Thank you to everyone who completed the recent survey on stress and wellbeing in the workplace. A short presentation was given about the results at the training day on 6 November. A huge 95% of respondents said that they had been affected by stress in the workplace, which of itself is probably not surprising given the nature of the job we do. Perhaps more striking is that 68% of respondents said that this had had an adverse effect on their health. The common triggers that were listed were:
- Pressure of workload and deadlines
- Issues outside work – bereavement, illness, juggling family commitments
- Internal politics, bullying and poor management
- Limited resources, insufficient support/supervision
- Worries about making mistakes
- Pressure to win new work and meet targets
Whilst 37% of respondents thought they were receiving sufficient support from their firms 63% thought they were not. 80% thought this was something the PLA could usefully try to help with. What was very encouraging, and reflective of the ethos of support found within the PLA, was that 78% of respondents would be prepared to be involved in a support network to help others.
We are now actively looking at ways that the PLA can help, albeit acknowledging that we are not professionals in this area. The first things will be setting up links on the PLA website to useful resources (in the meantime, there is a fantastic ‘Wellbeing at the Bar’ website with helpful information and links).
We are also looking at running a wellbeing session at the PLA conference in Oxford in March 2020 – watch this space!
Longer term we will be exploring the possibility of setting up a member support network.
If any members have any ideas or comments please contact any of the below:
Frances Richardson – frances.richardson@linklaters.com
Jacqui Joyce – jacqui@thepropertymediators.co.uk
Kristine Ng – kristine.ng@dmhstallard.com