Managing Workplace Stress

Working is generally a great thing for people. It gives structure to your life, can provide an income to enable you to maintain a standard of living and can give a sense of pride and satisfaction. Sometimes, unfortunately, working can have a negative impact, and leave people feeling overwhelmed and unhappy – feelings which impact their personal lives as well.

When it comes to illnesses in the workplace it is widely recognised that stress is one of the biggest causes of health problems for UK employees. Some of the most recent statistics from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) show that over 400,000 people reported that they were suffering from work-related stress at a level that was making them ill during one year alone, making stress the cause of 40% of all work related illness. Now, according to the Stress Management Society, stress is the single biggest cause of sickness in the UK.

As well as being a crippling condition for the person involved, workplace stress can have a huge impact on companies as a whole – with over 105 million days lost to stress each year, at a cost of £1.24 billion for UK employers. So what can be done?

What is workplace stress?

The first step to dealing with workplace stress is understanding it fully. In the broadest of terms, workplace stress is a negative reaction to pressure or harassment at work, and arises when a person feels unable to cope with their present working situation. The HSE define it as “the reaction people have to excessive demands or pressures, arising when people try to cope with tasks, responsibilities or other types of pressure connected with their job, but find difficulty, strain or worry in doing so.”

Workplace stress, and stress as a whole, is a significant illness. As well as being linked with a high number of sickness absences within the UK, workplace stress can increase issues within the workplace, including a rise in mistakes being made. Ultimately, stress-related illnesses have the potential to result in increased staff turnover for a business.

Causes of workplace stress

Workplace stress can be caused by a number of different things, including when there is a lack of attention to work organisation, management or job design. According to the NHS, the main causes for workplace stress include lack of support from managers, work pressure, work related violence and bullying, although there can be many other causes including:

Overload of pressure
Lack of control of involvement
Poor or unsupportive work relationships
Job security fears
Work-life balance
Pays and benefits
Aspects of the job e.g. working conditions, type of tasks, fear of violence, dull and repetitive work, lack of job enjoyment

Do you know the signs of workplace stress?

Workplace stress, as with all kinds of stress-related illnesses, can be difficult to identify initially, meaning it can be hard to act fast before the illness really takes hold. Learning how to identify the signs of workplace stress can be a great way to help you manage it in the future, and even help you identify the signs in the people around you.

Bupa has identified a number of symptoms to look out for if you think you, or someone around you is suffering from workplace stress. These include psychological symptoms, like lacking confidence and indecisiveness, emotional symptoms, such as mood swings or having a short temper, as well as physical symptoms like headaches, weight changes and aches and pains. Behavioural changes such as isolating yourself from others, changes in your sleeping pattern, eating more or less than usual or using things like alcohol or smoking to relax can also be signs that something isn’t quite right. If you feel that some of these symptoms apply to you, then it’s time to take action.

Legally, the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 means that employers have a responsibility to make sure that the health, safety and welfare of all employees is taken care of. Risk assessments should also be conducted to ensure that precautions are taken to minimise any chance of work-related stress issues.

What are Management Standards?

The Health and Safety Executive advises that workplace stress can be monitored through the use of the Management Standards. The Management Standards are intended to identify areas of work design that can often be linked to stress, negative well being, and increased sickness absence. These six Management Standards are designed to cover off the areas that can be the primary sources of people experiencing workplace stress.

These areas are:

Demands – this covers issues such as workload, work patterns and the work environment, and whether or not people feel that demands are acceptable.

Control – this relates to how much say a person has in the way they do their work, and whether or not they feel that they’re able to offer input or use initiative.

Support – encouragement, sponsorship and resources should be provided by the organisation, line management and colleagues, so that all staff members feel supported in their day-to-day role.

Relationships – relationships within an organisation are vital. This point includes promoting a positive work environment to avoid conflict and dealing with unacceptable behaviour appropriately.

Role – whether people understand their role and responsibilities within a company, and feel comfortable rather than conflicted.

Change – relating to how any changes are managed and communicated within an organisation.

If all of these areas are covered off and well organised within a business then a high level of employee well being should be evident, with better organisational performance and an overall healthier workforce.

How to combat workplace stress

In advice from the NHS on how to manage workplace stress, life coach Suzy Greaves recommends that one of the key factors in combating and managing stress levels in the working environment is by learning how to say no to people.

“Have confidence in your ‘no’ when you think it’s the right decision, even though it may not be the most popular one,” she explains. “In the long term, your ability to say no will be one of your most valuable attributes.”

The NHS also offers advice in the form of 10 stress busting tips to help you get on top of things. These including taking control of the situation, to stop you feeling passive and out of control and give you a sense of power over the situation, and avoiding unhealthy habits.

