Being Proactive: An Organisational Approach to

Managing Workplace Stress

I/O Net

Presentation by

Dr Hillary Bennett

Director, PsychAssessments

Healthy Work: Managing Stress in the Workplace. (2003)

“ Creating a healthy and safe workplace requires employers and employees to work systematically together to identify hazards and manage them”

Stress an integral and inevitable feature of most contemporary

workplaces

Workplace stress arises when individuals perceive an imbalance between the pressures and demands made on them and the resources they have to cope with these demands

Managing Stress in the Workplace

• Traditional view– Stress the responsibility of the individual

• Organisational view– Employers and employees have a

responsibility to address work-related stress

The HSE Amendment Act 2002

Objective:

To promote the prevention of harm to all persons at work through the

systematic management of hazards

HSE Amendment Act 2002 holds Employers Responsible for

• Implementation of effective systems for identifying existing and new hazards, including work-related stress

• Systematic management of hazards, by eliminating them, isolating them or minimising them, in that order of preference.

• Provision of opportunities for employee participation.

3 Approaches to Tackling Work-related Stress

Prevention Identifying and acting on the causes of stress Stress Risk Assessments

Management Giving staff the skills to cope / manage

Treatment Professional medical and psychological support

Stress Risk Assessment - A Preventive Approach

SRA aims to identify:1. The level stress (the harm)

2. The main sources of work-related stress (the hazards)

3. What practicable steps can be taken to eliminate the sources of stress

(hazards), if possible

An International Perspective

• An international review of stress prevention in the workplace highlights that there has been a lack of systematic Stress Risk Assessment (Kompier and Cooper, 1999).

• The UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Guidance recommends that a risk assessment approach be followed when tackling work-related stress

Steps to Risk Assessment

Step 1: Identify Hazards

What might cause harm?

Step 2: Evaluate Harm

Who couldbe harmed, and how?

Step 3 (b): Introduce controlsWhat can we do to reduce the risk

that hazards will cause harm?

Step 3 (a): Evaluate Risks

How likely is it that the hazard couldcause harm?

Step 4 & 5 - Record and Re-Assess

Comparison of a Risk Assessment With a Stress Risk Assessment

Risk Assessment Stress Risk Assessment

1. Identify the Hazards 1. Assess levels of stress (harm)

2. Evaluate the Harm 2. Identify main sources of stress

3. Evaluate the Risk 3. Identify the main sources of stress for individuals / teams

4. Introduce Controls 4. Identify what can be done to manage the main sources of stress

Stress Risk Assessment Process

1. Planning and Consultation

2. Data Collection Qualitative methods e.g. interviews, focus groups, Stress DiariesQuantitative methods e.g. structured surveys, StressTools

3. Data Analysis

4. Feedback and Action Planning

StressTools A Tool for Tackling Work-related Stress

StressTools aims to help organisations identify and manage work-related stressors.

StressTools takes a preventive approach emphasising removing work-related stressors rather than treating stress symptoms

StressTools developed by the Keil Centre with the assistance of Birbeck College and local industry

StressTools won the European Health and Safety Best Practice Award.

StressTools3 Work Stress Risk Assessments(SRA)

Task-based SRA

Team-based SRA

Future-focused SRA

Task-based SRA Identify and control stressors and other human

factors hazards arising from an unusual, complex or hazardous task

To be included in pre-existing Risk Assessment process

Emphasises links between stress and safety

Tackles stigma associated with mentioning stress

Future-focused SRA Involve cross-section of employees identifying work-related

stressors likely to be associated with a future project or organisational change and planning preventative measures

Focuses on preventing future work-related stress

Relevant to major projects or organisational changes

Identifies relevant work-related stressors through employee involvement

Can be tailored to local circumstances

Identifies actions to prevent / manage future sources of work-related stress

Team-based SRA

The team-based SRA method, which identifies levels and sources of stress in teams doing similar work in organisations and identifies locally relevant solutions through employee involvement is particularly relevant in light of the changes to the Health and Safety in Employment Amendment Act 2002.

Team-based SRA Involves 4 Steps…..Step 1. Evaluating harm .

Measures team members’ perceptions of level of work-related stress and benchmark levels of stress with other groups

Step 2. Identifying the hazards. Assesses which work- related stressors are causing stress, using a generic (40 predefined) and locally relevant work related stressors. Identifies the main work-related stressors affecting team members now or in the recent past

Step 3. Evaluating risks. Assesses what are the most significant sources of stress for team members and describing these sources in more detail.

Step 4. Introducing controls. Identifies what can be done by management or team

members to prevent and manage work-related stress

Conducting a Team-based SRA

Train project organiser / working team Needs to be well-respected by the team Important to maintain confidentiality about employees opinions

about stressors and levels of stress

Prepare for the team-based SRA Use cross-section of employees to identify local work-related

stressors

Customise the team-based SRA Identify sub-groups Choose comparison group for benchmarking purposes Add local work-related stressors Add additional questions. Questions need a yes no answer format

Collect data Paper workbook / on-screen option

Results of Team-based SRA

Stress levels Stress comparisons with benchmark group Stress exposure - % of people in each group

which indicated that each stressor was “often” of “always” a source of stress

Stressors high- low Ranked stressors – significance of stressors Movement Written comments on main sources of stress

StressTools14 Management Standards Providing Guidance

on How to Prevent Work-related Stressors

Workload Job Insecurity Teamworking Performance

feedback Training &

development Hours of work

Job design Management support Tools and equipment Communication Role ambiguity Skill under-utilisation Work-life balance Effort-reward

imbalance

Each Management Standard Includes…

A definition of the stressor How the stressor can cause individual harm and organisational

harm How to identify if problem exists now or may do so in the future Management practices that may prevent or resolve these problems

A table which includes: “States” which describe a well-managed organisation, in

relation to this stressor A space to record current organisational practice, enabling a

gap analysis to be done Examples of the types of best practice which exemplify the

“state” A space to record next steps/actions

International Research Shows

1. Most of the activity in the field of stress management has focused on reducing the effects of stress rather than on reducing the presence of stressors at work.

2. Most activities are primarilyy aimed at the individual rather than the organisation.

3. Concluded that successful management of stress requires intervention at both an individual and organisational level.

Benefits of Stress Risk Assessment

• Signals to employees that the employer is being proactive and serious about managing stress in the workplace.

• It ensures that subsequent stress-related activities aimed at management or treatment are targeted at specific problems and specific individuals.

 • Provides a tailored approach to managing

stress rather than a “pray and spray” approach. In the long term it is more effective in terms of costs and time.

In Conclusion

Compared to other stress management techniques

The risk assessment approach to stress is likely to more effective, as the source is

being addressed rather than the symptoms

It is a proactive

Stress Management = Good Management

and

Good Management = Stress Management