THE constant pressure to check emails is making UK workers ill, according to a leading academic.

Manchester Business School’s Professor Sir Cary Cooper said emails are recognised as one of the most problematic health and social issues by the HR leaders of top firms, during a speech at the launch of a pioneering new rehab and wellbeing clinic.

The respected academic leads The National Forum for Health and Wellbeing at Work, where he meets with businesses such as Rolls-Royce, BP, MACE, Microsoft, GSK, etc.

The most important issue for workplace wellness is who your boss is, Sir Cary said.

Speaking at the new Delamere clinic in Cuddington, Cheshire, where he is an advisory board member, Sir Cary said: “In 2017/18 57% of all long term sickness absence was stress and depression” which can manifest as alcohol abuse, drug abuse and mental ill health.

“What Delamere is trying to do is help individuals but by helping one person, you help the whole family unit, work colleagues and so on. It’s not just the individual.”

Sir Cary, who is president of the professional body for HR the CIPD, said prioritising wellness in the workplace and increasing support for mental health services in the NHS could improve the bottom line of businesses and the GDP of the nation. The OECD had calculated a few years ago that mental health issues cost the UK about 4.5% of GDP.

Mental ill health investment represents about a quarter of what physical illnesses get in the NHS and more needs to be done to get to parity between mental and physical ill health in terms of government investment in the NHS.

In France, a law has been passed to free employees from being required to check emails outside of working hours and fines issued to firms seen to breach that right.

Sir Cary said the UK’s working hours are the longest in Europe but our productivity lags behind all our competitor countries eg. Germany, France, etc.

He said workplaces need to understand the need to train and promote managers based on management skills rather than purely on being good at their trade in order to promote a happier, better looked after workforce.

He said: “We need to have, in the workplace, socially skilled, emotionally literate line managers.

“Relationships are a leading cause of people suffering addiction, in my view, relationships with managers, relationships with colleagues, relationships with spouses.

“What I like about this clinic is that a lot of people do detox, what a lot of people don’t do is delve below that to understand ‘why does somebody use alcohol or take drugs?’.”

Delamere is the first purpose built rehab clinic of its kind and is due to begin receiving guests for addiction treatment later this month.

Its founder and CEO is Martin Preston, 36, of Hale, Greater Manchester, who is himself in recovery from alcohol and cocaine addiction.

He said: “We want to break down stigma around addiction and offer truly bespoke, holistic support in an exemplary environment.

“We know how important a truly therapeutic environment is in healthcare and have therefore created what works.

“I’ve learned it is possible to change and grow beyond addiction and I can’t wait to help others do it too.”