The Metropolitan Police Service is about to launch a major stress audit to
investigate the full impact of the problem on its staff and develop a plan to
fight back.
The Met will survey around 10,000 police officers and civilian staff this
autumn to assess how much impact stress is having on the force.
Once the findings have been analysed, the HR team will develop a stress
management programme, which it hopes to implement by the New Year.
Martin Tiplady, HR director at the Met, insisted the move wasn’t in response
to any immediate stress crisis, but was more about addressing the general
nature of the job.
"We’re concerned about the pressures on staff in an organisation
responsible for policing London," he said. "We’re hoping to get a
pretty thorough picture of where stress is hitting us."
The research will concentrate on defining the signs and symptoms of stress,
but will also investigate the associated levels of sickness among the 43,000
employees.
It is hoped the survey will enable HR to design a range of different options
and interventions for managers that reflect the complexity of stress and the
different roles within the force.
"It won’t be a ‘one size fits all’ approach, because what we need to
offer to a constable might be completely different from what we can do for a
scene-of-crime officer," he added. "We need a range of ways to
respond to stress."
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The Met is also launching a nine-part health promotion plan that will offer
advice on all aspects of well-being at work, including stress.
By Ross Wigham
