Organisations are failing to support managers in dealing with employee stress.
The Managing Stress report, by business psychology consultancy OPP, reveals that more than half of the managers surveyed do not feel they have all the skills necessary to manage their team’s stress.
Managers know exactly what needs to be done – 90% believe that understanding more about the cause of individual employee stress would be beneficial – yet, despite this, solutions tailored to individual needs are currently only used by 9% of organisations.
The study of more than 1,100 managers shows that 43% have never received any guidance and only 6% feel they are sufficiently skilled in tackling stress.
Penny Moyle, head of research and product development at OPP, said: “If managers can understand more about the causes of and reactions to stress for individual employees, they may be able to help them prevent this repeated stress.”
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Managers are also struggling with their own stress. A third are more stressed than a year ago with 42% unable to prevent repeated stress.
Managers report the most common causes of stress, both for their employees and themselves, as heavy workloads (47%), pressure to meet targets or deadlines (43%) and feeling that efforts are not rewarded or recognised (29%).
