In 2009/10, the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) estimated that between 8 and 11 million working days were lost to the UK economy due to stress. This was the largest single cause of lost productivity. It has an economic cost of around £1 billion and equates to 1.5 per cent of people who worked in that year suffering from stress caused or made worse by work at some time during those 12 months. Stress accounts for just over 40 per cent of days lost to illness: it is a big workplace issue.
And these figures are only the most obvious consequence of stress. Others include increased staff turnover, with all of the cost and disruption that causes, accidents, errors and poor judgement, damage to workplace relationships among colleagues and with customers, and simple reductions in productivity.
This chapter therefore considers stress at work:
- How to spot it
- Managers’ responsibilities
- How to reduce the stress you cause your colleagues, particularly if you are a manager
- How to support team members who show signs of stress
- Turning around a stressed work environment
- How to protect yourself from stress at work
Signs and portents
Stress in a workplace becomes visible in two ways: through changes in individuals, and through change across a team or across your entire staff. We’ll examine the indicators for these one at a time. You may like to make a tally of how many you are aware of among your colleagues and in your workplace.
Individual signs of stress
It would be very rare for all of these signs to be present and, indeed, some will depend on the individual’s personality. In fact, one of the commonest yet most subtle signs of stress is when personality traits and characteristics become more pronounced. Other things you may notice include:
Health
- Fatigue, tiredness
- Coughs, colds, recurrent illness
- Frequent headaches
- Back, neck and shoulder pain
- Twitching, tics (eye area particularly), hand tremors
- Stomach or bowel problems, indigestion, flatulence
- Skin disorders, greasy or spotty face, flare-ups of acne, eczema or psoriasis
- High heart and breathing rates – perspiration, flushing
- Weight loss/gain
Mood and emotional
- Tension, irritability, mood swings
- Anger and frustration
- Tearfulness, crying
- Anxiety, listlessness, depression
- Loss of motivation/commitment
- Oversensitivity to small things or under-sensitivity to major issues
Behavioural
- Poor concentration, indecision, forgetfulness
- Declining/inconsistent performance
- Uncharacteristic errors
- Lapses in memory
- Poor timekeeping, absences, leaving early
- Increased time at work
- Poor posture
- Appearance and personal care decline
- Nail biting, lip biting
- Stimulant abuse – coffee, cigarettes, alcohol
- Fidgeting, drumming fingers
- Door, drawer, phone slamming
- Arguments and conflict with colleagues, customers and other people
- Risk-taking and accidents
Collective signs of stress
Across a whole team or organisation, you may start to notice systemic trends from a rise in the incidence of undesirable indicators. These statistical features may only provide solid evidence after a long period, but if you are monitoring them frequently enough, they can provide early indicators that you need to be on the alert for personal signs of stress that you can deal with quickly.
- Increased absence levels
- Poor timekeeping
- General poor health
- Staff turnover increases
- Productivity falls
- Quality drops
- Complaints increase
- Gossip and rumours increase
- Bad atmosphere/low morale
- Poor relationships, disputes, conflict
- Dissension, insubordination, poor industrial relations
- Bullying
- Increased late working – with or without formal overtime
- Accidents and near misses
You must deal with it
If you have any managerial responsibility – whether as a front-line supervisor or all the way up to managing director or chief executive – you must deal with stress as soon as you are aware of it. If you are a member of staff, and are aware of stress in yourself or a colleague, then please do let your supervisor or manager know. You and your colleagues have a right to expect managers to deal effectively with workplace stress. In the next section, we’ll overview a manager’s responsibilities.
Your responsibility as a manager
Your general responsibility
Before we look at the legal situation, let’s assess what your responsibilities are as a manager, and at what a good organisation can expect of the people it puts in charge of others.
Take stress seriously
Managers should consider the control of workplace stress as a part of their core role. Actively look out for opportunities to reduce stressors, and ways to give staff control over their workplace and work practices. Constantly scan trends and observe your colleagues for signs of stress. Act on any signs swiftly, showing staff that you are doing something positive, and engage them in designing solutions.
Treat staff fairly and consistently
Create a workplace where stressors are kept to a minimum and staff are able to deal with them effectively to control their own stress levels. Important features of this are two-way communication with your staff group, and with each individual, and looking for opportunities for flexibility in working conditions and timings, to allow staff members more personal control. Give staff the training and support they need and allow them to personalise their work space and to do things their own way (of course, complying with mandatory requirements and processes). Do not tolerate any forms of bullying or harassment from colleagues, customers or suppliers.
