Press Release
Corporate Health Award 2009 presented for the first time
3 November 2009
Mental health problems on the rise – Corporate Health Management
offers relief
Munich / Duesseldorf. On Tuesday evening, the first Corporate Health Award was presented at
the Grandhotel Schloss Bensberg near Cologne. The award is given to companies
demonstrating exemplary commitment to protecting the health and performance of their staff.
TÜV SÜD was one of the initiators of the award, together with German business magazine
Handelsblatt and the international market research organization EuPD Research. The health
services company supports staff at almost 10,000 companies in Germany in the fields of
occupational health and safety and corporate health management. One of its priorities is to
combat psychological stress in the workplace.
A rapidly growing proportion of the workforce suffer from psychological stress at work, as several
current studies have established. While the impacts may not always be as dramatic as in the most
recent suicide series in France, psychological stress still leads to higher sickness absence, reduces
productivity, has a detrimental effect on corporate climate – and thus proves very costly for companies.
"Many people are under excessive mental stress in their workplaces", explained Gabriele Sommer,
CEO of TÜV SÜD Life Service GmbH, in the run-up to the award ceremony. "Today one in three early
retirements in Germany is on the grounds of mental ill-health. A survey among our occupational health
experts revealed that psychological stress, mental ill-health and psychogenic disorders are not
restricted to major companies, but also becoming increasingly relevant in small and medium-sized
enterprises".
A survey conducted among TÜV SÜD's occupational physicians indicated rising levels of psychological
stress at small and medium-sized enterprises. Over 80 per cent of the company doctors surveyed
reported a rise in the frequency of mental ill-health in the companies they supported. Fifteen per cent
actually referred to a "pronounced rise". The rise in mental stress can be attributed – at least to some
extent – to changes in our world of work: information overload, intensification of work and time
pressure, high demands on mobility and flexibility, being constantly "on call" due to mobile phones,
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BlackBerries and other communication devices and, last but not least, the permanent worry of losing
one's job are typical for the working life of many employees today.
"Due to these changes, attention is being focused on new occupational health and safety challenges,
which also demand new programmes and strategies from small and medium-sized enterprises",
emphasized Gabriele Sommer. "Traditional occupational health and safety has mainly consisted of the
prevention of "classical" accidents or occupational health problems, including falls, injuries to the
extremities or respiratory diseases. The increasing number of disorders and syndromes of psychogenic
origin, however, call for new solutions such as can be supplied by customized corporate health
management."
TÜV SÜD supports companies
TÜV SÜD Life Service provides occupational health and safety and corporate health management
services to staff at almost 10,000 companies in Germany. Individual solutions for handling stress,
encouraging work motivation, addressing dangers of addiction and dealing with over- and
underchallenge are part of the package. The objective is to create workplace conditions which protect
workforce health and safety. "Your staff will appreciate these measures by delivering improved
performance", says Gabriele Sommer. "Sophisticated corporate health management can reduce the
costs incurred by occupational accidents, one-sided and repetitive strain and illness, and can enable
our experts to effectively cushion any slumps in performance caused by stress or over-challenge."
Further information about the Corporate Health Award is available at: www.corporate-health-award.de.
Detailed dossiers addressing various subjects of Corporate Health Management are provided for media
representatives on a monthly basis at www.tuev-sued.de/presse/BGM.
Media Relations:
Heidi Atzler
TÜV SÜD AG
Corporate Communications -- PEOPLE
Westendstraße 199, 80686 München
Tel.
Fax
E-mail
Internet
+49 (0) 89 / 57 91 – 29 35
+49 (0) 89 / 57 91 – 22 69
heidi.atzler@tuev-sued.de
www.tuev-sued.de
i TÜV SÜD Life Service GmbH is a company of TÜV SÜD Group, with approx. 470 staff operating at 100 locations and
providing comprehensive consultancy and support in all fields of occupational medicine, occupational health and safety and
occupational psychology. In addition, traffic psychologists and doctors help to enhance road safety and provide services
including medical-psychological assessment (MPU).
TÜV SÜD is a leading international service organization catering to the strategic business segments INDUSTRY, MOBILITY
and PEOPLE. Around 14,000 employees are represented at more than 600 locations throughout the world. Optimizing
technology, systems and know-how, the interdisciplinary specialist teams act as process partners to strengthen their
customers' competitiveness.