Dealing with work-related stress as an employer is not as simple as it is made out to be. During Stress Awareness Month the HSE Management Standards on stress are shared and discussed freely, but the easily bullet-pointed solutions are not simple to implement, sometimes not what fits with your business model or vision and/or are out of reach financially given competing priorities. The HSE have made action on work-related stress a priority and so will be reviewing your business’ action or inaction, should they inspect your workplaces. Not doing anything about work-related stress is now, more than even, a serious organisational risk for your business.
Here are three things to consider when addressing work-related stress.
Employers will see productivity fall, increases in sickness absence, more customer complaints, quality drops, safety issues, other negative measures. Employees will say there is a staff shortage, complain that workloads are too high, or that they can never get anything done because of management indecision. They may hide their mistakes or not give their best contribution because they fear making a bad recommendation or judgement call. These are all indicators of a negative workplace culture. Stress is simply the resulting symptom of other issues.
If changes to a person’s workload are done on an individual basis, without consideration of potential impact, or consulting staff more widely, it can cause conflict and slow scope-creep of job responsibilities for other staff, changing the job itself, which could result in pay and grading system issues and even potential equal pay claims… an extreme, but a possible reality. This doesn’t mean it can’t be done, or shouldn’t be done, and if disability is a factor it may well have to be done, but once this reality becomes clear it often causes conflict, paralysis of change, or there is a much greater problem that now needs to be unravelled and dealt with.
The good news is that there are some things you can do to address work-related stress right now. Some control measures to address work-related stress are focussed on the relationships in your workplace between staff and their line manager. How a line manager supports and engages with their team member can significantly improve job satisfaction and commitment of an employee. Providing meaningful recognition of effort can dramatically improve a person’s experience of work.
When people feel their effort is recognised, they are more likely to contribute their best and strive for even better. With that mindset you can problem solve, innovate, and find solutions to problems that create the pressures leading to work-related stress. These solutions are much less likely to be available to you when everyone is focussed on what they cannot achieve.
Developing your line managers to engage with their staff more effectively can therefore reduce the risk of work-related stress significantly. Implementing subtle changes in how a line manager engages their team can be more easily achieved in the short term, allowing for other solutions to be properly investigated and agreed.
Get support to implement change that will reduce work-related stress
Looking for the answers within your organisation is important. They will be there in part if not in full. The value of seeking external support at this point is not so much about new ideas as it is to help people move past their limiting barriers, mindsets and repeating patterns of frustration, fixating on solutions that may not be practical or grounded in evidence, or uncover people with solutions who are being ignored. External support can accelerate problem solving and change in this way. These are the moments a business will get the best results from investing in additional support, bringing people together to find solutions that work as well as adding to the process with specialist experience and expertise.
How you go about change is important to the outcome, delivering additional benefits that reinforce a positive culture where everyone contributes their best and allows for problem solving and innovation to come more naturally in the future.
How Contribute 100 can help your business address work-related stress
Contribute 100 can help you assess the risk you face with work-related stress, explore options for addressing the risks and identify small but meaningful actions you can do now, taking into account your business priorities constraints and strengths. Starting small now is better for your business than doing nothing.
Contribute 100 works with you from exactly where you are, helping you change what is possible.
Request a Free 45 Minute Consultation
Want to know more? We start by exploring what you can do right now to make the most difference with the resources you have. Our free consultation will explore:
To talk it over contact:
Nadine Rae, Founder and Director of Contribute 100
Do you want to change what is possible for you, your team and your organisation, but feel aspects of your workplace culture are holding you back? I help individuals and organisations to become more…
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