Think carefully about your own management practices
Examine the way you interact with staff to discover whether the way you do things increases or decreases stress levels around you. You may feel able to ask for feedback – either from staff or from trusted colleagues who can observe the way you deal with team members. Always be prepared to make changes.
The law
The law around the workplace is complex, different in each country, and beyond the scope of this book. However, in the UK and many countries, there is a mesh of principal legislation aimed at protecting people at work, general legislation that is relevant to people at work, and case law.
In the UK, the most important legislation is contained within the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, which set out employers’ duties towards all employees, for their health, safety and welfare. If you are in the UK, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is an excellent first port of call for information, guidance and standards in this area, and, if you are not, their website may still be a valuable additional resource to those available in your country.
How much stress do you cause?
Stress is different from the normal buzz of a healthy workplace, where pressure to produce something or serve customers or clients creates tensions from time to time. However, sometimes the pressures can become excessive or continue for too long, and managers are often part of the problem. Do you cause stress for your colleagues and team members?
Assess your stress-causing behaviours
How many of these boxes can you tick? The more you tick, the greater the risk you are putting your colleagues under.
Fixed workplace stress factors – out of your immediate control
Score two points for each tick.
- New technology
- Changing workplace culture, leading to uncertainty and fear
- Economic pressures
- Bullying or harassment are present
- Workloads and deadlines are at a high level and have been for a while
Your own managerial behaviours
Score one point for each tick.
- You are moody – sometimes up and sometimes down.
- You have favourites and also people you don’t much like – and let it show.
- You ask people to do things, then fail to follow up or thank them.
- People ask you to do things and you find yourself letting them down.
- You are always in a rush and ask for things at the last minute.
- You are particularly good at spotting mistakes and inefficiencies.
- You are particularly poor at congratulating people for good work.
- You are very competitive and want to succeed personally.
- You work very hard and expect others to do so too.
- You feel that people should put their work before their own needs while they are at work.
If you add up your points, you will get a score out of 20. If you scored five or more, stress is a risk; if 10 or more, you need to take action now. If you scored 15 or more, stress should be your number one priority: people could get hurt.
As we saw at the start of the chapter, stress at work is a major problem. Workers frequently report that the major sources of stress for them are:
- Excessive workload
- Feeling undervalued
- The type of work they have to do is not what they want or are trained for
- The pressure to meet deadlines
- Having to take on other people’s work (to cover for absences, for example).
Other sources of stress
It may not all be down to you or your workplace. People bring stress with them to work from home, family and social lives. While these are usually the primary source of stressors, workplace stressors can often be the triggering factors to major physical or mental health problems. These sources of stress can be linked to crisis and trauma, problems with home life, personal problems, financial problems, or physical and health problems. In addition, certain life events are likely to trigger serious stress responses. These include pregnancy or birth, divorce or relationship breakdown, a death or family illness, family conflict, or financial loss and debt.
How to not impose stress
This section offers managers a series of useful ways to reduce your impact on overall stress levels of your staff. It is arranged under six headings, reflecting the six management standards developed by the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE). These are well researched and you will find a lot of supporting information on the HSE’s website.
Manage the demands on staff
The principal demand that an employer places on its staff is their workload and the working patterns that form it. However, there are others, like the physical environment it offers, the tools and equipment it provides and the managerial processes and styles to which staff are subjected.
Workload
As a manager, it is your responsibility to assess each person’s work, their workload and their working hours to ensure that they are consistent with their training and with safe practices. Identify any potential harm and deal with it immediately. Continue to monitor and manage workloads and resolve issues as they arise. This means that wise managers will always have a contingency plan – a ‘plan B’ – that will allow them to step in with alternatives, and offer support where needed.
Physical environment
Beyond what should be obvious – that the physical environment should meet all health and safety at work criteria and be subject to a suitable risk assessment – part of your role as a manager is to act as a champion for your team and fight for the best possible tools and equipment, which will help them to do their work effectively and efficiently.
Managerial style
It isn’t possible, in this small space, to fit a whole book on good management style, but three management behaviours are particularly relevant to minimising the stressors you impose on staff:
- Motivate positively. Apply the carrot, not the stick, and offer appropriate recognition and rewards for good performance, rather than rely on threats, punishments or inducements.
