STRESS has become the workplace’s silent epidemic, experts have warned.

A nationwide survey by asb law, a regional legal firm with offices in Kent, Surrey and Sussex, has found that employers are "unprepared strategically, unprotected legally, and underinsured with regard to tackling the growing phenomenon of stress in the workplace".

Many of them simply do not understand its impact, asb law says. They are either hoping it will just go away, or paralysed with uncertainty as to how to handle it.

The survey of 1,400 personnel specialists, undertaken in conjunction with Human Resources magazine, revealed these stark findings:

* 80 per cent had not carried out any stress audits;

* 56 per cent do not have a specific strategy for managing workplace stress;

* More than 80 per cent of line managers have no training to identify warning signs;

* 60 per cent do not monitor stress-related absence;

* Nearly half are totally unaware or unsure of their legal obligations.

The findings have huge legal and insurance implications for UK and Kent firms.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has estimated that half a million people in the UK experience work-related stress at a level they believe is making them ill, and up to five million feel very or extremely stressed by their work.

The HSE estimates that stress costs UK organisations at least £3.7 billion a year.

It introduced guidelines last year. Yet 80 per cent of respondents to asb’s survey of 1,400 human resources specialists said they had not undertaken audits to identify likely causes of stress.

Of those few who had carried out audits, only 18 per cent had then developed appropriate policies.

Rebecca Thornley-Gibson, asb’s head of employment law, said: "Employers have a legal duty of care towards their staff, and this includes implementing effective policies to minimise the impact of stress-related illness.

"Our survey indicates that employers have two attitudes towards tackling stress. The first is to treat it merely as the latest fad – like RSI or ME had been dismissed in the past – and not worth taking seriously.

"In the second camp, companies acknowledge the problem, but they simply can’t get to grips with it. They don’t know how to run stress audits, what questions to ask, how to assimilate the information or, indeed, how to use the results in a practical manner."

"Training for line managers has to be addressed," she added. "From my experience, companies are holding back because they’re worried about opening up a can of worms.

"Employers are concerned that stress-related investigations will exacerbate problems and make implicit criticisms of their line managers’ competence."