Stress at work - guidance for employees
By Dr Gillian Hale
Stress - “the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressure or other types of demand placed upon them”
UK Health and Safety Executive
Your employer now has a duty in law to ensure that you are not made ill by your work. And stress can make you ill. Although being under pressure can help improve your performance and productivity, excessive levels of pressure can result in stress, which can lead to mental and physical ill-health. According to a recent report by MIND, the UK’s leading mental health charity, more than 5 million people complain of extreme stress in their jobs, putting them at risk of a breakdown.(1) Employers who don’t take stress seriously may leave themselves open to compensation claims from employees who have suffered ill health from work-related stress.
In November 2004, the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) published a new guide for managers on how to prevent excessive work-related stress - Tackling Work-Related Stress: A Managers’ Guide To Improving And Maintaining Employee Health And Well-Being.(2) With the aid of 12 new management standards, the guide provides a step-by-step approach for employers to use when handling the different causes of stress in the workplace. The guide recommends that employers should work with employees and their representatives, and provides advice on identifying those at risk from stress and on how to prevent problems occurring.
What does HSE expect employers to do?
HSE expects every employer to conduct risk assessments for health and safety hazards, including work-related stress. HSE recommends a three-step approach to risk assessment, to be taken in consultation with employees and their representatives:
Identify pressures at work that could cause high and long-lasting levels of stress
Decide who might be harmed by these, and how
Assess whether enough is being done to prevent that harm and, if not, decide the steps to be taken.
At each step, findings should be recorded, regularly monitored and reviewed.
The HSE have identified six key aspects of work that, if not properly managed, can lead to work-related stress and, within these key aspects, have established 12 management standards.
Key aspect of work 1: The demands of your job (includes issues such as workload, work patterns and the work environment)
Management standard 1: Employees indicate that they are able to cope with the demands of their jobs.
Management standard 2: Systems are in place locally to respond to any individual concerns.
Key aspect of work 2: Your control over your work (how much say you have in the way you do your work)
Management standard 3: Employees indicate that they are able to have a say about the way they do their work.
Management standard 4: Systems are in place locally to respond to any individual concerns.
Key aspect of work 3: The support you receive from managers and colleagues (includes the encouragement, sponsorship and resources provided by the organisation, line management and colleagues)
Management standard 5: Employees indicate that they receive adequate information and support from their colleagues and superiors.
Management standard 6: Systems are in place locally to respond to any individual concerns.
Key aspect of work 4: Your relationships at work (includes promoting positive working to avoid conflict and dealing with unacceptable behaviour)
Management standard 7: Employees indicate that they are not subjected to unacceptable behaviour (e.g. bullying) at work.
Management standard 8: Systems are in place locally to respond to any individual concerns.
Key aspect of work 5: Your role in the organisation (whether you understand your role within the organisation and whether the organisation ensures that you do not have conflicting roles)
Management standard 9: Employees indicate that they understand their role and responsibilities.
Management standard 10: Systems are in place locally to respond to any individual concerns.
Key aspect of work 6: Change and how it is managed (how organisational change [large or small] is managed and communicated in the organisation)
Management standard 11: Employees indicate that the organisation engages them frequently when undergoing an organisational change.
Management standard 12: Systems are in place locally to respond to any individual concerns.
What does HSE expect employees to do?
As an employee, you too have a duty to take care of your health and safety at work. The HSE recommends that you:(3)
Familiarise yourself with the HSE’s management standards (see Table above) so that you can contribute more fully to discussions.
Talk to your managers if you’re experiencing a problem - it’s part of their role to help you reach a solution.
Take an active part in any discussions, action planning meetings, stress risk assessments, etc., and make sure you complete any questionnaires when you are asked to do so - your managers need your help in putting effective plans in place.
Remember that consultation is a two-way process. Your managers must take your opinions into consideration when deciding what actions to take, and must communicate the reasons for their decisions.
Read all communications. Make sure you understand the reasons for decisions and provide feedback if required.
Attend any stress management training courses arranged by your employer. These should help you understand stress and how to deal with it.
Recognise that you have a responsibility for your own personal stress and try to help yourself where possible.
References
1. Stress and Mental Health in the Workplace. http://www.mind.org.uk
2. Tackling Work-Related Stress: A Managers’ Guide To Improving And Maintaining Employee Health And Well-Being. http://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/information.htm
3. Working together to reduce stress at home. A guide for employees. http://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/standards/pdfs/leaflet.pdf
Further information
For more information visit http://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/information.htm or call the HSE’s InfoLine on 08701-545500, or write to: HSE Information Services, Caerphilly Park, Caerphilly CF83 3GG.
A free employee leaflet is also available from the HSE website: Tackling Work-Related Stress - A Guide For Employees (Leaflet INDG341). This leaflet explains what stress is and how it affects people, providing details of what individuals can do at work to help their manager in tackling the problem.
The International Stress Management Association has produced a leaflet Working together to reduce stress at home. A guide for empoyees. The leaflet is supported by HSE, Acas, TUC and the CIPD. Visit http://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/standards/pdfs/leaflet.pdf
Copies Of Tackling Work-Related Stress: A Managers’ Guide To Improving And Maintaining Employee Health And Well-Being (ref HSG218; ISBN 0 7176 2050 6) can be ordered online at www.hsebooks.co.uk, or are available from HSE Books, PO Box 1999, Sudbury, Suffolk, CO10 2WA, tel: 01787-881165; fax: 01787-313995.
Dr Gillian Hale writes about using aromatherapy in the workplace to relieve stress at work.
For more information regarding stress at work, stress busting with essential oils please visit:
Aroma Stress Buster
Gillian Hale is also the co-founder of aromatherapy-stress-relief.com a home based
UK business providing hand-made aromatherapy stress relieving gifts.
copyright 2006 Gillian Hale (CUS Busting Ltd)
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dr_Gillian_Hale
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