Managing work related stress David Fox...HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory The HSE...
Transcript of Managing work related stress David Fox...HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory The HSE...
Managing work related stress
David FoxChartered Psychologist
Health and Safety Laboratory
Health and Safety Executive
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Managing Work Related Stress
IOSH Isle of Man Branch Annual Safety and Health Conference 2018 7th
February 2018
David Fox – Science Division, Health and Safety Executive
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Personal background
• Chartered psychologist
Areas of expertise includes:
• Survey design and analysis
• Personal assessment
• Safety climate
• Stress
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
The Health and Safety Laboratory
• Helps businesses
succeed
• Supports HSE
• Saves and
improves the lives
of workers
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Forward look
• The extent of the problem – a look at the latest statistics
• Defining what stress is and is not
• How to recognise stress
• The organisational impact of stress
• What we do to minimise the risks?
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
The statistics (available on the HSE stress website)
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
How many people?
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Days lost overall?
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Days lost per case?
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Proportion of ill health cases?
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Proportion of all working days lost?
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
The cost
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Statistics in context 2015/16
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
To summarise….
Work related stress accounts for:
• 37% of all work-related ill-health cases
• 45% of all working days lost due to ill-health
• £5.2 billion annual cost to GB
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Who is most affected by work related stress?
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Work related stress by industry group
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Work related stress by broad occupational category
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Work related stress by professional occupation
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Work related stress by age and gender
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Work related stress and company size
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
The risks are heightened if you…..
• Work in the public sector
• Work in a professional occupation
• Are female
• Are aged between 35 and 54
• Work in a large (over 250 staff) organisation
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
What is stress?
• A natural reaction to excessive pressure.
• When perceived demands exceed the individual’s ability to cope.
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Physical effects of stress
Acute stress
• Adrenaline is pumped
into the blood stream
• Immune system goes on alert
• Fight or flight response
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Physical effects of stress
Long term stress
• Cortisol is released
• Immune system is
compromised
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
What is stress?
HSE Definition
Stress is the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressure or other types of demand placed on them.
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
What stress is not
• Stress is not a disease but if excessive / prolonged can lead to mental and physical ill health
• Stress is not a recognised medical condition
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
A very important message…
There is no such thing as positive stress (only positive pressure) - stress is always negative!
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
What is different about stress?
• Harm is not easy to define
• Hazards are determined by the way people perceive them – individual differences
• Difficult to establish cause and effect in individual cases
• Difficult to distinguish between minor and serious harm
• Everyone is potentially exposed
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Symptoms of stress – individual level
Physical
HeadachesDiarrhoea
/ stomach
problemsFatigue
Skin
problems
Chest
problemsFrequent
colds
Weight
loss/gain
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Symptoms of stress – individual level
Psychological
Difficulty
making
decisions
Poor
judgement Constant
worrying
Depression
/ anxiety
Loss of sense
of humourRestlessnessMoody
Memory
problems
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Symptoms of stress – organisational level
Organisational
behaviour
Getting into
disputes with
colleagues
Increase in turnover
Reduced
productivity
Low team
morale
Poor time keeping /
late for workIncrease in
disciplinary
problems
Working
long hours
with
diminished
returns
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
What can cause stress outside work?
Divorce
Bereavement
Financial problems Relationship
problems
Pregnancy
Poor living conditions
Illness
Dependents
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
What can cause stress at work?
Deadlines
Unkind colleagues
Emails Office temperature
An absent line manager Frequent
travel
Colleagues off sick
Noisy / cannot
concentrate
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
What causes stress at work?
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
What causes stress at work?
Analysis of mental ill-health cases reported to THOR-GP (the general practitioner network) three-year aggregate total 2013 to 2015
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Statistics suggest that the risk of work related stress are related to….
• Workload
• Job related issues e.g. job design
• Interpersonal relationships at work
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Recap of key points…
• Stress is an adverse but natural reaction
• Stress is not an illness
• Individual differences – different people can react differently to same situation
• Varying causes that interplay: home and work is affected
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Why tackle stress? The legal position
Employers have duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
Places a general duty on employers to protect the health of their employees.
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Why tackle stress? The legal position
Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
Place a duty on employers to assess health and safety risks, including risks to mental health.
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Why tackle stress? The legal position
One of my staff is off with stress. Could they sue me?
