Workplace Stress

Training Presentation
 What is Stress?

 Stress is the adverse reaction people have when they feel that
they cannot cope with excessive pressure or other types of
demands placed on them
 Prolonged stress may result in adverse physical, emotional,
mental and behavioural symptoms, but stress is not an illness
 Potential Long-term Effects

Stress has become associated with a number of ill-health

conditions, including:
high blood pressure
heart disease
anxiety and depression
strokes
cancers
back pain
 Causes of Stress

Many life-changing events (personal and professional) can cause

stress, such as:
marital problems moving house
new baby health worries
financial worries shift work
loss of a loved one divorce
new job redundancy
 The Scale of the Problem

 Stress is the biggest cause of long-term absence in white-

collar employees [Health and Safety Executive (HSE)]
 Stress is the second biggest cause of long-term sick leave for
manual workers [Chartered Institute of Personnel and
Development study]
 Stress is the second biggest cause of occupational ill health in
the UK [various HSE studies]
 70% of people visiting their GP have a disorder that has as
much to do with the mind as the body [GP survey]
 Stress in the Workplace

 Stress-related illness at work is a health and safety issue

 The employee has the main responsibility for dealing with
their own work-related stress, and should tell someone if
there is a problem — employers and managers are not
expected to be mind readers
 However, both employees and employers have a
responsibility to act if they see others at risk
 Signs of Stress

Common signs that an individual is experiencing stress include:

the individual becomes withdrawn
the standard of the individual’s work suffers
the individual calls in sick more frequently
the individual’s timekeeping alters — they may start coming in
very early or working very long hours
the individual becomes short-tempered, irritable or cynical
 Legal Responsibilities

There are no regulations dealing specifically with stress;

however, there are implied legal duties to tackle stress in the:
Health and Safety at Work, etc Act 1974
Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations
1996
Working Time Regulations 1998
Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations
1977
 Identifying Stress

Identifying stress in the workplace is important for:

humanitarian reasons (including a caring corporate image)
legal requirements
financial implications:
– absenteeism and health
– employee performance rate
– errors and accident rates
– liability insurance claims
– litigation and high compensation
claims/awards
 Taking Action

 If the signs of stress go undetected, or are not acted upon,

the long-term effects can often be serious for both the
individual and the organisation; for example, it can lead to:
– poor staff attitudes and behaviour
– poor work relationships
 It can also be harmful to employees, leading to increased
sickness absence
 Dealing with Stress

Stress can be tackled at three levels

1.If possible, identify and remove the causes of stress
2.Be more resilient to pressure
3.Treat the effects of stress
Resilience to stress can be achieved through:
exercise
healthy diet
adequate sleep
social life and recreation
support network
time management
holidays
 Risk Assessment for Stress

Stress must be treated like any other health hazard

The HSE provides guidance on risk assessment and identifies five
key steps
1.Identify the hazard
2.Identify those at risk
3.Evaluate the risk
4.Record any findings
5.Monitor and review the system
 Risk Assessments and Audits

 A stress audit is a snapshot in time; it will demonstrate the

extent to which groups of employees are experiencing stress
in their workplace
 A stress risk assessment extends this further; it looks to the
future and associates levels of stress with potential harm and
gives the employer a basis for prioritising actions to address
stress issues, focusing on those which are:
– most important
– capable of improvement, given the resources available
 Management Standards

 Introduced by the HSE, and based on six stressor (hazard)

groups, the Management Standards define the characteristics
of an organisation in which the risks from work-related stress
are being effectively managed and controlled
 These are:
– demands
– control
– support
– role
– change
– relationships
 Stress Management

All employers should:

show that they take stress seriously
show understanding towards people who admit to being under
too much pressure
encourage managers to have an open and understanding
attitude to what people say to them about the pressures of their
work, and to look for signs of stress in their staff
 Treatment and Rehabilitation

 If a worker is suffering from stress-related ill health, the

employer should listen to, support and communicate
positively with the individual
 If an employee has required time off for stress-related
reasons, they should be offered a comprehensive
rehabilitation programme
 Stress Policy

An effective company stress policy should contain:

 a statement of intent
 the health, safety and welfare policy of the organisation
 details of the organisational structure and responsibilities
 a description of the systems and procedures in place to either
eliminate, minimise, control or treat stress in the workplace
 Stress Management Training

 For any organisational stress initiative to be successful, it is

important that all staff understand the issue of work-related
stress; this can be achieved thorough stress management
training
 Training should focus on being proactive — what can be done
to prevent stress wherever possible
 Summary

Although workplace stress is a difficult problem to manage, if

employers follow best practice guidelines and tackle workplace
stressors, a positive impact can be made on:
employee commitment and performance
staff recruitment and retention
customer satisfaction
the overall reputation of the organisation