Stress 'can be reduced by flexible working'

Taking advantage of flexible working opportunities can allow UK workers to reduce their stress levels, it has been suggested.

Companies are becoming more willing to offer employees the chance to work from home or alter their working hours due to improvements in communications technology, such as broadband or secure VoIP telephony services.

And according to International Stress Management Association (ISMA), employees can free their minds of large amounts of stress by embracing flexible working.

ISMA vice chair Ann McCracken said: "Flexible working can be used very positively to manage your day better.

"Some people are morning people and some people are evening people and there's a big advantage to having a job where you're working at your peak time."

Some 420,000 people in the UK have suffered so badly from work-related stress that it caused them to fall ill, according to the Health and Safety Executive.

So companies can look after the health of their staff by upgrading their communications systems to IP PBX services, while also enjoying benefits to productivity and business flexibility thanks to VoIP.