The majority of organisations have methods in place to combat stress among
their workforces, but the public sector leads the way when it comes to tackling
the problem.
Although a variety of tools are used to tackle stress, the Stress in the UK
Workplace study, by Personnel Today and the HSE, shows that risk assessments
are the most popular method, used by 69 per cent of the 680 respondents.
Other methods used include in-house guidance or policies on stress
management, used by 55 per cent, and employee opinion surveys (46 per cent).
Employee assistance programmes – where staff have access to counselling or
advice through a confidential telephone line – are used by 42 per cent of the
respondents.
The findings also show the public sector is well ahead of the private sector
in having methods in place to identify stress at work. www.hse.gov.uk
