Hot Issues:
Managing Stress In The Workplace

What is the difference between pressure and stress?

There is sometimes confusion between the terms pressure and stress. Whilst it is healthy and essential that people experience challenges within their lives that cause levels of pressure, too much pressure can be harmful and destructive to health.  Stress is the reaction that people have excessive pressure or other types of demand placed on them.  There are many definitions of the term stress, the following definition is provided by the Health and Safety Executive:

“Stress is a reaction people have to pressure placed upon them and occurs when pressures exceed the individual’s ability to cope.”

What are the financial implications of workplace stress?

The costs of stress to organisations may show up as high staff turnover, an increase in sickness absence, reduced work performance, poor timekeeping and complaints.  Work related stress accounts for over a third of all new incidences of ill health.  Stress related illness leads to an average of 30.9 working days lost each year (HSE, 2006).  In 2004/5 a total of 12.8 million working days were lost to stress, depression and anxiety. One person in 5 suffers measurable stress (Bestic, 1999). We know that stress is one of the most common buzzwords of the last decade and that stress has replaced poor labour relations and is known as the ‘British Disease’ (Stevenson, 2000).  So we know that it is considered a modern condition which for many people can be considered a ‘traumatic experience’ (Earnshaw and Morrison, 2001). 

How do you recognise stress?

Signs and symptoms of stress vary from one individual to another, with some people showing an acute reaction to stress whilst in others the symptoms may appear over time.  Our reaction to stress is a primitive response.  It dates back thousands of years to when humans face life threatening dangers every day.  Surprising a sabre-toothed tiger in the wilds, humans needed that quick rush of adrenaline to help them fight or run.  Nowadays demanding or new situations can still evoke this prehistoric reaction.  But today it might be a telephone call with an urgent request or an important meeting with the boss which provokes the stress response.  Why do our bodies react in this way?

When we face a threatening situation the brain puts the body on alert by producing more of the so-called ‘fight or flight’ hormones, adrenaline and noradrenalin.  These can: raise blood pressure, increase heartbeat, restrict blood flow to the skin, and reduce stomach activity, causing a feeling of ‘butterflies’ and increase perspiration.

What causes stress?

We know we are not normally facing life threatening dangers when we feel stressed.  So why do we act as if we are still being chased by a sabre toothed tiger?  Some experts believe feeling stressed is a modern problem, brought on by the ever increasing pace of life.  They argue that outside pressures like changing work practices, are mainly to blame.  Others believe life is no more stressful than it has ever been.  They say that stress is largely a creation of our own minds.

Many of us certainly feel the pace of life has speeded up.  It can seem that there are constant pressures at work and home.  One expert who is convinced that stress is a modern phenomenon is Cary Cooper Professor in Organisational Psychology at the University of Lancaster.  He blames three changes: work, home and the gender factor.  He believes that there have been huge changes in the way we work over the last few decades. Professor Cooper claims that we work longer hours in Britain than anywhere else in Europe.  Technological advances mean that we are now bombarded with e-mails, faxes and phone calls wherever we go.  With regard to the home: many people have moved away from their extended families so that they cannot turn to relatives – our ‘natural counsellors’ for moral support and the gender factor is that there are no longer clear cut roles for men and women.  Most women now have jobs and many of them have to juggle both work and family commitments.  Men are not left out of the equation because they feel under pressure to devote more time to their families but may be unwilling or unable to do so because of work commitments.

What can managers do?

Managers should be vigilant to signs of stress in their staff, to enable them to take appropriate action. The first signs that indicate employees may be suffering from excessive pressure or stress are changes in behaviour or appearance. Indications of stress in an individual employee can be reflected through an increase in emotions - such as crying, undue sensitivity, over-reaction to problems, personality clashes, anxiety, moodiness, anger and depression, whereby the physical signs may be rapid weight gain or loss, constantly feeling cold, tension headaches, or continued tiredness.  Other out of character behaviours in an employee may be that they show signs of having difficulty in relaxing, an increased consumption of alcohol or smoking, lack of pride in appearance, reckless driving and unnecessary risk taking. 

Stress in the workplace has to be properly managed if it is to be controlled. The CIPD believe that people work more effectively within a participative management style; people are better motivated when work satisfies economic, social and psychological needs. Motivation improves by paying attention to job design and the work organisation (CIPD 2006). In terms of the legal situation, there is currently no statute specifically covering the issue of stress in the workplace and the law governing stress has evolved mainly from case law rather than from legislation. However, under existing health and safety legislation employers have a duty to undertake risk assessments and manage activities to reduce the incidence of stress at work.  For example the Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (SI 1999/3242) and the Working Time Regulations 1998 (SI 1998/1833) have a potential impact on this area.

The CIPD have identified four main approaches that organisations can adopt to address stress at work.  They believe that organisations can use them as a single initiative or perhaps adopted in a more step by step well being programme:

1. Policy, procedures and systems audit –  aimed at ensuring that organisations are providing a working environment that protects the well-being of its employees;

2. Problem centred approach – this is designed for identifying issues and problems that may occur within the workplace, exploring ways to resolve them;

3. Well-being approach – aimed at encouraging a more proactive approach to employee well-being.

4. Employee centred approach – this focuses on employee counselling and stress management training (further information on the above can be found at the CIPD – Stress at work website).

Strategies to reduce workplace stress

Stress Audit - using the Occupational Stress Indicator to identify areas of stress within the organisation, and subsequently directing resources to reduce or eliminate the sources of stress.

Stress Policy or Well-being Policy - which is committed to developing a working environment that promotes the health and well-being of the organisation and its employees.

Individual initiatives – employee counselling, and stress management training.

Support of Senior Management – all policies and initiatives need the seal of approval from senior management, to ensure that they maximise employee well-being. 

Further Advice:

Advisory conciliation and arbitration service (2004) Stress at work. Advisory booklet. London: ACAS. Available at http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=782

Bestic, L. (1999) “Take it easy, it’s only a job,” The Independent  22 July.

CIPD Stress at work (2006) available at: http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/health/stress/stress.htm

Health and Safety Executive – Improving efficiency and productivity by managing attendance and work related stress.  Available at http://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/individuals.htm

Incomes Data Services (2004) Managing Stress. HR studies. London: IDS.

Stranks, J (2005) Stress at work: management and prevention. Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth Heinemann.

Stevenson, D.  (2000) Stress – the new ‘British Disease’?  Management Research News Vol. 23 (12).

Tehrani, N. (2002) Managing organisational stress: a CIPD guide to improving and maintaining employee well-being. A guide. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Available at:

http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/health/stress/manorgstres.htm

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