Danish app helps relieve stress in the workplace

Using an internationally recognised method, the app helps employees track their stress level

Using five simple questions, Danish mobile app Howdy assesses whether employees are at risk of going down with stress and offers professional help.

Research shows that on any given day some 35,000 Danes will be on sick leave due to stress, and finding suitable substitutes costs business approximately half a million kroner a day.

READ MORE: Eight out of ten Danes have stress symptoms

Available both for Android and iPhones, the app was developed by Work Life Barometer in collaboration with Psykiatrifonden (mental health foundation).

READ MORE: Number of stressed teachers increasing

Bi-weekly mental check-up
Every fortnight, the app checks users for their mental well-being through five quick questions that are based on an internationally recognised method of measurement, the WHO-5 index.

Users are asked to rate whether they are in a good mood, whether they feel calm and relaxed, active and energetic, and whether they feel fresh and well-rested.

READ MORE: Copenhagen opens five stress clinics

Good way to start
If they find themselves in the red zone, they receive a phone call follow-up from a psychologist from Psykiatrifonden.

“If you want to combat stress, it is hard to know where to start. These five simple questions are a really good starting point,” believes Michael Danielsen, the chief psychologist at Psykiatrifonden.

READ MORE: Surveys paint blurry picture of workplace stress

So far 15 Danish companies have asked their employees to install Howdy on their phones.

 





  • How internationals can benefit from joining trade unions

    How internationals can benefit from joining trade unions

    Being part of a trade union is a long-established norm for Danes. But many internationals do not join unions – instead enduring workers’ rights violations. Find out how joining a union could benefit you, and how to go about it.

  • Internationals in Denmark rarely join a trade union

    Internationals in Denmark rarely join a trade union

    Internationals are overrepresented in the lowest-paid fields of agriculture, transport, cleaning, hotels and restaurants, and construction – industries that classically lack collective agreements. A new analysis from the Workers’ Union’s Business Council suggests that internationals rarely join trade unions – but if they did, it would generate better industry standards.

  • Novo Nordisk overtakes LEGO as the most desirable future workplace amongst university students

    Novo Nordisk overtakes LEGO as the most desirable future workplace amongst university students

    The numbers are especially striking amongst the 3,477 business and economics students polled, of whom 31 percent elected Novo Nordisk as their favorite, compared with 20 percent last year.