Employers ‘should address stress in the workplace’

UK employers and HR staff need to look out for any rising stress levels among the members of their workforce who have survived a round of redundancies, it has been suggested.

Gill Trevelyan, head of good practice services at Acas, said that during a downturn it was common practice for management to focus on employees who are being made redundant, but that others should not be forgotten.

She explained that stress can frequently be caused by guilt some staff may feel that they still have their jobs, along with a fear of what the future may hold for them.

"Make sure your managers are trained to manage staff effectively and without resorting to bullying behaviours," Ms Trevelyan advised.

Get our essential weekday HR news and updates. Name This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Work Email Keep up with the latest in HR... This field is hidden when viewing the form Optin_form This field is hidden when viewing the form Optin_date Year Month Day This field is hidden when viewing the form Batch_Newsletter

Her comments follow the publication of Badenoch & Clark’s latest employment study this week, which found that 91 per cent of employees are stressed at work.

Furthermore, 71 per cent of workers also said they felt unable to raise their concerns with managers.