Heather Falconer outlines the latest guidance from the HSE on how to tackle
stress within your organisation
1. Identify the hazards
Carry out sickness absence data
monitoring. If a particular team or unit has high levels of sickness absence,
investigate the causes – conditions or work organisation may be raising stress
levels and, in turn, absenteeism
– Conduct return-to-work interviews to find out if and why
staff are taking time off for stress
– Talk to your staff and get them to talk to you. Ask them
about things that may be upsetting them or making work difficult
– Use focus groups to encourage people to be open and candid
– Conduct exit interviews if staff turnover is high
2. Establish who might be harmed
– Use the stress factors identified
by the HSE as most significant to group the issues identified in Step 1 under
headings. This is a useful first move, says the HSE, in sorting and
prioritising the information gained from Step 1. The headings are:
– Demands: Are staff comfortable with their amount of work or
hours?
– Control: Are staff involved in deciding what work they do and
when and how they do it?
– Support: Are staff getting adequate support for work or
personal problems? Have they had adequate training?
– Relationships: How are relationships conducted? Are there
bullying/harassment problems?
– Roles: Are staff clear what is expected of them? Do multiple
roles conflict with rather than complement each other?
– Change: Do you communicate with and consult adequately about
organisational change?
– Culture: Do you promote open dialogue among staff?
3. Develop an action plan
– Don’t try to tackle everything your risk assessment identifies at
once
– Start with the smaller problems that can be solved quickly –
for example, improving communication by introducing regular team meetings. This
should immediately reduce overall stress levels, the HSE says, making it easier
to solve more difficult problems over time
– When contemplating more costly measures, such as employing
extra staff, consider whether the potential benefits justify the financial cost
– Consult and involve staff when deciding what to do
4. Take action
– You must make practical
interventions to reduce employee exposure to the stressors identified as
presenting the greatest risk, the HSE emphasises
– There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution to each stressor.
The HSE urges employers to look at its guidance and ask how much you are doing
towards the guidelines set out
– Look at what other organisations are doing. The HSE is
currently gathering a database of case studies to facilitate this
5. Evaluate and share your work
– Try to demonstrate any quantitative
improvements that result from your interventions, such as a reduction in staff
turnover or absenteeism
– After each action, repeat Step 1 to establish whether staff
feel any of the problems have been reduced or eliminated¥ Share good practice
by contributing case studies and training materials to the HSE website or to
other firms
– When you meet other companies in your sector, set aside some
time to talk about stress
