3 February 2003
Work-related stress
David Cowles, Buro Happold Health and Safety Advisor, highlights an emerging approach to dealing with work-related stress.
Do you sometimes feel that project pressures are starting to get to you in a big way? Recent figures indicate that you are not alone. As many as one in five people in the UK reports being exposed to high levels of work-related stress and an estimated half-million individuals report experiencing stress at a level they believe made them ill. This means that as many as 6.5 million working days are lost per year as a result. According to the HSE this represents a cost to society of around £3.7 billion.
The causes of stress are diverse and complex but are considered to be essentially associated with the design and organisation of work, including management.
Employers’ responsibility
Employers have a duty in law to make sure that their employees are not made ill by their work. It is common knowledge that stress can affect your health, and employers need to be aware of the implications. Quite apart from the legal obligation, action taken to reduce stress and the working time lost as a result of stress-induced illness can be cost-effective. The costs of stress to an organisation may show up as high staff turnover, an increase of sickness absence (particularly frequent but short duration absence), reduced work performance and poor timekeeping. Stress in one individual can have a knock-on effect and result in stress in other team members covering for their colleague. There are of course also the potential costs associated with compensation claims from employees who have suffered ill health from work-related stress.
What should employers do about stress?
The starting point is the process of risk assessment. Risk assessment for stress includes looking for pressure at work that could cause high and sustained levels of stress, identifying who might be harmed, including those who you consider may be particularly at risk due to other factors, and deciding whether enough is being done to prevent that harm.
It is worth adding at this point that although employers are not under any legal obligation to prevent ill health caused by stress due to problems outside work, it should be recognised that non-work problems and stress can make it difficult to cope with pressures at work. Work performance may well suffer as a result, so being understanding to staff under these circumstances would be in an employer’s interest. If necessary, employers must take reasonable steps to deal with work-induced pressures.
How to recognise the symptoms of stress
Many of the outward signs of stress in individuals should be noticeable to managers and colleagues. Look in particular for changes in a person’s mood or behaviour, such as deteriorating relationships with colleagues, irritability, indecisiveness, absenteeism or reduced performance. Those suffering from stress may also smoke or drink alcohol more than usual. They might also complain about their health, suffering with frequent headaches. Guidance can be found in the HSE leaflet Work-related stress - a short guide.
Are some people more likely to suffer from stress than others?
We are all vulnerable to stress, and although some people claim to thrive on it there is arguably a difference between enjoyable working pressures and those that push over the top and result in ill health. It can be argued however, unless you know otherwise, that all employees are mentally capable of withstanding reasonable pressure from work.
In the final analysis, control of work-related pressure and resultant stress is a function of effective management. Managers and team leaders should bear these issues in mind when considering project resource allocation. They should look for ways to relieve the pressures so that they do not become excessive, to prioritise tasks, to cut out unnecessary work, and to try to give warning of urgent or important jobs and project deadlines. Managers should make sure individuals are matched to their jobs, providing training for those who need more, and increasing the scope of jobs or responsibilities for those who are capable and in danger of being under utilised. The way jobs and project work is allocated should be revised, considering the need to provide variety and experience, particularly for younger people. People’s career aspirations should be considered, making provision for and encouraging regular communications between staff and management.
Stress is recognised as an increasing global phenomenon, affecting all professionals and all categories of workers, families and society in general. The emerging approach to dealing with the problem emphasises prevention and elimination of the causes, rather than the treatment of its effects.
Background information for Editors:
For the HSE guide Work-related stress - a short guide and further information on combating work related stress, visit the HSE website on http://www.hse.gov.uk
Tackling work-related stress: a manager’s guide to improving and maintaining employee health and well-being ISBN – 0 7176 2050 6 is available from -http://www.hsebooks.co.uk
Buro Happold is a multi-disciplinary international practice of consulting engineers established in 1976 offering civil and structural engineering, mechanical and electrical engineering, quantity surveying, building services and environmental engineering, health and safety management, infrastructure and traffic engineering, ground engineering, façade engineering, fire engineering, computational fluid dynamics analysis, disability design consultancy, project management, urban design and a range of specialist CAD services.
