Reducing Workplace Stress for Young People by Building Career Management Skills Erasmus Project

Project Title

Reducing Workplace Stress for Young People by Building Career Management Skills

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for youth

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Overcoming skills mismatches (basic/transversal); Health and wellbeing; Labour market issues incl. career guidance / youth unemployment

Project Summary

Traditionally, stress in the workplace was something that was primarily experienced by high-powered executives responsible for managing budgets; leading R&D departments; achieving sales targets; managing production lines; etc. There was an almost accepted equation that read: high profile position = high remuneration package = high stress levels.

Changes in the structure and nature of the European economy have impacted all aspects of working life and fundamentally altered the dynamics of the labour market. One significant change that has resulted is that high levels of stress in the workplace are now experienced across all pay grades, by all staff categories. According to a study on work-related stress from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, stress is the second most frequently reported work-related health problem in Europe. Up to 60% of all lost working days can be attributed to work-related stress and psychosocial risks.

While occupational psychologists accept that in today’s modern workplace, a certain level of pressure is completely normal and to be expected, when this pressure develops into a persistently stressful working environment, with little or no supports in place, people can find it difficult to cope and some may develop a range of health issues as a result. The biggest stress factor identified is concern around possible job loss, which increased the odds of poor health by up to 50. In Europe today, a significant cohort of young people run a high risk of unemployment for a number of reasons; (a) their low skill levels; (b) the skills miss-match between the skills they have and the skills now required; (c) their inability cope with current market needs; (d) their inability to manage and plan an effective and appropriate career trajectory that suits their own specific skills, characteristics and ambitions.

he objectives of the UNWIND project are to:
– develop a totally new suite of career management resources that address the 4 key thematic areas identified in the Career Management Skills Framework for Scotland:
SELF – competences that enable young people to develop their sense of self within society;
STRENGTHS – competences that enable young people to build on their strengths to pursue rewarding learning or work opportunities;
HORIZONS – competences that enable young people to visualise, plan and achieve their career aspirations;
NETWORKS – competences that enable young people to develop networks of support.

– develop a bespoke curriculum of mini-learning format resources for young people that support the acquisition of high-value labour market oriented skills.
COMMUNICATION – building the skills to be an effective communicator and developing an understanding of different communication styles;
TEAMWORK – building the capacity to combine individual skills in pursuit of a common goal by helping, persuading, sharing, being flexible, and showing commitment;
PROBLEM SOLVING – building the skills to effectively define a problem; determine the cause; identify, prioritize, select and implement a solution;
LEADERSHIP – building the skills to be an effective leader able to motivate and inspire those around you.

– develop a comprehensive range of self-help resources to support young people to effectively manage stress in the workplace. These resources will address a number of critical work-related stress areas such as:
KNOWING WHAT IS IMPORTANT – important techniques that can help young people to prioritize their workload;
LESS ANGER; LESS STRESS – anger is a stress emotion young people can do without and learning how to control the expression of anger is an important skill;
BEING ORGANIZED – feeling a sense of control over your environment and knowing how to spend your time for the best results;
SUPPORT SYSTEMS – ‘no man is an island’ and it is essential that young people surround themselves with individuals they can trust and relate to

UNWIND partners will also develop an induction programme for front-line trainers supporting young workers and an online learning environment that will function on a full range of fixed and mobile technology platforms. All outputs will be produced in Czech, English, Finnish, Greek and Polish and all resources developed will be available online and made available to all interested parties without restriction in keeping with the open access requirements of the ERASMUS+ programme.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 180572 Eur

Project Coordinator

AKLUB CENTRUM VZDELAVANI A PORADENSTVI & Country: CZ

Project Partners

• Lancaster and Morecambe College
• OSRODEK SZKOLENIOWO-BADAWCZY INNEO
• The Hub Nicosia Ltd
• INNOVENTUM OY
• The Rural Hub CLG