Employees are the core of a company's success. Neither its capital, its premises, its newest machinery, nor even its leadership would mean much without a great workforce to drive it forward. And that means a workforce with core stability and slower staff turnover. In sum, a place in which people feel happy to stay and grow. Therefore, retaining employees over the medium and long term by making sure they feel fulfilled in their role is key. And part of that is about ensuring a healthy working environment - not just physically, but from a mental health point of view.

In the UK in 2019/20, 828,000 workers suffered from work-related stress, depression, or anxiety, and 17.9 million working days were lost to it, making it the number one cause of lost working days.1 Similarly, a study conducted in the US reports that 200 million workdays are lost each year to mental health conditions.2

Work-related stress also affects employees' performance. Studies show that higher stress scores result in significantly lower productivity scores.3 APA reports that the performance of 59% of employees was negatively affected by work-related stress, causing them to be less interested in work, having less energy or motivation for it, finding it difficult to focus, and putting less effort into their work.4 According to APA, there is also a strong correlation between people's wish to change jobs and their stress levels. Among those who wanted to change jobs, 71% were 'usually stressed' during their workday.

"This year, 2022, marks the 20th anniversary of the inclusion of mental health in the French Labour Code. Although the initial objective was to combat 'moral harassment', the aims rapidly evolved into fighting stress, overwork and isolation, in other words: psychosocial risks. ?These issues need to be addressed by businesses planning reorganisation and restructuring projects - and staff representatives, employees and the courts all take a keen interest..."

Arnaud Teissier

Data Privacy - Discrimination - Health & Safety - Pensions - Employment Rights - Immigration & Global Mobility - Pay & Benefits - Restructuring & Labour Relations

But what are the main stressors, and how can we prevent them?

Research we looked at5 shows that work stress is commonly caused by:

  • Unrealistic demands, including excessive workload
  • Lack of support
  • Unfair treatment, including harassment and bullying
  • Lack of participation in decision making
  • Lack of appreciation
  • Effort-reward imbalance, including low pay
  • Conflicting roles
  • Lack of transparency
  • Poor communication
  • Lack of opportunity for advancement or growth
  • Long hours
  • Problems with coworkers and supervisor
  • Lack of paid time off or sick leave
  • Commuting
  • Health and safety factors
  • Unpleasant workplace conditions and environment

Many of these can be alleviated by good HR practices and so it seems clear that the way an employer manages its workforce plays an important role in managing people's work-related stress.

So, here are a few measures managers can take to prevent or minimise work-related stress faced by employees:

Measures to minimise work-related stress

Having open and safe communication with employees:
It is important to understand employees' stress levels and the cause of them, but this can only be achieved if employees feel they can be open about how they feel. Employees need to know who to talk to, that it is safe to talk, and that what they will say will be kept confidential. These kind of conversations should also not be used to critique the performance of the employee, as that may result in the employee deciding that trusting can have negative consequences and will therefore erode that trust.

Being aware that some employees may be more prone to workplace stress than others:
For example, studies suggest that disabled people or those who have either experienced or witnessed discrimination, are more prone to workplace stress. This is also the case for LGBTQ+ people.6 Some studies have also found that women suffer more from workplace stress than men.7

Ensuring diversity and acceptance:
Diversity is not just idealism – it also brings important advantages to businesses. Diverse teams are better at keeping up with customers' changing needs, are more likely to produce different ideas and better solutions to problems, as they tend to approach issues from different angles.8 Studies show that diversity also improves the bottom line - financial performance.9

Encouraging a good work-life balance:
An excessive workload and long hours of work are some of the major causes of work-related stress, and therefore employees should take steps to ensure their workers maintain a reasonable work-life balance. This can be more of a challenge when people are working remotely. However, actively encouraging people to disconnect from work at the end of the day, in a way that is guilt-free and expected by everyone, is one way to help achieve it.

Implementing mental health programmes:
Regular employee surveys, encouraging employees to be more physically active, assistance programmes such as therapies, mental health training, and other professional mental health supports are all good ways of educating and helping employees about how they can take good care of their mental health and become more aware of issues as they arise.

Being proactive:
Spotting mental health issues early can make them easier to resolve. But managers need to keep a careful watch. For example, low use of an employee assistance programme does not always indicate low levels of mental health issues. Managers should be encouraged to try to spot mental health issues by looking out for behavioural changes in employees. These could relate to punctuality, communication, irritability, appetite loss or gain, or changes in productivity or efficiency. There is an overlap between physical and mental health, and so physical complaints may well indicate underlying mental health problems.

Footnotes

1. HSE, Working days lost in Great Britain, https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/dayslost.htm

2. https://www.cdc.gov/workplacehealthpromotion/health-strategies/depression/evaluation-measures/index.html

3. Bui, Tina et al. "Workplace Stress and Productivity: A Cross-Sectional Study." Kansas journal of medicine vol. 14 42-45. 12.02.2021, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33654542/

4. APA, The American workforce faces compounding pressure, 2021 https://www.apa.org/pubs/reports/work-well-being/compounding-pressure-2021

5. Bhui, Kamaldeep et al. "Perceptions of work stress causes and effective interventions in employees working in public, private and non-governmental organisations: a qualitative study." BJPsych bulletin vol. 40,6 (2016): 318-325, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5353523/; APA, The American workforce faces compounding pressure, 2021, https://www.apa.org/pubs/reports/work-well-being/compounding-pressure-2021

6. APA, The American workforce faces compounding pressure, 2021, https://www.apa.org/pubs/reports/work-well-being/compounding-pressure-2021

7. HSE, Work-related stress, anxiety or depression statistics in Great Britain, 2021, https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/causdis/stress.pdf

8. Forbes, Sheryl Lyons, The Benefits Of Creating A Diverse Workforce, 09.09.2019, https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2019/09/09/the-benefits-of-creating-a-diverse-workforce/?sh=3cfe65d0140b

9. Gompers, Kovvali, Harvard Business Review, 2018, https://hbr.org/2018/07/the-other-diversity-dividend

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