A DARLINGTON-BASED HR specialist, which works with small to medium-sized businesses, is calling for business leaders to make staff wellbeing a New Year’s resolution when they return to work in 2020.

HR2day, which is launching the Wellbeing Team survey tool in the north of England, suggests that bosses will get more productivity and goodwill from their employees by encouraging positive mental health practices and aiming to reduce stress.

Recent research by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that 602,000 workers suffering from work-related stress, depression or anxiety and 12.8 million working days per year are lost for the same reason.

The most common reason for workplace anxiety was workload, which accounted for 44 per cent of the responses.

Nicky Jolley, managing director of HR2day, said: “Work-life balance is getting trickier, and, although it may seem counterproductive to focus on making staff happier to increase outputs, it is actually very beneficial for managers to encourage good mental health. The new year is a perfect time to start this, as employees will be returning refreshed and feeling positive.

“When employees feel obliged to start early, finish late, check emails out of hours or meet excessively high targets, this can quickly lead to burnout and diminish their motivation. When your staff feel like all they do is give without any positives coming back to them, they are likely to become less productive, or even take time off work due to stress.

“Although it may not be practical to reduce targets, ensuring your employees are taking regular breaks, turning their emails off while on holiday, and having an open environment where feedback can be discussed with senior leaders are all helpful to create an atmosphere of wellbeing.

“A happy team will deliver excellent work for satisfied customers. If you create a positive working environment where people feel encouraged to be productive rather than scared to fail, you’ll soon see the results.”