Press Release: Health and safety at work: workers’ and employers’ agreement is helping to deal with stress at work

Over the last ten years, work-related stress has increased in nine Member States and has only fallen in Sweden. Studies suggest that between 50% and 60% of all lost working days are related to stress. In France for example, the cost of stress has been reported to reach at least €2 to €3 billion each year. In the UK it's estimated that 10 million working days are lost due to anxiety, stress and depression linked to work. The direct costs related to stress at work are now estimated to be as high as 4% of EU GDP. In response to these developments, European workers' and employers' representatives reached an agreement in 2004 to ensure a minimum level of protection against stress at work. The European Commission has published an evaluation of this agreement, concluding that it has had positive effects where implemented. In particular, employers' and workers' efforts have led to policy developments in 12 Member States where little had been done before. Although the agreement has not been implemented evenly in all countries, 19 Member States now have legislation or binding collective agreements that address stress or other psychological risks at work.