Stress affects us all. That is a fact and because it is a fact, employers should know how to manage and address it in the workplace.
Even the best employers can have all the support made available to staff to manage stress but sometimes for example, workload can quickly get out of control, and this gets overlooked at which point you are faced with a potentially burnt-out employee suffering from stress and other mental health issues.
Having the right support in place and the right procedures can really help in avoiding staff going on repeated instances of sick leave and long-term sickness or even resigning with a risk of a claim for constructive dismissal or disability discrimination depending on the extent of the situation.
The way I see it, if you nurture your employees, give them the right environment and support, they will flourish, and their output will speak for itself.
I hear it far too often where employees in senior positions are expected to work around the clock for employers leaving little or no time for their personal life simply because their employer expects it in return for their high salary. What often happens is the valuable employee checks out and resigns.
What is stress?
In the employment context, ACAS helpfully refers to the definition of stress by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) as ‘the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed on them’.
Whilst stress is not an illness, it can lead to mental illnesses such as burnout, depression and anxiety or it can also exacerbate physical illnesses such as heart, digestive and skin conditions.
What are the most common causes of stress at work?
Here are some examples of things that can cause or contribute to stress at work:
- Workload
- Relationships with colleagues including senior management
- Lack of support at work
- An expectation to work long hours and not take time off when unwell
- Changes within the business
- Lack of clarity in terms of roles and responsibilities
- A toxic environment caused by difficult staff who have not been addressed. This includes bullying in the workplace or offensive behaviour which has been normalised
- Lack of growth for an employee within the business
- Lack of training
- A high turnover of staff
- Personal relationships including divorce and bereavement
- Personal health issues
- Personal issues such as finances

What are your legal obligations as an employer?
Employers have a duty to ensure they protect the health and safety of employees, and this includes stress at work and any resulting illness or injury.
The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 also puts a general duty on employers to ensure (as far as reasonably practicable) the health, safety and wellbeing of employees at work.
Employers have a legal duty to carry out risk assessments in the workplace to highlight any potential risks to employees. A written record of the risk assessment should be made and reviewed regularly. HSE have a useful template that can be accessed at https://www.hse.gov.uk/simple-health-safety/risk/risk-assessment-template-and-examples.htm. If any potential risks are identified, it is important that an employer considers ways to reduce or eliminate the risk.
How to identify an employee is experiencing stress at work
This may be difficult and will depend on each individual but here are some examples of indicators of stress:
- An employee not being their usual self
- Repeated absences
- Not meeting deadlines
- Standard of work is not concurrent
- Tiredness
- Short tempered
- Lack of presence or conurbation at team meetings
What can you do to prevent stress from occurring at work?
Here are some examples of the things you can do to prevent stress occurring at work:
- Carry out regular risk assessments.
- Implement a mental health and wellbeing policy at work setting out where and from who employees can see support from.
- Having an employee assistance programme in place.
- Fostering a culture of being open and communicate about stress in the workplace so that employees are not discouraged from seeking help should they need to.
- Provide management with training on how to identify stress in the workplace, its impact and how to address it and support employees.
- Offer employees a mental health day. Whilst this is not a legal requirement, it can be beneficial for an employee to take a days’ leave as respite. This is not considered sick leave but rather an additional days’ annual leave.
- Have department away days to switch off from the daily work routine and to work on relationships between staff.
If you would like any help and support in implementing any of these tips please do not hesitate to contact the RELA Team on 01983 897003.
Photo by Luis Villasmil on Unsplash