The month of April is Stress Awareness Month. For many people, their main source of stress comes from work, whether it’s feeling overworked or under pressure, or being uncertain about the safety of their job.
Understanding what stress is can help you manage at work. Stress is the body’s response to being under pressure or feeling threatened. It occurs when we feel that the demands in a given situation are greater than our capacity to cope. Imagine a set weighing scales. If we increase the demands and things become out of balance, then we must either reduce those demands or give more support.
If you or members of your team are able to cope with an imbalance, even if it is small, for a limited time, it will not affect their health .
Stress is a common cause of anxiety
Stress is not caused by too much work. No. This article discusses the different ways that work can affect your mental health. When it comes to support we don’t mean bean bags, Indian-head massages, or squishy, stress balls. They might not harm you, but they will not reduce or remove stressors.
Under the Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations of 1999, all employers are legally required to adopt a proactive approach to reducing stress at work. It means assessing the work factors that can cause stress and reducing them. What are they exactly? The UK Health and Safety Executive has identified six psychosocial factors which can lead to stress at work. These are known as Management Standards.
- Requirements include workload, work patterns and the working environment. Employers can improve the work environment by ensuring that workloads are manageable and providing adequate breaks.
Top tip – Encourage your employees to prioritize their tasks and ask for help when necessary.
- Control. How much control an employee has over their work can have a big impact on how they feel.
Tip: Give employees the opportunity to be involved in decision-making, if possible. Managers should also equip themselves with coaching skills that encourage employees to show initiative and decide how to perform their duties.
- Support includes encouragement, sponsorship and training provided by the organisation or line management.
Top tip: Create a culture of support by regularly providing feedback, training and resources. Make sure managers receive adequate training to ensure they are open, honest and supportive. Create peer support networks, coaching initiatives and sponsorship programs.
- Relationships This is about promoting healthy working relationships in order to avoid unhealthy conflict.
Tip: Encourage employees to develop effective communication and conflict-resolution skills. Deal with unacceptable behavior promptly and promote a culture that respects others.
- Role : This is about whether or not people know their role in the organization and if the expectations placed on them are clear and unconflicting.
Top tip: Give clear job descriptions. Train managers on effective performance management so they can set clear goals and have regular conversations about performance. Make sure employees are empowered to ask questions about their responsibilities or boundaries.
- Change : The effectiveness with which organisational changes (small or large) are managed and communicated.
Tip: Give managers the skills to communicate change early and clearly, as well as involving employees in the process.
Stress management at work
Acas’ guidance on managing stress at work stresses the importance of creating a supportive and open environment where employees feel comfortable talking to their managers or others about how they feel.
When an employee has a disability, i.e. Employers are required to make reasonable accommodations for employees who have a mental or physical impairment that is’substantial and long-lasting’ in its impact on their ability do perform normal daily tasks. Stress is not a disease, but it can be caused by a physical or mental disability that would fall under the Equality Act 2010. It may also worsen mental health conditions such as depression or anxiety.
Acas advises employers to talk to any employee experiencing stress at work about adjusting their role. This is true whether they are disabled or not. These adjustments may include reducing the workload, offering flexible hours or allowing employees to work from home.
Such steps can increase employee morale, productivity and reduce the risk for prolonged absences, grievances and performance management processes. They also decrease the likelihood that employees will be held liable for health injuries caused by a breach of the legal duty to protect their health while at work.
While a certain amount of pressure can be motivating, employers should take proactive measures to reduce the stress employees feel to keep them productive, healthy, and engaged at work.
