Workplace stress campaign launched by Unite

A year-long campaign to weed out workplace stress in the not-for profit sector has been launched by union Unite.

According to research by the union, 90% of voluntary sector staff feel their wellbeing is being undermined due to the financial crisis facing charities.

Rachael Maskell, Unite national officer for the not-for-profit sector, warned the sector encountered the highest levels of workplace bullying.

Now, 2,500 Unite representatives will spend the coming months surveying members to fully understand the scale of the problem and reinforce the message to employers that they have legal obligations to manage and prevent stress.

Unite will also flag up ‘best practice’ policies and procedures to help manage and prevent workplace stress and ensure these policies are implemented effectively.

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Maskell said: “Stress in the workplace is like a modern-day plague – it is virulent and can strike at any time, any place and is indiscriminate as to who its victim is.

“The object of the campaign, which will culminate with a national conference, probably in November, is to give workplace activists representing our 60,000 members in the not-for profit-sector the tools to take up the issues of stress with management.”