• No, if you have done everything that is reasonably practicable to control the risk of WRS
• Yes, if the employee has been off with stress before and when they return to work you wilfully or negligently re-expose them to the same stressors
• Need to consider ruling in Dickins v O2 Plc (2008)
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Dickins v O2 Plc – Court of Appeal (2008)
Court of Appeal addressed three key issues:
Foreseeable injuries – Dickens communicated stress issues to line manager
Breach of duty – O2’s suggestion that D should seek counselling while continuing to work not regarded as adequate response
Causes: Court determined O2 had breached duty of care to D by not making changes to working situation making her condition worse
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Why tackle stress? The moral case
• Prolonged periods of stress can have an adverse effect on health
– Physical ill health
– Psychological ill health
– Behavioural outcomes that are harmful to health
• Research – good work is good for you! Waddell and Burton (2006 )
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
The organisational benefits of tackling stress
Improved return on investment
Lower risk of litigation
Improved customer care
Reduced costs (sick pay, recruitment, etc.).
Better absence management
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
The organisational benefits of tackling stress
Reduced staff turnover
Fewer accidents (e.g. through human error)
Improved work quality
Improved reputation
Tolerance of sufferers with work related stress
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
The individual benefits of tacking work related stress
Increased motivation and commitment
Higher morale
Increased performance
Team cohesion
Better acceptance of change
Improved relations between peers and superiors
Line managers can show their duty of care
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Why tackle stress? Case study – Somerset County Council
• 2001/02 sickness absence levels at 10.75 days, costing approximately £3.7million
• In 2003/04 after stress management interventions, sickness absence fell to 8.29 days further reduced to 5 days
• This represents a total saving of £1.3 million in first 12 months
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Why tackle stress?
• Three cases to consider:
– Moral
– Business
– Legal
• More information is available on HSE’s website
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Assessing the risk of work related stress
The HSE Management Standards for work-related stress
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
The HSE Management Standards 6 factors
• Demands
• Control
• Support
• Relationships
• Role
• Change
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
The HSE Management Standards 6 factors
• Demands – workload, work patterns, work environment
• Control – how much say a person has in the they perform their job
• Support – included the encouragement, sponsorship and resources provided by the organisation
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
The HSE Management Standards 6 factors
• Relationships – includes promoting positive working to avoid conflict and dealing with unacceptable behaviour
• Role – whether people understand their role within the organisation and the prevention of role conflict and role ambiguity
• Change – how organisational change is managed and communicated
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Development of the Management Standards approach
Organisations told HSE that management Standards should be:
• Based on evidence
• Practical and easy to use
• Applicable across the board
• About problems and their solutions
• Flexible and adaptable
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Key features of the Management Standards approach
• Uses a risk assessment approach
• Emphasises the value of good management
• Pro-active - about prevention rather than cure
• Focus on organisational / group approach
• Based on the best available evidence
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Risk assessing for work related stress – using the Management Standards approach
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Risk assessing for work related stress – using the Management Standards approach
1. Identify the stress risk factors – understand the Management Standards
2. Decide who may be harmed and how –gather data e.g. surveys
3. Evaluate the risks – explore problems and develop solutions e.g. run focus groups and interviews
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Risk assessing for work related stress – using the Management Standards approach
4. Record your findings – develop and implement action plans
5. Monitor and review action plan(s) and assess effectiveness
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Example: The Standard for Demands
• Employees indicate that they are able to cope with the demands of their jobs; and
• Systems are in place locally to respond to any individual concerns
The Standard is that:
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Risk assessing for work related stress – using the Management Standards approach
Full explanations of how to do this can be found in HSG218, free to download from the HSE website
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
HSE Management Standards Indicator Tool
• 35 item questionnaire
• Free to use
• Based on sound research and development
• Comes with free scoring software (Excel based)
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
HSE Management Standards Indicator Tool
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
HSE Management Standards Indicator Tool
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
HSE Management Standards Indicator Tool
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
New HSE Stress Indicator Tool
• Much improved functionality over previous manual version
• Based on the tried and tested Safety Climate Tool platform with similar features
• Paid for tool
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
New HSE Stress Indicator Tool
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
New HSE Stress Indicator Tool
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Find out more on the HSL website
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Information and support stress
HSE stress website
Lots of information,
guidance and resources
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Summary
• The extent of the problem – major employment issue?
• Explained what stress is and is not
• Looked the signature of stress and how to recognise it
• Considered the organisational impact of stress
• Looked at methods to assess and What can be done to minimise the risks at the organisation level
HSL: HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory
Any questions?