This April is Stress Awareness month, and the latest statistics from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) show that in 2023/24 there were 16.4 million working days lost due to work-related stress, depression or anxiety. With over three-quarters of a million workers in the UK suffering from either new or long-standing work-related stress, anxiety or depression, it is something to be taken seriously.
Work-related stress
Work related stress is defined as “a harmful reaction that people have to undue pressures and demands placed on them at work” (HSE). The industries where this is most prevalent, according to The Labour Force Survey (LFS), are public administration and defence; compulsory social security; education; human health and social work activities – but it can strike in any business.
Over 10 years ago, a paper published in The Lancet Medical Journal found that from an analysis of 13 existing European studies of nearly 200,000 people, that there was a 23% increased risk of coronary heart disease or heart attacks for workers experiencing “work strain”. Putting control measures in place can help reduce this figure.
What are the main causes?
According to self-reports from the LFS, the main causes of work-related stress, depression or anxiety are:
- Workload (with an emphasis on tight deadlines, too much work or too much pressure)
- Lack of managerial support
- Violence and bullying
- Organisational changes at work
- Role uncertainty
What is your duty as an employer?
As an employer, under The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, you have a legal duty to protect employees from stress at work. It may be that whilst your workplace isn’t causing the stress or anxiety it might be aggravating it.
The Working Minds Campaign has five ‘R’ steps to follow as an employer to work towards reducing and eliminating stress in your workplace.
- Reach out and have conversations
- Recognise the signs and causes of stress
- Respond to any risks you have identified
- Reflect on actions you’ve agreed and taken
- Make it Routine to check in on how people are feeling and coping
You should have a risk assessment. In it, identify the major risk factors that can influence stress for your employees and then put controls in place to eliminate or where this is not feasible, reduce the causes.
Invest in good mental health
According to a report by Deloitte, poor mental health in the workplace costs UK businesses upwards of £51 billion a year. Encouragingly, they also state that for every £1 spent on supporting the mental health and wellbeing of their employees, businesses get (on average) about £4.70 back in increased productivity. An investment worth making.
Here to help
At The Health & Safety Dept we are on hand to help your business when it comes to ensuring you are investing in good mental health for your staff. We can help you adhere to legal requirements when it comes to reducing work-related stress.
Whether you need us to write your stress risk assessment or support you in doing so, give us a call today to discuss your business’s needs. You may also need to complete risk assessments for individuals who may be more likely to suffer from stress, such as young workers, expectant mothers and those with a disability. As the expert we are here to help.
We can go further and write stress management policies to support your business. We also offer a range of eLearning courses that are a great starting point for you and your managers to understand the causes of stress in the workplace, including:
- Stress awareness training
- Mental health awareness training
We also offer a range of eLearning mental health awareness training courses for specific industries including education, construction, care and nursing. Contact us today to get started.
