Your Work and Your Health

Work-related stress - the employers' perspective

Please click here for Frequently Asked Questions

• Work-related stress is a serious problem for business and there are things that you can do to reduce the risk of stress amongst your employees.

• As an employer you have responsibility to secure the health and safety of your employees at work (The Health and Safety Work Etc. Act, 1974 (HSWA)).

• The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require you, as an employer, to assess the risks (associated with work) to your employees' health.

• HSE is helping employers and employees work together to prevent stress. HSE's approach has been developed with input from a wide range of businesses, professional bodies and unions to help managers and employees gauge stress levels within their organisation, and to identify effective solutions together.

• Two important steps for reducing the risk of stress are:
  
  · To familiarise yourself with the factors that can cause stress;
  · To conduct a "Stress Risk Assessment".

• As an employer you should consider the six main contributory factors (stressors); namely work demand, control, support, relationships, role and change. This will help (a) to simplify the risk assessment for stress; (b) encourage employers, employees and their representatives to work in partnership to address stress in the work place; and (c) provide a yardstick by which the company can assess their performance in tackling stress.

• There are Management Standards for each of these categories:

  · Organisational culture - poor culture being characterised by a lack of support for employees, poor communication, lack of commitment to employee well-being and employees not being valued or respected.
  · Work demand - work load, work pattern and the work environment for your employees.
  · Control - how much say the person has in the way the work is done.
  · Support - encouragement of an employee's contribution; training and support for new job responsibilities; and good management of employees.
  · Relationships - a positive and good working culture that deals with unacceptable behaviour.
  · Role - whether employees understand their role within the organisation.
  · Change - changing job responsibilities; management reorganisation policies; whether employees are consulted about reorganisation and whether the changes are explained adequately in advance.

• Others factors include lack of job security; poor working conditions; threats of bullying; harassment; lack of childcare facilities; monotonous and boring work; long hours without breaks and regular unsocial shift work.

• Your risk assessment for stress should be based upon your particular working environment and lead to solutions applicable to your company. Further information may be found in the employers section.
  

Frequently Asked Questions

• What causes stress in the workplace?
• What should I do to ensure that stress does not occur in the first place?
• What is the risk of work-related stress amongst my employees?
• If stress is reported, how do I determine that it is work-related?
• Why can this problem not be ignored?
• What factors contribute to work-related stress amongst employees?
• Who should be consulted when someone is experiencing stress and stress-related illness?
• What can I do to manage this problem?
• As a small business employer, what can I do to avoid this problem?
• Where can I get help and advice?
  

What causes stress in the workplace?

Stress is the adverse reaction that people have to excessive pressure at work, or when their employer places unreasonable demands on them. Extra pressure can motivate some workers to do their job more effectively (i.e., the 'buzz' factor). However, when this pressure exceeds the individual's ability to cope then the person is placed under stress. In the long term, such stress can lead to physical and mental ill health.

The following factors can contribute to the development of stress in the workplace:

1. Poor design of the working environment.
2. Poor relationships between workers and their employers.
3. Poor management of the employees workload, inadequate training, unrealistic target setting.
4. Bullying and harassment are serious causes of stress.

 

What should I do to ensure that stress does not occur in the first place?

Most important is to conduct a risk assessment for stress. A scheme can then be put into place to reduce the risk of a stressful working environment. If you have little experience of implementing such schemes then HSE has developed a simple and practical tool kit to help you assess and identify key issues that may contribute to stress amongst your employees ("Real Solutions, Real People", ISBN 0 7176 2767 5). Please visit the HSE Books website (www.hsebooks.com) for further details of how to obtain these packs. You can also find plenty of advice on the HSE website at www.hse.gov.uk/stress.

Alternatively you can call the HSE helpline, tel: 0870 545500.

Employers have a responsibility under the Health and Safety at Work Etc. Act (1974) and under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations (1999) to carry out regular assessments to protect against and to reduce the risk of both physical and mental work-related illness amongst their employees.

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What is the risk of work-related stress amongst my employees?

Stress caused by work is the largest cause of ill health in the workplace in the UK and Europe, with about half a million workers in the UK experiencing stress from work. This accounts for 13.4 million lost working days in the UK annually, equivalent to 29 days leave for each case. It is estimated that this costs UK business £3.7-£3.8 billion each year. Claims against companies that fail to protect their employees from stress-related illnesses are increasing in frequency and size.

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If stress is reported, how do I determine that it is work-related?

