How to deal with stress

Assess whether stress is a problem for your business

Carrying out a stress audit is one of the best ways to find out whether stress is a problem in your workplace.

It can also help you to assess the risks of stress that people in your business may face as part of your health and safety risk assessment. See the page in this guide on why tackling stress in your business is important.

A stress audit involves talking to staff - either individually or in groups - to find out where there may be problems. Conversations can be relatively informal.

There are a number of key areas you should consider:

• work scheduling and the type of work
• working relationships with colleagues
• the level of communication and reporting
• the physical working environment
• employees' expectations of their work

A useful exercise is to ask staff to list three best and worst things about their job and whether these put them under excessive pressure.
     
You can also use questionnaires to gather the same information. Though there's a range of commercially available questionnaires, you may be better off developing your own checklist to fit the particular needs and working conditions of your business.

It's important when carrying out a stress audit to keep your employees fully informed about why you are doing it and what you're trying to achieve.

If there are safety representatives you should involve them in your plans and decision-making. Always respect the confidentiality of staff.

You should also monitor your own stress levels. See the page in this guide on dealing with your own stress.

You can read about work-related stress on the HSE website.

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• Why tackling stress in your business is important
• Common causes of stress at work
• Assess whether stress is a problem for your business
• Identify signs of stress in employees
• Tackle the causes of workplace stress
• External causes of stress
• Stress-management training and counselling
• Dealing with your own stress
• Here's how we tackle stress to create a healthier working environment