- Give effective feedback and constructive advice. Good feedback will help team members to develop their abilities and perform better. Base your feedback on observed behaviour and balance any recommended changes with credit for things they do well.
- Think before you speak or act. Diving into a situation without fully assessing it or getting staff perspectives can be one of the most stressful behaviours. Always take time to SCOPE the situation.
Give staff control over the way they work
A sense of control is essential to avoid stress, so what do too many organisations do? They remove all control over the working day from large numbers of staff. Yet it is these very staff who probably know best how they can improve their own efficiency, deliver better services or make improved products. Consult your team and listen to their ideas. Give them as much autonomy as you possibly can – which is probably a lot more than you think you can now. Let them plan their work patterns where possible and, where they cannot, sit down and plan their workload for them in a way that shows real consideration for them and their personal lives.
Provide support to staff
Three things people want from their managers are honesty, respect and understanding. Create a supportive culture where people feel able to ask for help and you have the time to give it. You need to be respectful of people’s needs both in and outside work. Although you are not obliged to always act on needs arising from their personal lives, it is wise to take them into consideration and, where you can, accommodate them. This will make people more effective at work and build loyalty.
Talk about stress
Stress is a reality of work, so mature managers acknowledge this and build a dialogue about it into their day-to-day work. Keep your eyes and ears open for signs of stress, and identify who is vulnerable. Take decisive action to pre-empt serious consequences. Remember your remote workers on different sites or working from home.
Promote positive workplace relationships
Most of us spend more of our waking time with our work colleagues than we do with the people we choose to make a life with – our family and closest friends. So, workplace relationships are very important to people. Get to know each of your team members personally and give time to each person. Appreciate their differences and accommodate them, as best you can, when making choices about work allocation and development opportunities. Promote effective and respectful workplace communication and consider whether and how to use formal team-building activities in addition to your day-to-day management.
Be clear about staff members’ roles
People want to know what you expect of them. If they do not have enough certainty about their role, they will lose confidence in your leadership, leaving them fearful and subject to stress. On the other hand, however, if you subject people to roles that are too rigidly defined, that will be stressful too, because of the lack of control. The only solution is to get to know each of your team members well, so that you can get the balance just right for each one.
Consult team members and listen to their opinions and ideas, involve them in planning roles and responsibilities, and keep them informed of any changes. Review their development needs regularly and act on what you learn. This whole process must begin with clear job descriptions and person specifications and a rigorous recruitment process, to ensure that the people you recruit are well-suited for their jobs.
Change is unsettling, so manage it well
Change is such an important workplace stressor that we have given over a whole chapter, Chapter 8, to the topic. Here, then, are just four essential tips to avoid imposing unnecessary stressors.
- Have a clear plan and communicate it relentlessly.
- Show determination, but not inflexibility.
- Expect resistance and engage with it positively.
- Be respectful of staff and try to empathise with their concerns.
Supporting team members with stress
The last chapter in this book, Chapter 10, is about helping others to manage their stress, so this section will focus on specifically managerial and workplace approaches. Much of Chapter 10 will also be relevant.
It is also important at these times to review your management practices. Consider all of the ideas in the previous section and how you can further reduce the stressors you are applying to a vulnerable person.
Provide resources
The most important thing that you can do to help is to make it easy to ask for help. You may not be the best person to directly respond, but, if you are receptive to requests and are aware of the resources your organisation can offer, you will start to offer choices and control to the person who has come to you.
Just allowing someone to vent their frustration, anger or upset can be a huge help too. The next step is to look at what specific support you can give to alleviate particular stressors. Examples include generosity around hours and breaks, reducing the need for travel, or changes in the work assigned or the people to work with. The most important thing to ask is: ‘What changes would help you the most?’ Don’t try to second guess how people want to be helped. Some, for example, need to lose themselves in work to help deal with a stressful situation in their private lives, whilst others need a light workload to give them time to deal with it.
Beyond this, larger organisations and trades unions can offer a range of valuable support services and there are some contact details at the end of this chapter. Some of the resources that you may be able to point people towards (in the workplace context) are:
- Occupational health
- Mediation (you will find more on this in Chapter 9)
- Counselling (there is more on this in Chapter 10).
Turning around a stressed work environment
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has a helpful five-step process for assessing risk, which applies well to the risks arising from workplace stress.
Step 1 Identify the hazards.
Step 2 Decide who might be harmed and how.
Step 3 Evaluate the risk and take action.
Step 4 Record your findings; make a plan and stick to it.
