Do you have issues or concerns with stress at work?  Is sickness absence with 'stress' an issue in your workplace? 

Learn to understand and use the HSE management standards, and use pressure management as a tool to minimise stress and maximise performance. 

We can provide a confidential assessment service for employees with 'stress' and work with management to help these individuals return to effective work.  In many cases of 'stress' where there are issues of conflict in the workplace, an independent assessment can help identify the key issues and develop a way forward that helps resolve the issues for all concerned.

What is Stress?

Stress itself is not a medical condition.  It is the normal response to the feeling 'I can't cope', and the response stops when the pressure is resolved.  The Health and Safety Executive define stress as 'the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressure or other types of demand placed on them'.

The stress response is sometimes called the 'freeze, fight or flight' response and it is a basic response designed to help wild animals respond to emergencies where they are under threat.  This threat can be from a predator, a natural disaster, or from prey that might fight back.  In 'the wild' it is a good response, but it can cause considerable problems if it arises at other times when we do not want to flee or fight.

Anyone who says that stress does not exist, or that they never suffer from stress, is talking nonsense.  The response is entirely normal and is inevitable if we ever feel under excessive pressure.  It is important to appreciate that we are all different, so some of us may cope with high pressure and not get stress, while others may not cope in the same circumstances.  This is not a weakness or a failing, it is just the way we are. 

An understanding of pressure, stress and individual responses is a very important management tool.  Stress is not generally helpful at work, although pressure can be a good stimulus provided it does not normally cause stress.

Stress-related illness

Individuals rarely get ill 'straight away', but usually develop stress-related illness after many months of suffering stress.  Employers usually have plenty of time to identify the problems and sort them out before ill-health or sickness absence results.

Prolonged stress can lead to mental ill-health, in particular anxiety or depression.  It can also lead to physical problems such as gastro-intestinal symptoms and it is linked to the development of heart disease.

In cases where individuals do not have a related illness, but just have the signs and symptoms of the stress response, sickness absence can be harmful.  A normal response is 'medicalised', and it can then be much harder for the employee to return to work.

It is therefore particularly important to try to resolve issues or provide support before individuals reach the point where they seek help from their GP.  We can help determine whether employees just have stress or whether they have a stress-related illness.  We can also help identify the causes and provide advice on ways to reduce or avoid stress both for individual employees and for the whole workforce.

Personal Stress

In many cases of 'stress' the excessive pressures are external to work.  They may be due to illness, bereavement, financial pressures or in many cases just the day-to-day pressures of family life.  While it may not be possible for the employer to do much about these, some sympathy and flexibility can make an enormous difference, often enabling an individual who is 'going under' to remain at work. 

A period of absence may be needed where there are acute pressures at home, however this is often best provided as 'compassionate leave' or special leave rather than medicalising the problem.  It is generally inappropriate to take sickness absence to cope with issues such as childcare problems.

Work-related stress

In most cases where work is cited as the cause of stress, the acute problem is a personal issue, often relationship, family or financial problems.  The addition of significant personal problems to normal work pressures means that the employee can no longer cope with work as well as their personal problems. 

There are, however, times where work alone is the cause of stress.  The Health and Safety Executive have identified seven key areas where work can lead to excessive pressure.  These are outlined on their website and a pack is available for employers who wish to conduct a formal risk assessment and address the issues of stress at work.  The seven areas listed in HSG 218 'Tackling Work-Related Stress' are:

  • Culture - the culture of the organisation, such as the approach to working hours, expectations, and how it tackles stress.
  • Demands - including workload, exposure to physical hazards, shiftwork, travel and commuting etc.
  • Control - how much flexibility there is for employees, whether an employee has a say in the way they do their work.
  • Relationships - how employees get on with management and colleagues, and whether there is any bullying and harrassment.
  • Change - whether there is organisational change, how this is communicated to employees, how it is managed.
  • Role - whether an employee understands their role, what they have to do and why, and whether they have conflicting roles for example working for two managers who disagree on priorities.
  • Support - this includes the general attitude of colleagues and management to the employee, and whether this includes a flexible approach to the specific problems the employee has, as well as the training provided to enable the employee to do the job.

What can we do to help?

It is important to develop a plan to manage pressure and stress, to support individuals who are having difficulties and to create a structure in which employees thrive.

We can help explain the HSE approach, and help you to develop the right tools to manage pressure and stress in your organisation.

We can also help identify any specific issues and work with individuals who are experiencing stress. 

We can also advise you on the legal requirements and the recent legal rulings which have had a major impact on the approach to stress at work over the past decade.