STRESSED !

The heat is up; there’s no air-con; you’re feeling lousy; you can’t find any worthwhile vacancies to work on, or another candidate just let you down - and your boss is asking you how you’re going to achieve your targets! That’s stressful! Estimates from the Health & Safety Executive indicate that work-related Stress and related disorders account for an estimated 10.5 million reported lost working days per year in Britain.

Aston Taylor, the UK’s leading Recruitment-to-Recruitment Consultancy, takes this research very seriously. ‘A stressed employee will struggle to be productive’, says Vic Chuntz, Aston Taylor’s CEO, ‘We do as much as we can to reduce the irritations that can lead to stress, for instance our Consultants do no cold calling at all, and they do no admin. However, we can’t remove all the pressures of Recruitment. We considered the above research, and as well as wanting to avoid any legal ramifications, we wanted to help our staff feel better, so they would be more effective at work’.

Some time ago Aston Taylor contacted Catherine Hedges, a trained masseuse, who visits the office every week to give all staff a 20-minute ‘seated’ massage.

She uses one of their interview rooms, so it doesn’t effect daily operations at all, and she brings all her own equipment. Catherine says: ‘Seated massage uses special techniques that focus on relieving tension and any discomfort from key stress-affected areas including neck, arms, hands, shoulders, back and scalp. You can experience the benefits of massage while remaining fully clothed and without the use of oils or creams’.

Chuntz says, ‘Maybe it’s a coincidence, but since Catherine started the treatment here, we’ve achieved record sales. We’ve reduced lateness/sickness, staff turnover is better and the general atmosphere has noticably improved.’

Catherine conducted her own poll and found Consultants commented : ‘Great feel-good factor and great as company incentive’, ‘Instant de-stress’, ‘Don’t feel sleepy after massage, just relaxed and more alert’. In addition, research into this form of treatment suggests that it helps with issues such as back & neck problems, RSI, eye strain and headaches.