Seventy civil servants in Leeds have been offered stress counselling because they have worked flat out for five months since the Dec 2000 floods, many dealing with distressed house-holders. Area flood defence and water resources manager David Wilkes said:

"Meeting these people [flood victims] can be very stressful for [our staff]."

Indeed. These seventy staff had to attend no less than 23 public meetings over a three-month period. Fortunately there has been no apparent increase in sickness.

This story has everything. Government employees complain of stress when they actually have to work instead of following their usual routine of meeting each other, and report writing. There is no real sickness, and no evidence that counselling would help anyway. However, a counsellor or two is employed, a government agency gets a sycophantic press report, and seventy employees get another restful day away from their desks. The taxpayers and flood victims each fork out a penny or two but they’ll never notice!

Source Yorkshire Post Fri April 20 2001