Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Managing stress in small to medium-sized businesses

by Personnel Today 21 Oct 2003
by Personnel Today 21 Oct 2003

Sue
Smith, director of stress and absence management consultancy at SMS
Partnership, provides practical tips on how to keep stress out of the workplace

Workplace
stress is necessary to motivate staff and maximise productivity, irrespective
of company size or business focus. However, if it is not effectively managed,
too much stress can impact negatively upon employees and compromise
productivity.

Avoidance
of health problems arising from workplace stress begins at the pre-employment
stage. A company recruitment policy should include:

Stringent
selection criteria to ensure the person employed is physically and emotionally
able to undertake the role required of them

A
current and accurate job description; and

The
chosen applicant should have relevant experience, or the potential for
training, to undertake the tasks involved.

Adequate
induction to the company is equally essential. This fundamental level of
control by the employer will automatically moderate the applicant’s risk of a
stress-related illness.

The
mechanics of workplace stress are multi-faceted, but they are not a mystery.
Four main factors should be considered:

–
The work environment – encompasses everything from welfare facilities,
machinery and equipment, to noise, dust and general housekeeping

–
Organisational culture – includes management styles, work relationships and
communication

–
Contractual issues – associated with employee terms and conditions

–
Job design – the actual work done, including volume, demands, conflicting
orders and an awareness of what is required of each employee.

Employers
have a statutory duty to comply with the Management of Health & Safety at
Work Regulations 1999, and assess an employee’s work, as well as the workplace.
This includes the psychological hazards.

An
employee’s perception of work-related stress will be their reality, and should
not be ignored.  A risk assessment
approach will enable employers to determine whether there is a generic or
individual problem. Often, stress impacts upon the workplace, but is not caused
by it, and a robust system of assessment should determine what the real issues
are.

Non-work-related
stress should be dealt with supportively under strong personnel policies.

When
problematic issues are identified, early intervention and appropriate
management procedures are essential. All parties must agree upon a remedial
action plan. The importance of follow up and documentation cannot be emphasised
too strongly for success to be achieved.

Employers
must be confident that they can address problem issues with a structured and
well-documented approach. Training should be directed towards strong
communications, management styles, and employee involvement within the company,
rather than stress awareness.

Good
managers will be ‘stress aware’ and support their staff to optimise their cost
effectiveness within the company.

Managers’
five-point approach to workplace stress

–
Understand and identify potential workplace stressors

–
Implement communication strategies and management training

–
Develop and use a range of robust personnel policies

–
Manage and support stressed staff sensitively

–
Undertake a psychological risk assessment at regular intervals

Sue
Smith is director of stress and absence management consultancy, SMS
Partnership. Online guidance for absence and a workplace stress risk assessment
tool are available at www.manageabsence.com

Avatar
Personnel Today

previous post
Hunger for people development wins S&A Foods training award
next post
Over 1.5m days are lost to stress each year

You may also like

The Search for Talent: Six Major Employer Pitfalls

24 May 2022

Grants scheme set up to support women’s health...

16 May 2022

How music can help to ease anxiety at...

9 May 2022

OH will be key to navigating ‘second pandemic’...

14 Apr 2022

OH urged to be aware of abortion consultations...

8 Apr 2022

How coached eCBT is returning the workplace to...

8 Apr 2022

Why now is the time to plug the...

7 Apr 2022

Two-thirds of shift workers feel health affected by...

18 Mar 2022

TUC warns of April Covid risk assessment ‘confusion’

14 Mar 2022

Consultation on new NHS cancer standards, as waits...

11 Mar 2022
  • The Search for Talent: Six Major Employer Pitfalls PROMOTED | The Great Resignation continues unabated...Read more
  • Navigating the widening “Skills Confidence Gap” in 2022, and beyond PROMOTED | Cornerstone OnDemand conducted a global study...Read more
  • Apprenticeships are the solution to your recruitment problems PROMOTED | Apprenticeships have the pulling power...Read more
  • What it really means to be mentally fit PROMOTED | What is mental fitness...Read more
  • How music can help to ease anxiety at work PROMOTED | A lot has happened since March 2020, hasn’t it?...Read more
  • Why now is the time to plug the unhealthy gap PROMOTED | We’ve all heard the term ‘health is wealth’...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+