First published in Conference News magazine in January 2019
Do you remember the Julie TV campaign for Department for Transport? It was an intense, hard-hitting campaign that to this day still gives me shivers. It was one of the most powerful instalments of a 20 year-long “THINK!” campaign to encourage people to wear seatbelts. I don’t remember the last time I didn’t wear a seatbelt.
I’m not judging those people that thought it was ok back in the day, but now people are aware of the risks, it isn’t acceptable to carry on in the same way, we know more now. There are countless other examples of when something that we used to do was seen as acceptable that now makes us feel uncomfortable that we would ever put our health or safety at jeopardy in that way. (drink-driving, smoking, #metoo etc)
I think the way we support our employees and colleagues in the events industry is going to be one of these things.
Stress Matters was borne out of a need to support the wellbeing of the people that make our events industry what it is. With 20% of our workforce working a 60+ hour week on average and 71% people believing that their colleagues are suffering from stress. This feels like a big old sign that we need to re-look at what we consider as normal and re-set what is acceptable.
The Stress Matters pledge scheme was created after a piece of research across all sectors of the events industry in 2017. 10 pledges were developed to give guidance to employers on how to improve the mental wellbeing of their team. As part of the sign-up process, an audit is undertaken and a benchmark given as to the level of stress. An action plan is then created and your Pledge Manager supports you on your journey to achieve your accreditation.
Whether you suffer the negative impacts of stress or not, I can guarantee that someone in your team will be suffering, and with it costing £1,035 on average per employee, it is costing money and health.
Now people are aware of the risks, it isn’t acceptable to carry on in the same way.
We know more now.
