All employers are being urged by HSE to move beyond just awareness of work-related stress and take practical steps within their workspaces to manage the risks created by the work environment. This process should cover the whole workforce.
It is estimated that in 2023 / 24, approximately half of all work-related ill health in Great Britain was due to stress, depression or anxiety, with the affected workers taking 20 days off work as an average.
The cost to businesses is clear: increased absence leads lower productivity, and a higher turnover of staff.
Take action
HSE believes the time for just talking is past and the time for doing is now. Even making small changes can make a big difference to workers, e.g. reviewing workloads and improving communications. Managing the stress of workers not only helps the individuals but has a broader benefit across the workforce and community. Businesses who tackle the root causes of their stress inducing factors end up with a more mentally resilient and thriving workforce, and consequently a thriving business.
What can help?
HSE actively provides working processes to help employers with its Working Minds campaign. This tasks workplace management with preventing stress by focusing on 6 key areas identified as the main stressors in the workplace. They are:
- Demands – What is expected or demanded from a worker?
- Control – What say does a worker has in how their work is conducted?
- Support – What encouragement, help is given by supervising management;
- Relationships – Are positive working attitudes promoted and used to avoid conflict?
How are clear boundaries and an effective methodology for identifying
and dealing with unacceptable behaviour promoted?
Are they working in practice?
- Role clarity – Are workers clear regarding their role and what the objectives are?
- Change – How would change be managed, and more importantly communicated
to the workforce?
What can you do?
HSE has 5 steps to provide a clear framework for action:
- Reach out – Have informal talks with workers;
- Recognise – Carry out performance appraisals and review productivity data;
- Respond – Manage issues (attendance rates / sickness / absence data);
- Reflect – Look at the record for turnover of staff – is it increasing? Why?
- Make it Routine – Issue regular questionnaires, bulletins, gather and provide information.
On top of all this, businesses need to determine how all of this will be recorded. Not just to evidence the due diligence being conducted, but also to allow for assessments to be reviewed, procedures and policies to be revisited, and any training needs to be met where necessary.
Make one change today
Start with one of these simple steps:
- Review workloads and deadlines
- Improve communication and feedback
- Use HSE’s Talking Toolkit to support conversations
- Complete a Workplace Stress risk assessment – (this is a legal requirement)
- Encourage your Managers to complete HSE’s free training module
We also have a guidance note, Mental Health in the Workplace, and a template, Mental Health – Management Checklist, available on our Client H&S Portal to help you take these steps.
Protecting mental health is good for people – and good for business.