Feeling stressed and overwhelmed can make it easy to become reliant on bads habits like alcohol, smoking or caffeine. Professor Cooper, an occupational health expert at University of Lancaster, told the NHS that men are more likely to turn to this behaviour than women. “We call this avoidance behaviour,” explains Professor Cooper. “Women are better at seeking support from their social circle.”

Another important step in combating workplace stress is making sure that your feelings are being acknowledged, which means informing someone of how you’re feeling. Identifying the signs of stress-related illnesses enables you to take action early.

This could mean speaking to your manager or someone within the company, such as within the human resources department, or someone that you feel confident and comfortable around. If you don’t feel comfortable talking about how you’re feeling with anyone at work then outside help is a good idea; even popping to see your GP could give you some great advice about what steps to take if you’re experiencing stress in the workplace.

Take action

If you’ve identified that you’re suffering from workplace stress then it’s important to think about treatment. The word ‘treatment’ makes it sound like the solution has to be medical, but this isn’t necessarily the case. There are currently no medicines available to treat stress, so it’s important to explore other possibilities.

Self help can play a huge part in overcoming stress. Try to be proactive about taking action in ways that will make you feel more positive. This could mean developing better relationships with your colleagues, making your working environment as comfortable and productive as possible, or taking the time to go outdoors during lunch to get some fresh air. You could also look at other areas of your life, such as trying to eat a healthy balanced diet and making sure you’re drinking enough water.

Also, make sure that you’re taking the time to see family and friends and do things outside of work, which can help you to feel more supported and improve the work-life balance. Feeling more positive outside of work can have an impact on your mentality when you’re in the office, so its worth investing the time.

It could also be worth exploring complementary therapies, which are well known for boosting wellbeing and helping people unwind. Massage, aromatherapy, acupuncture and reflexology could all offer some benefit, although Bupa advises that there isn’t enough research on these types of therapies to be certain of their effectiveness. It’s important to see what works for you as an individual.

Making the leap

If you think you suffer from workplace stress and have taken steps to combat it without much success then it could be that it’s time to make the leap into a career that makes you more happy.

The Stress Management Society advise that 3 in 4 people in the UK are currently in a career that makes them unhappy. They say that although an employer is responsible for creating a stress-free working environment for employees to thrive, it’s up to us as individuals to make sure that we’re following a career path that makes us happy – which could mean a career move is on the cards.

If you’re considering making the leap into a new career then there are some points to look out for to help ensure that a stress-free time lies ahead. These include:

Something that fascinates you – working on something that fascinates, concerns or interests you ensures a higher level of engagement, because there is a genuine level of interest in the topic. Being genuinely interested helps minimise the likelihood of getting worn down or bored by the work, reducing the likelihood of becoming stressed.
Play to your strengths – choosing a career path that allows you to make use of your skills is a surefire way to feel happy and confident within a role. If you feel out of your depth or are forced to use skills that you don’t feel confident about then it’s easy to get bogged down and lose confidence in your abilities.
A good challenge – although you don’t want to feel overwhelmed by the tasks at hand, having a certain level of challenge is essential to preventing you from becoming restless and uninterested in the work. You want to feel engaged and alert when you’re at work, and facing something a little challenging is a good way to ensure that this is the case.
Work-life balance – it’s vital to overall wellbeing to find a career that enables you to have a healthy work-life balance, in which you have time to focus on family, friends, hobbies and leisure activities as well as a career. Having a healthy balance of fun activities helps to make sure that you have an overall healthier outlook on life, and can give you the strength to overcome any workplace stress without letting it get you down.
A like-minded outlook – working somewhere where you share the same outlook as the other employees and management can make it easier for you to thrive. You want to choose a career that enables you to surround yourself with people who make you feel energised and able to be yourself, and who share the values and qualities which you feel are important. This creates a deeper sense of fulfilment and a greater sense of purpose and pride within a role.

It’s important to understand that there are sure to be stressful moments no matter what your job entails. If you can find a role that challenges you in a positive way and plays to your strengths, as well as a position that means you’re surrounded by like-minded people, then it’s often much easier to cope with these stressful times.

Let us help

Here at SAMS we’re dedicated to making sure that workforces around the country are as safe as possible, which is why we provide a wide number of e-learning and classroom-based training programmes in a variety of different fields. If you want to know more about prioritising your staff members’ safety then take a look at our wide range of available courses, or give us a call and find out if any of our bespoke training offerings suit your needs.

From Safety Representatives in the Workplace day courses to IOSH Managing Safely programmes, SAMS has got all the tools you need to keep yourself and the people around you safe.