Health & Safety News Brief Occupational Health & Safety Information Service
(OHSIS) November 2004

Carole Spiers explains how the new managing standards underpin the need for a ‘common sense’ approach to stress management

According to latest figures from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE):

• about half a million people in the UK experience work-related stress at a level they believe is making them ill
• up to 5 million people in the UK feel ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ stressed by their work
• work -related stress costs society about £3.7 billion every year (at 1995/6 prices)

As well as acting as an unnecessary drain on the economy, workplace stress is also the subject of increasing government legislation:

• Many employers do not realise that since the publication of the Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations (1999), all organisations with five or more employees have had a legal duty to conduct regular risk assessments of workplace hazards, including psychosocial hazards such as stress. These assessments should then be used to identify and either avoid or reduce such hazards.
• A written health policy is also mandatory for all firms with five or more employees, and this should include a stress and bullying & harassment policy.
• On 3 November 2004, the HSE published its new Management Standards for work-related stress -designed to help ensure that organisations address key aspects of workplace stress (or ‘risk factors’) including demands, control, support, relationships, role and change.
• While the Standards themselves do not impose a legal duty on organisations, breach of the applicable regulations could lead to criminal prosecution, or claims for compensation through the civil courts.

So which aspects of work-related stress are the HSE most concerned about, and what can (and should) you do to tackle them?

What do the Management Standards cover?
For each risk factor, the Management Standards include a description of what should be happening in your organisation (or ‘states to be achieved’) in order for the Standard to be met.

Demands includes issues like workload, work patterns and the work environment. States to be achieved are that:

• The organisation provides employees with adequate and achievable demands in relation to the agreed hours of work
• People’s skills and abilities are matched to the job demands
• Jobs are designed to be within the capabilities of employees
• Employees’ concerns about their work environment are addressed

Control covers how much say the person has in the way they do their work:

• Where possible, employees have control over their pace of work
• Employees are encouraged to use their skills and initiative to do their work
• Where possible, employees are encouraged to develop new skills to help them undertake new and challenging pieces of work
• The organisation encourages employees to develop their skills
• Employees have a say over when breaks can be taken
• Employees are consulted over their work patterns

Support includes the encouragement, sponsorship and resources provided by the organisation, line management and colleagues:

• The organisation has policies and procedures to adequately support employees
• Systems are in place to enable and encourage managers to support their staff
• Systems are in place to enable and encourage employees to support their colleagues
• Employees know what support is available and how and when to access it
• Employees know how to access the required resources to do their job
• Employees receive regular and constructive feedback

Relationships includes promoting positive working to avoid conflict and dealing with unacceptable behaviour:

• The organisation promotes positive behaviours at work to avoid conflict and ensure fairness
• Employees share information relevant to their work
• The organisation has agreed policies and procedures to prevent or resolve unacceptable behaviour
• Systems are in place to enable and encourage managers to deal with unacceptable behaviour
• Systems are in place to enable and encourage employees to report unacceptable behaviour

Role covers whether people understand their role within the organisation and whether the organisation ensures that the person does not have conflicting roles:

• The organisation ensures that, as far as possible, the different requirements it places on employees are compatible
• The organisation provides information to enable employees to understand their role and responsibilities
• The organisation ensures that, as far as possible, the requirements it places on employees are clear
• Systems are in place to enable employees to raise concerns about any uncertainties or conflicts they have in their role and responsibilities

Change covers how organisational change (large or small) is managed and communicated in the organisation:

• The organisation provides employees with timely information to enable them to understand the reasons for proposed changes
• The organisation ensures adequate employee consultation on changes and provides opportunities for employees to influence proposals
• Employees are aware of the probable impact of any changes to their jobs. If necessary, employees are given training to support any changes in their jobs
• Employees are aware of timetables for changes
• Employees have access to relevant support during changes

So what should you do?
The Management Standards are all about highlighting potential areas of stress, and encouraging employers to take action to reduce these – with the goal of matching the performance of the top 20% of organisations that are already doing this. If you think your organisation may be experiencing problems due to workplace stress, it will therefore need to take a proactive approach to tackling it:

• Many organisations face deadline pressures or sudden changes in work demands, and employees need the necessary training and experience to meet the ever-increasing demands made on them. Examples include training in resilience, time management, communication skills, and - for managers in particular - stress awareness enabling them to recognise the early warning signs of stress in themselves and others.
• Where employees have been forced to take time away from work as a result of stress, their rehabilitation back to work needs to be carefully managed.
• For those employees who require specialist support, Employee Assistance Programmes and counselling services are a vital component in employee well being.
• Training in communication (and particularly active listening) skills is essential to help ensure that managers are aware of their team members’ problems and in a position to offer early interventions to resolve these.

Ultimately, reducing workplace stress is largely a matter of common sense and good management practice, and simply requires employers and employees to work together for the common good. Both share a joint responsibility for reducing stress – which, when this is successful, can help employees to enjoy their work more, and businesses to thrive as a result.

For this to become a reality, organisations need to work towards the creation of a ‘healthy’ work culture – one where there is an intelligent twoway dialogue between managers and employees; where concerns can be raised in the confidence that actions will be taken; and where everyone in the organisation recognises stress as an unnecessary and unacceptable drain on creativity and resources. Or to put it another way, a culture where healthy ways of working have become so ingrained that the need for the Management Standards ceases to have any meaning.