Nearly four out of five employers had failed to conduct stress audits despite Health and Safety Executive recommendations in 2004 to do so. The Human Resources/ASB Law study also criticises the lack of professionals trained to deal with those suffering from stress.

Lesley Cooper, a stress consultant at healthcare management adviser IHC, says: 'It's as if employers are frightened to take the lid off the basket for fear of what will crawl out.'

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development 2004 annual report showed that stress-related illness is the leading cause of long-term absence from work among non-manual workers, costing employers around £11.6bn a year in the UK. The average cost of absence is £588 annually per employee.

But the UK is still better off than most of the rest of Europe, and only Austria and Ireland have significantly lower rates of long-term absence.

Ben Willmott, employee relations officer at the CIPD, says: 'The four main causes of stress are heavy workloads, management style, organisational change and pressure to meet targets. The better employees are treated, the less likely it is that they'll take time off.'

Roualeyn Cumming-Bruce, head of national investment at Jones Lang LaSalle, says he has not come across any stress-related illness within his team, but is very much aware of the issue. 'It's hard work here but we get the balance right,' he says. 'We're a tight team and we monitor individual workloads, and share the pressure.'

Aubrey Adams is group chief executive of Savills, which has a legendary bonus culture. Does this mean increased pressure on staff? 'Of course there's pressure, as there is at every other business,' he says, 'but there isn't a one-size-fits-all answer: some people thrive on stress while others simply don't.'

He says stress-related illness would be regarded in the same way as any other illness: 'We'd be terribly sympathetic and encourage people to take such treatments as they need.' Savills staff suffering from stress would first approach their line manager or the human resources department. 'It goes without saying that such illness remains entirely confidential,' says Adams.

But prevention is better than cure. Maybe property companies really need to monitor the pressures their staff face.