What is Work-Related Stress?
The HSE defines stress as ‘the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed on them’.
What is work-related stress?
Employees feel stress when they can’t cope with pressures and other issues, but what stresses one person may not affect another. For some it could be that they don’t have the skills, knowledge, or time to meet deadlines. For others, they might feel that their age or a disability affects how sufficiently they are able to perform a task.
There are six main areas of work which can affect stress levels:
- Demands of the job
- Control of how they do their job • Whether they’re receiving enough support
- Workplace relationships
- Whether or not they fully understand their role
- How much they’re engaged in changes to the business
Employers should ensure these are managed properly. Providing planning, training and support can reduce pressure and bring stress levels down.
Being able to recognise the signs of stress will help you to manage stress among your employees.
Look out for employees taking more time off, arriving later for work, decreased performance, nervousness, mood swings, being withdrawn, loss of motivation or confidence, and being more tearful, sensitive, or aggressive.
How to tackle it as an employer
If you are worried that an employee is showing some of these signs, then encourage them to see their GP or occupational health team.
Acting early can make it easier to reduce or remove the causes. If there is something wrong at work, which has caused the problem, it is your responsibility to take action.
I can help you to protect your employees from stress, with suggestions for simple conversations to have with them and through specially designed stress risk assessments. Please contact me to discuss #workplacestress #managingstressinetheworkplace #signsofstress #howtomanagestress #employeestress