How to deal with stress
Tackle the causes of workplace stress
Once you've identified possible stress problems in your business, you can then take steps to tackle the causes:
- If overwork is a problem, consider how you might reduce people's workload. Ensure targets are challenging but realistic. Help people to prioritise work, cutting out unnecessary tasks and providing time-management training if necessary. Encourage delegation of work where possible, and try to delegate work yourself.
- Make sure staff take their holiday entitlement - and take your own.
- Check individuals are well-matched to the jobs you give them. Make sure your recruitment and selection procedures help you to achieve this.
- Make sure every employee has a well-defined role - and that they know what this is.
- Review people's performance so that they know how they're doing. Reviews also allow you to get feedback from employees about potential problems and identify any training they may need.
- Where possible give employees more autonomy, allowing them to plan their work schedule and decide how to tackle problems.
- Adopt a management style that encourages employees to discuss problems with you. Provide them with opportunities to express ideas about their work.
- Keep staff informed about your business' direction and make sure you tell them about significant changes to the business.
- Ensure you have effective discipline and grievance procedures to tackle bullying and harassment.
- Encourage employees to achieve a better work-life balance. You can read about work-life balance issues at the CIPD website.
- Take a sympathetic approach to any personal problems employees may have - a relationship break-up or family illness. See the page in this guide on external causes of stress.
You can read about work-related stress on the HSE website.
You can also read about mental health in the workplace on the Mental Health Foundation website.
Subjects covered in this guide
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Source - Business Link; Crown Copyright.
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