April marks Stress Awareness Month and for lots of people a key driver of their stress is work related, whether that be feeling overworked, struggling with pressure or uncertainty about job safety.
When it comes to managing stress at work it’s good to start with understanding what constitutes stress. Commonly defined as the body’s reaction to feeling threatened or under pressure, stress arises when we perceive that the demands of a situation exceed our ability to cope. Imagine a set of weighing scales – if we add more on the demands side, and tip things out of balance, we need to either remove some of those demands or provide more support.
You may find that you or your team members can cope with a small imbalance, or even a significant imbalance for a short time, but it’s when that imbalance feels unmanageable and is sustained that it starts to impact on the person’s health – not just psychologically, but physically too.
What causes stress
Is stress just about too much workload? No. Psychological demands come in more forms than just workload, and this article outlines the key aspects of work that can contribute. Plus, when it comes to support, we’re not talking bean bags, Indian head massages or squishy stress balls – they might not do any harm, but they won’t do anything to reduce or remove the underlying stressors.
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All employers have a legal duty, under the Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999, to take a preventative approach when it comes to alleviating stress in the workplace. This means assessing and reducing the factors in work that are known to present potential risks when it comes to stress. What are they? The UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) identifies six key psychosocial factors that can cause stress at work, known as the Management Standards.
- Demands: This includes workload, work patterns, and the work environment. To improve this, employers should ensure workloads are manageable, provide adequate breaks, and create a comfortable work environment.
Top tip: Encourage employees to prioritise tasks and seek help when needed.
- Control: How much control a person has in the way they do their work has a strong impact on their sense of being overwhelmed; low control can cause employees to feel powerless.
Top tip: Allow employees to influence decision-making where possible, and equip managers with the skills to take a coaching approach which encourages employees to take initiative and determine how they perform their tasks.
- Support: This includes the encouragement, sponsorship, training and other tangible resources provided by the organisation, line management, or colleagues.
Top tip: Foster a supportive culture by providing regular feedback, training, and resources. Ensure managers are sufficiently trained to be appropriately open, honest, empathetic and supportive. Create peer-support networks, coaching and sponsorship initiatives.
- Relationships: This involves promoting positive working relationships to avoid excessive, unhealthy conflict and bullying.
Top tip: Support employees with effective communication and conflict resolution skills, deal with unacceptable behaviour promptly, and encourage a culture of respect.
- Role: This relates to whether people understand their role within the organisation, and whether the expectations put upon people are clear and non-conflicting.
Top tip: Provide clear job descriptions, upskill managers in effective performance management to set clear objectives and hold regular performance conversations. Ensure employees feel empowered to seek clarification on their responsibilities and boundaries.
- Change: This involves how effectively organisational change (large or small) is managed and communicated.
Top tip: Equip all managers with change communication skills, helping them to communicate changes early, clearly and involve employees effectively in the change process.
Managing workplace stress
Acas guidance on managing work-related stress emphasises the importance of creating an open and honest environment at work, where people feel able to talk to their manager or someone else about how they are feeling and get the support they need.
If an employee is disabled, i.e. they have a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ negative effect on their ability to do normal daily activities, employers are under a duty to make reasonable adjustments. While stress by itself is not an illness, it might arise from a physical or mental impairment that would be classed as a disability under the Equality Act 2010 or may cause, or worsen, a mental health impairment, such as anxiety or depression.
The Acas guidance advises that employers should talk to all employees experiencing work-related stress about adjustments to the role, whether or not they are disabled. Such adjustments could include flexible working hours, reducing workload or allowing someone to work from home.
Taking such steps can help increase employee morale and productivity, reduce the risk of protracted absence, grievance and performance management processes and ultimately the likelihood of liability for injuries to employees’ health caused by breaches of legal duties towards employees to take care of their health at work.
Whilst a degree of pressure is important for motivation, it’s important that employers take proactive steps to limit the amount of stress that employees experience in order to ensure they stay productive, healthy and engaged in the workplace.
Dr. Zara Whysall is Research & Impact Director at Kiddy & Partners. She has over a decade of experience in conducting and applying research to help organisations enhance their performance. She is a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, with experience in consultancy, research, and training roles across private and public sector organisations.
Helen is Legal Director at Gateley Legal. She specialises in providing employment law advice to businesses at all stages of the employee lifecycle, helping clients to make informed, balanced decisions based on a thorough appreciation of legal and commercial requirements. She has particular expertise advising private equity portfolio companies and is regularly instructed on board level employment and strategic issues, such as senior exits and integration projects.
