by Trevor Sturgess, Kent Business associate editor

A friend works for a local council. He is clearly stressed. He has a mountainous workload caused by a dearth of colleagues, is worried whether he will still have a job at Christmas, and fearful that he won’t be able to do more for his children. Bosses are unsympathetic.

So when Health Minister Lord Howe tells delegates at the excellent Wellbeing Symposium at the Kent Showground earlier this month that employee ill-health costs the nation more than £100 million a year, should we be surprised? Or that more than 23 million days a year are lost to work-related ill-health?

No, actually.

The minister rightly urged employers to do more to look after their staff. But the minister’s own government’s policies are not helping.

Public sector workers are in the front-line of austerity, bearing the brunt of swingeing cuts.

Tens of thousands have lost their jobs and many more fear they will lose theirs. Cull survivors carry a heavier workload. More days are now lost to stress than cancer.

Recession and a highly-competitive marketplace have forced private sector firms to trim margins and therefore “let people go”.

Where a team once looked after a key function, it is often a single individual.

Mental problems are not well understood by many managers. They should learn from England cricket bosses who treated distressed batsman Jonathan Trott with sympathy, allowing him to return home despite facing a brutal slog to retain the Ashes.

Thankfully, there are good employers who take staff wellbeing seriously. It’s going up the workplace agenda and Kent leads the way.

After all, this is not only about human decency but also the bottom line.

Hand it to Hadlow

You have to hand it to Hadlow College. A once-failing land-based institution has got off the floor to take on the world. Its latest £120 million Betteshanger colliery green and mining heritage project shows ambition, vision and execution far beyond expectations of a relatively small college in a Kent village. That’s down to a private sector ethos that enables this academic prize fighter to punch well above its weight.

HS2 for the nation

Good on Michael Heseltine for backing HS2. We owe HS1 to his vision for the East Thames Corridor and later the Thames Gateway. Britain needs a high-speed rail network and, as we found in Kent, putting up with a few years of disruption is well worth the longer-term economic and social gain. Let’s face it, it is so well landscaped that we hardly notice the visual impact. Being plugged into mainland Europe has made a huge difference to the county. HS2 will do the same for the nation.

Memorable innings

Lord Kingsdown was a towering presence in Kent and the banking world.
The former Bank of England governor, who lived near Sittingbourne, was a charming man who loved cricket. As we hear of his passing, aged 86, we honour a memorable innings.

Young workers put us to shame

The Duke of York is a great supporter of young people and apprenticeships, as he revealed to Kent Business last year.
At the Printing Charity lunch in London last month, he pleaded for the phrase “three years’ experience necessary” in job ads to be replaced by “willing to learn”.
Young people who lose out on jobs are told they lack the necessary experience. But how can they get it without a job?
Firms must think more about succession planning, take on apprentices, and do more for young people, Prince Andrew said.
They deserved a chance “because they will take up the roles we do in the years to come.” Well said, your Royal Highness.
It’s a royal endorsement for KM Media Group’s Kick Start Kent campaign to get our young unemployed into jobs.
On the subject of young people, it was good to see Kent Business School promoting the talents of their students to firms at the Business Executives’ Forum.
They have enthusiasm and a fund of ideas that open new opportunities to business owners.
And Young Chamber students at Invicta Grammar School, Maidstone, recently showed how to run an effective networking event. Their skills of organisation, welcome and presentation would put many professionals to shame.