Dealing with stress can place immense demands on employees’ physical and mental health. Our Health and Wellbeing at Work 2022 report emphasises the negative impact stress can have on productivity, with 79% of organisations reporting some stress-related absence over the last year. So, the idea that organisations could purposely generate or allow pressure and stress to raise employee performance sounds counterintuitive, right? Well, not necessarily.

Join Nigel Cassidy and this month’s guests – Alexandra Lichtenfeld, Business Mentor at Client Matters, Dr Serra Pitts, Clinical Director at 87% Limited, and Alan Lambert, International Strategic HR Change Leader at TotalEnergies – as we explore the benefits of positive stress and why generating healthy levels of pressure can drive higher individual, team and organisation performance.

Alex is a business mentor specialising in business relationships and mental health and wellbeing in the workplace. She has gained a wealth of experience working with major corporates and agencies across a variety of business sectors over the last 30 years, which has given her a unique insight into both client and internal relationships. Improving business culture is at the heart of what she does as a mentor; from supporting business owners by improving professional relationships through open and honest conversation, understanding mental health and wellbeing to helping everyone communicate more effectively with one another.

Since February 2020, she has hosted her own chat show, Business Culture, on Men's Radio Station, where she chats with guests from all areas of the business world extensively about mental health and wellbeing in the workplace.

--------

Dr Serra Pitts is a Chartered Psychologist and the Clinical Director for 87%, a workplace wellbeing data and insights firm in London. She began her career working with high-risk roles, in high-profile companies in the Americas and across EMEA. For the last 15 years she has consulted for a range of global organisations, delivering evidence-based mental health and wellbeing programmes for people and culture teams.

Duration: 00:26:49

More on this topic

Data

Data hub

Explore the evidence behind workforce trends

Webinar

Empowering workplaces by championing women's health and reproductive health

Watch our webinar to explore how organisations can create a work environment that supports employees throughout their career including in menopause and fertility challenges as well as with their menstrual health.

Register now
Guide

People manager guide: Managing stress at work

Practical guidance for managers on preventing and reducing stress at work

For Members

Latest CIPD podcasts

Podcast

HR People Pod

Listen to episodes of HR People Pod, the CIPD’s fortnightly podcast providing expert insights from HR leaders discussing the topical issues impacting the world of work.

Listen now
Podcast

Improving organisational outcomes by tackling loneliness at work

Loneliness at work is more widespread – and more damaging – than many realise. But could job design or organisational culture be fuelling the problem? And what can people professionals do to address it?

Podcast

Employee engagement and the evolving psychological contract

How are modern employee expectations—values, flexibility, and purpose—reshaping the evolving psychological contract and driving engagement in today's workplace?

Podcast

Do leaders establish culture, or are they a product of it?

To what extent does leadership shape organisational culture and vice versa? This episode explores how leadership and culture are co-dependent and what organisations can and should do to cultivate the best of both.

All podcasts