Legal & General has launched a campaign aimed at highlighting how stress in the workplace is affecting financial services. The Health & Safety Executive’s Labour Force Survey estimates that 10.8 million working days were lost in 2010/11 due to mental health issues such as stress, depression and anxiety.

Work-related stress was the most common health problem for calling the government’s pilot Occupational Health Advice Line yet, only 17% of employers from all sectors have any form of stress management advice and support in place.

The campaign follows the release of Legal & General’s internal group income protection claims statistics which shows that in the financial sector 42% of all claims are for mental health illnesses.

Speaking at the Second Reading of the Mental Health (Discrimination) Bill on Friday 14th September, Charles Walker, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Mental Health voiced his support for efforts to tackle mental health issues “particularly in the City, where there is a sort of macho culture in which people deny any weakness in case their colleagues think the worse of them.” He also called on the government to “work with employers to promote the agenda of ‘No health without mental health’ and to celebrate those who take a lead.”

Commenting on the launch of the campaign, Diane Buckley, managing director, group protection, Legal & General said: “Over the past year the financial services sector has been under increasing pressure. Mounting regulation, and trying to deliver ‘more for less’ are all taking their toll. Employees are trying to juggle a busy home life with their working life, and stretching their budgets to go further. All of this adds up to a lot of stress.

“What we are doing is raising awareness of the increase in stress-related absences and saying to employers that they have a role to play in ensuring the mental wellbeing of their staff in the workplace.”

Jenny Edwards, chair of The International Stress Management Association, UK said: “Managing stress in the workplace is not just a nice to have policy, but a necessary requirement to reducing the current rise in mental health problems, particularly within the financial services sector. The effects of stress on the individual will also affect moral and teamwork within an organisation frequently resulting in presenteeism, which is 1.5 times more costly than absenteeism”

Jonathan Naess, chief executive and founder of Stand to Reason, the workplace mental health charity added: “’Stress in the City’ reflects a watershed moment in the battle to tackle stigma and bring mental wellbeing and emotional health onto the core agenda of a FTSE 100 company."

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