Step 5 Monitor and review.
This section offers you four areas where you can take action at Step 3.
Set up systems and processes
This is the formal side of protecting your business and your people from stress. It involves policies and procedures to ensure a safe workplace, formal systems to identify and deal with stress-related problems, and creating clear role definitions and effective working, to minimise capability- and workload-related stress.
Safe workplace
If the legal requirements do not provide a sufficient ‘push’, then you may need to create a business case to demonstrate the benefits of proactive stress management processes and practices – and, indeed, the potential costs of not having these.
It need not be a lengthy process to produce a basic policy, thanks to all of the resources available from statutory organisations and professional bodies. So, put your efforts into a successful launch that can win hearts and minds over to the value of your new policy.
Systems to deal with stress
Developing the systems you need will only be the first stage. You must also invest in training managers and supervisors to follow the processes well. Your basic system will cover things like monitoring absences and reviewing other indicators of stress, so that you can identify who is vulnerable and take action.
Effective working
Review job roles and the capabilities of your staff to allocate jobs effectively and spot development needs. Over the medium term, ensure each role has a good job description and person specification. Developing a robust recruitment process that can attract and identify the best candidates is an important strategic objective, as is a welcoming induction process that prepares people well for their role.
Empower staff to make changes
We have already covered a lot of the things you can do under this heading, like giving the training and support that staff need – not least on health, stress and safety matters. Empowering staff to make changes to their workplace and how they do their work is possibly the most valuable and effective way to change a high-stress culture around. It will take courage for managers to cede some real control, but it is often the staff who know exactly what needs to be done. Initiatives like these need to be led from the very top of the organisation to have the credibility they need, to succeed.
Actively find and resolve problems
Problem solving is a large area, but making it a part of a new culture requires three vital things:
- Establish processes for data collection.
- Use structured analysis to find and address root causes.
- Bring together diverse teams to plan and carry out remedial actions.
Create a wellbeing culture
The gold standard for a non-stressing workplace is one with a ‘wellbeing culture’ where staff are encouraged to take care of themselves, and their employer provides the resources to support them. Corporate gyms and relaxation rooms, on-site counsellors and masseurs all seem like an indulgence. But in some environments the reduction in absences and illness, and the increase in productivity and customer service can bring bottom-line results that more than pay for the investment and running costs. This will require a business case.
You may not need to go quite so far, to maximise a sense of wellbeing by prioritising health, fitness and relaxation. Just creating opportunities for flexible working and offering shower facilities for people who want to ride or run to work, or exercise at lunchtime, are a big start. You may then be able to offer some social, exercise or therapeutic resources, or consider subsidising their costs or giving over some working time to social activities.
Protecting yourself from stress at work
What can you do to protect yourself from the stresses and strains of a managerial role? Let’s look at three major stressors for a typical manager.
Responsibility
‘Uneasy lies the head …’
As a manager you do have responsibility, so finding someone to talk to with experience of what you are dealing with is an important way to protect yourself – giving you a chance to vent, and as a source of advice. Another valuable asset is humility: you will get things wrong, so do the best you can and accept your setbacks as chances to learn.
Too busy
Not only do you have your own work, but you need to be there for every member of your team too. Make sure you schedule time off to relax, and plan your work accordingly. Scheduling private thinking and planning time is a great tool that many managers value highly. Delegate and prioritise as much as you can, so you can focus on what matters most.
Not liked
Sometimes you won’t be liked; you may be resented, despised, hated even. It may not be in your job description, but it sometimes goes with the job. Keep your attention on what matters most, do things properly and, above all, always do the right thing. If you can achieve that, you may not be liked, but people will respect you.
Personal incident diary
If you find yourself getting stressed, start to keep a personal incident diary. At the end of each day, note any incidents that stressed you out. For each incident, answer seven questions:
- Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS): www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1993
- British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP): www.bacp.co.uk
- The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD): www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/health/stress
- Health and Safety Executive (HSE): www.hse.gov.uk/stress
- Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH): www.iosh.co.uk
- Trades Union Congress (TUC): www.tuc.org.uk
- Spot the health, mood and behavioural signs of stress in individuals, and the collective signs of stress across your whole team.
- You must take stress seriously and deal with it.
- Be aware that, as a manager, you may be causing some of the stress in your team. Look for ways to minimise this.
- The right systems and processes can turn around a workplace environment, and there is a lot of help available from professional and statutory bodies.