Guide helps managers take stress out of the work environment

A new work-related stress guide aimed at managers in organisations employing 50 or more workers was recently published by Britain's Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

Tackling Work-related Stress: A Manager's Guide to Improving and Maintaining Employee Health and Well-being provides practical advice for managers. It suggests what managers can do to assess and prevent work related stress and so comply with health and safety law.

It defines stress as "the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed upon them". With this definition, there is room for the "beneficial effects of reasonable pressure" that workers can find motivating, and the distress arising from pressures that workers perceive as being beyond their ability to cope.

Arguments presented for managing work-related stress include the detrimental health effects on workers' physical and psychological health, a poor quality of life for the workforce, ethics, law and the financial cost to businesses.

The booklet takes managers through risk-assessment for work-related stress, with practical checklists for what they need to do. Risk factors for work-related stress include culture, demands, control, relationships, change, role and support. For instance, the culture of an organisation and how it approaches work-related stress needs to be examined. Surveying demands will involve an examination of workload and exposure to physical hazards. Control is deemed a risk factor, namely how much say a worker has in the way they do their work.

Relationships can influence stress as can how organisations manage and communicate change. Roles are important: workers should understand their role in an organisation and shouldn't be expected to have conflicting roles. Workers should be supported by peers and line managers, receive training, and differences should be catered for.

Among the qualitative methods suggested for identifying stress hazards is the suggestion that employees who have been absent be invited to a "return to work" interview with their line manager. This can be used as an opportunity to find out if there is a work-related problem.

Quantitative methods suggested include an overview of sickness absence data, because high levels of sickness absence can indicate work-related problems. The HSE advises managers to "be aware that stress-related sickness absence is sometimes not reported as such because of perceived stigma". Staff turnover in a unit can also indicate work-related stress.

Managers are advised that at certain times workers can be more vulnerable to work-related stress, such as after returning to work following a stress-related illness or following a domestic crisis like a bereavement. The HSE advises a partnership approach "based on openness, honesty and trust" to exploring the effects of work on staff and what areas should be targeted first.

The 40-page booklet goes through each of the seven risk factors in detail. For instance, under the risk factor of culture, the HSE describes an organisation with a positive culture. Such an organisation discourages staff from taking work home; working long hours is not encouraged; staff are supported emotionally and practically; and staff are consulted and, where possible, are able to participate in decisions that may affect them.

Managing demands placed on workers can be crucial to managing work-related stress. Quantitative overload is when an employee has too much to do in too short a time. Qualitative overload is when the work is too difficult to do, possibly because the task is impossible to do or due to insufficient training or intellectual or physical capacity to do the work.

The booklet also looks at work underload and demands arising from the physical and psycho-social environment. Managers are advised to ensure there are sufficient resources to do the work allocated. They should support staff by helping them prioritise or renegotiate deadlines and strike a balance between ensuring workers are "interested and busy, but not underloaded, overloaded or confused about their job".

The booklet looks at stress arising from centrally managed issues such as a promotion system. It advises line managers to take the issue further up the line. "You are likely to find that your staff will benefit from knowing that you will take up issues on their behalf, even if you do not succeed in changing the organisation's policy."

There is also a section on caring for employees with work-related stress, including rehabilitation.

Tackling Work-related Stress: A Manager's Guide to Improving and Maintaining Employee Health and Well-being, published by the Health and Safety Executive, priced at £7.95 sterling, is available from HSE Books, PO Box 1999, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 2WA. Telephone: 00-44-1787-881165. Fax: 0044-1787-313995. Website: www.hsebooks.co.uk

jmarms@irish-times.ie