Changes in the behaviour of an employee may indicate that they are experiencing stress. For example, uncharacteristic mood swings, failure to communicate, evidence of continuous fatigue and tiredness, loss of concentration, reduced work output and quality, social isolation and loss of interest in their work. A high level of sickness absence may also be a sign of work-related stress. Of course, stress may not be directly related to work but related to issues outside the job.

Establishing trust and a dialogue with the individual concerned is essential. This could involve the employer or the person's line manager, but you should always consider involving trained persons such as an occupational health doctor or nurse, their GP, or a trained worker representative. It is important that symptoms are taken seriously and examined by qualified individuals.

The aims of managers should be to continuously assess those factors that contribute to stress in the workplace. This assessment should be accompanied by an action plan that is discussed and agreed with the employees. Such a plan would address, for example, how employers and employees, together, can change the work environment to reduce stressful conditions. In the HSE guidance pack "Real Solutions, Real People" a number of case studies (some of which are relevant to small businesses) are presented which suggest changes you could consider which my help reduce the risk of stress.

To purchase a pack visit www.hsebooks.com.

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Why can this problem not be ignored?

It is a legal requirement to undertake a risk assessment to protect workers' physical and mental health.

The loss of working days may be the most visible cost of work-related stress, but there is the additional burden of a high turnover of staff, and the loss of trained individuals. There also is the 'knock-on' effect of the extra demands placed upon other staff, who have to cover for their absent colleagues. For the company this may result in reduced productivity and quality of their services and possibly loss of income from settling claims against the company.

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What factors contribute to work-related stress amongst employees?

The most obvious factors could be the working environment, workload, job insecurity and poor communication between employees or between the employees and management. This could also reflect poor teamwork, or the impact of employees who are unreliable and who take advantage of sickness leave. New arrangements for working, or the impact of target setting that involves unrealistic goals, may increase levels of stress. Evidence suggests that loss of control and failure to complete tasks can be stressful for many employees. A poor work-life balance can also damage family life as well as productivity in the workplace. These points are described above.

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Who should be consulted when someone is experiencing stress and stress-related illness?

However if excessive pressure has lead to ill health or absence from work, the individual's GP (with their consent), psychiatrist or other health professional should be involved.

The Health and Safety Executive's guideline is to:

• understand the situation, including causes and possible solutions;
• provide support to the individual;
• develop a plan to tackle the stressors/pressures (the causes of stress) that is acceptable to all, particularly to the individual and their line manager; and
• assess whether anyone else is experiencing problems and if a broader organisational intervention is required.
  

 

What can I do to manage this problem?

The first line of action should be to try and deal with the situation within the workplace and if appropriate, a risk assessment should be carried out. To help carry out a risk assessment, the information can be found on www.hse.gov.uk/stress.

The HSE tool kit (pack) 'Real Solutions, Real People' contains a number suggestions and case studies. These suggest ways for you to engage your employees in exercises to identify those factors that contribute to stress in the workplace. They also suggest ways in which possible solutions can be identified and implemented with support and agreement of the staff.

The key is to identify the factors in the working environment that are contributing to the problem, with the aim to provide solutions that work across the team and not only at the level of an individual. It is important to recognise that the social nature of work demands solutions that operate across your organisation

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As a small business employer, what can I do to avoid this problem?

As an employer you are required to assess the risks to the health of your employees.

HSE has published a pack called "Real solutions Real people- A managers Guide to tackling work related stress (ISBN 0-7176-2767-5) costing £25.00

The pack deals with:
(i) "Tackling Work Related Stress" (HSG218) - to identify the risks associated with work-related stress; and
(ii) "Real Solutions Real People" guide - to develop locally applicable solutions to manage the risks associated with work-related stress.

To purchase a pack visit www.hsebooks.com.

The potential solutions provided by the 'Real Solutions, Real People' tool kit could not only help you to minimise the risk of stress, but also promote better team working and retention of staff. Your local business advisors and small business clubs may be able to help you identify additional funding and training opportunities for you or your staff.

Further details of this support can be obtained from:

DWP
Business Link
Learn Direct website: www.learndirect-business.co.uk
Tel: 08000 150 750

Learning & Skills Council http://www.isc.gov.uk

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Where can I get help and advice?

You should consider whether you, or one of your staff, needs training to develop good working practice for monitoring stress in the workplace. If there are concerns about whether your business can afford this, there are various government agencies that may be able to help. For example, your local business centre (www.businesslink.gov.uk) can tell you about possible funding from Europe or from the UK Learning & Skills Councils (www.Isc.gov.uk). These funds can cover up to half the costs for training, and in some cases provide a full subsidy. Other sources of advice are HSE's website (www.hse.gov.uk) and HSE's Infoline on 0845 345 0055.

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