Brief notes for guidance

1. Unit 8 - Understanding the Brief
Breaking it down…
First, the idea of ‘stress at work’ may seem very outside your experience, but this is a
brief about mental health and wellbeing and its content is going to lie in lots of things
that have come up in these tasks before
• Healthy eating
• Good relationships
• Positive online/phone use
• Time management
• Realistic goals
• Exercise
You don’t need to think about all of these – a good campaign might well be even
better by focussing on one of them.
Press release from Stress at Work
Stress at Work is a UK charity. The charity is commissioning a media campaign to raise
awareness of the increasing problem of the stress felt by many working people in
the UK. The charity wants companies to be more open and understanding of stress
at work.
Recent research shows that stress caused by work costs the UK economy nearly £6.5 billion
each year. The problem is increasing and 10.4 million working days are lost because of
stress.
Currently there are about half a million people in the UK suffering from stress because of
their work. This stress often results in depression or anxiety, especially if people have
worries about job insecurity or if they feel they are not valued or respected in their place of
work
Stress at Work wants to deliver a campaign that raises awareness for employers and
employees to help recognise the signs of stress. It wants to encourage employers to put
systems in place to support employees who are suffering from stress.
Stress at Work would like the campaign to be ready for Health and Wellbeing week in late
November.

2. The brief in detail...
1. Stress at Work is a UK charity. The charity is commissioning a media campaign to
raise awareness of the increasing problem of the stress felt by many working people
in the UK. The charity wants companies to be more open and understanding of stress
at work.
a. It’s a charity – so it’s not a commercial production and you might get cheaper
rates for copyright permissions.
b. The emphasis in this introduction appears to be on changing the behaviour of
employers
2. Recent research shows that stress caused by work costs the UK economy nearly £6.5
billion each year. The problem is increasing and 10.4 million working days are lost
because of stress.
a. So this is a big issue and it’s worth spending a little money on doing
something about it. The brief doesn’t mention anything at all about budgets
– not even the usual ‘there is a reasonable budget but they want value for
money’.
b. There are stats here for you to use – the cost to the economy, the number of
days lost… and agan they seem to focus on employers
3. Currently there are about half a million people in the UK suffering from stress
because of their work. This stress often results in depression or anxiety, especially if
people have worries about job insecurity or if they feel they are not valued or
respected in their place of work
a. So this is starting to suggest some specific issues to deal with – mental health
issues, Depression, anxiety.
b. An issue - it ties in with job insecurity and a lack of respect at work – so if we
try to help deal with stress, are we dealing with symptoms and effects rather
than causes? (This might be something to be ignored)
4. Stress at Work wants to deliver a campaign that raises awareness for employers and
employees to help recognise the signs of stress. It wants to encourage employers to
put systems in place to support employees who are suffering from stress.
a. Two stages – recognising stress for what it is, and then doing something about
it.
b. Again, there’s an interesting question here about who your core audience are –
employers, who need to do something about this for their employees, or
employees, who need to do something about this for themselves.
c. Perhaps there’s a middle ground about employers recognising there is a
problem and allowing employees do find things to do for themselves…
5. Stress at Work would like the campaign to be ready for Health and Wellbeing week in
late November.
a. So you have a deadline to work towards.

3. Statistics Sheet
1. 74% - virtually ¾ of people. Relevant to a
huge section of the population
2. £6.5billion. Huge number, although
numbers in isolation of context have a
limited meaning. It’s more than 10% of the
value of the UK economy in the last three
months.
3. Impacts – how it relates to unhealthy eating,
drinking and smoking. Big numbers again
but getting smaller – 47% / 29% / 17%
4. 11 million days absence due to stress. Again,
big numbers, no context. That’s about 0.2%
of total working days
5. What does this tell us? That we can focus on
mental health, physical health, healthy
eating and responsible drinking, work/life
balance…