and
could consider a simple and affordable Healthplan containing telephone and
face-to-face counselling, such as those offered by HSA."

Amanda Wilkinson, Editor of Employee Benefits, says: "The
percentage of organisations citing stress as a major cause of sickness
absence has risen for the third year in a row and now stands at 47%. Yet, a
large proportion of employers (63%) still do not have a strategy in place to
reduce stress in the workplace. This would indicate that they are choosing to
ignore what is a significant problem."

The annual benchmark survey was carried out in April among 502
readers of Employee Benefits magazine in the UK. For further information
visit http://www.employeebenefits.co.uk. HSA Healthplans enable employees to
access affordable healthcare, whether for check-ups, treatment or
emergencies. For further information visit http://www.hsa.co.uk.

About Employee Benefits Magazine

- Please note: all statistics quoted are based on the number
of respondents who are responsible for, or influence, their
organisation's healthcare strategy (368 respondents)

About HSA

- HSA is a trading division of Simplyhealth Access and is a
provider of Healthplans including Health Cash Plans, Dental Plans and
Private Medical Insurance

- Part of the Simplyhealth Group, Simplyhealth Access is authorised
and regulated by the Financial Services Authority

- Simplyhealth is a community of healthcare businesses that has a
common purpose: to help more people feel better

- As of December 2007, HSA had 872,909 customers providing cover for some
1.6 million people

HSA would love to be the voice of your health conscience, so
why not contact us?

Source: HSA

For further information call +44(0)800-072-6716. Contact: Amanda Wilkinson, Editor of Employee Benefits on +44(0)20-7943-8060. Abby Bowman, Public Relations Manager +44(0)1264-342561; Caroline Lakeman, Public Relations Executive, +44(0)1264-342570; Or pr@hsa.co.uk .

2008-06-04 05:13:56 0376870 PRNEWSWIRE