Since April 1992 Stress Awareness Month has been happening every year.
The purpose is to help raise awareness for everyone as work related stress, depression and anxiety is a real problem that is on the rise.
What is work related stress?
Work-related stress is defined as a harmful reaction that people have to undue pressures and demands placed on them at work. By its very nature, stress is difficult to measure.
Stress, depression or anxiety though accounted for 51% of all cases of self reported work-related ill health in Great Britain in 2021/22.
The data shows that 914,000 workers suffering work related stress, depression or anxiety accounts to 17.0 million working days lost and the top 3 industries with higher than average rates of work related stress, depression or anxiety, averaged during 2019/20 – 2021/22 are;
- Public administration and defence (3,390 cases per 100,000 workers)
- Human Health and social care work activities (3,320 cases per 100,000 workers)
- Education (2,660 cases per 100,00 workers)
The 6 main causes of stress at work are;
- employees are not able to cope with the demands of their job roles
- employees are unable to control the way they do their work
- lack or no information and not enough support
- employees being bullied or having troubles with relationships at work
- employees don’t fully understand their job role and responsibilities
- employees not engaged when a business is undergoing change
Employees have complex, demanding and stressful lives, people require support from their employers and stress awareness month is intended to bring attention to the negative impact of stress and how to help.
Symptoms of stress could include;
- Mood swings
- Gaining or losing weight
- Lack of confidence
- Struggling to focus and concentrate
- Increased fatigue
- High blood pressure
- Worried
- Find it hard to make decisions
- Sweating
- Sleep problems
- Cry or feel tearful
- Withdraw from people around you
- Risky behaviours such as drug taking, excessive alcohol consumption
What to do if you feel stressed at work
If you feel you are experiencing workplace stress you should discuss this with your employer, trade union representative, HR Department and many organisations are now having well being programmes/counselling services and also see your GP so don’t suffer in silence. Mental Health First Aiders in the workplace are also a point of contact for an employee who is experiencing a mental health issue or emotional distress. This interaction could range from having an initial conversation through to supporting the person to get appropriate help.
What can employers do to protect their workforce
Employers have a legal duty to protect employees from stress at work. The employers first steps are to complete a risk assessment and then acting on the findings.
The Health & Safety Executive have produced a step-by-step workbook called Tackling work-related stress using the Management Standards approach.
What are the Management Standards?
The Management Standards cover six key areas of work design that, if not properly managed, are associated with poor health and wellbeing, lower productivity and increased sickness absence. In other words, the Standards cover the primary sources of stress at work.
1 Demands
Includes issues such as workload, work patterns and the work environment.
2 Control
How much say do the people have over the way they work?
3 Support
Includes encouragement, sponsorship and resources provided by the organisation, line management and colleagues.
4 Relationships
Includes promoting positive working to avoid conflict and dealing with unacceptable behaviour.
5 Role
Do people understand their role within the organisation and does the organisation ensure roles are not conflicting?
6 Change
How is organisational change (large and small) managed and communicated?
For each Standard there must be systems in place locally to respond to any individual concerns. These Standards are aspirational and define a desirable set of conditions for organisations to work towards.
You can download a free copy of the Management Standards here
Did you know that Essential 6 provide training in many areas of Mental Health such as Mental Health Awareness and appointing Mental Health First Aiders.
Contact us for more information on 0845 272 3558 or info@essential6.co.uk.
