Helping your staff to deal with stress
Staff members who have managerial or supervisory responsibility for other staff need to take account of stress issues in the workplace. This is for three main reasons. First, there is a general duty of care which employing organisations have towards their staff, and so managers and supervisors need to make sure that this duty of care involves preventing staff suffering from harmful stress. Second, organisations have responsibilities under health and safety legislation to protect their staff from undue hazards, and this includes stress. Managers and supervisors therefore need to include stress in any health and safety risk assessment that they undertake, and should also be aware of issues relating to stress in general in order to prevent any unnecessary harm from arising. The third reason is that stressed staff are likely to be less effective, less efficient, more prone to errors, more prone to tension and conflict with other staff, more likely to be absent through ill-health, and will generally contribute to a less than healthy and happy work environment. Stress is therefore clearly a significant problem that needs to be addressed.
You therefore need to be aware of not only the costs of stress, but also the warning signs that give an indication that stress is a problem and the steps that you can take in order to:
- develop and promote a stress-free work environment in general;
- respond positively and supportively when any signs of stress should become apparent;
- support people appropriately when they are under stress; and
- carefully develop and implement a plan for helping staff members return to work after they have been absent on sick leave as a result of stress.
All these require at least a basic understanding of stress and staff care, and all need to be handled carefully, sensitively and constructively. This can be a significant challenge for managers and supervisors (especially if they are under considerable pressure themselves), but it can also be a very rewarding aspect of the job, and certainly well worth the investment of time and effort.
The warning signs fall into three main categories, thinking, feeling and doing:
- Thinking: Thought processes can be hampered by stress - inability to sustain concentration, difficulty in thinking clearly and forgetfulness are not uncommon.
- Feeling: There can be a wide range of emotions generated by stress: sadness and depression; anxiety; irritability; anger and frustration; and so on.
- Doing: People's behaviour can be significantly affected by stress. For example, appetite can be affected, as can sleeping patterns, sociability and various other aspects of our day-to-day behaviour.
One thing to watch out for in particular is distinctive changes. For example, being withdrawn is not necessarily a sign of stress, but it may well be so if the person concerned is normally quite extravert. Similarly, someone who is usually very calm, but who becomes agitated may be showing signs of stress.
In addition to these three categories, there may also be physical symptoms, such as headaches, stomach pains and so on. In addition, existing illnesses (such as asthma) can be exacerbated by stress. However, we should be careful not to make the mistake of assuming that stress is an illness. Stress is a complex psychological, social and organisational phenomenon and we must be careful not to oversimplify it by confusing it with an illness.
Dr Neil Thompson
www.neilthompson.info
Learning resources to help you manage stress issues and other situations that can arise when dealing with people
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Meeting the Stress Challenge is a successful and practical resource that provides guidance for staff, managers and trainers on dealing with stress issues. It includes exercises, handouts, checklists and OHPs that can be photocopied for use in your training programmes. The book was co-written by Neil Thompson, Michael Murphy and Steve Stradling. Buy Meeting the Stress Challenge from The neil thompson Bookshop |
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People Skills provides an excellent foundation for learning about self-management skills, interpersonal skills and the problem-solving skills required by a wide variety of managers and professionals. |
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People Problems deals with the factors that contribute to a range of problems including stress issues and is an ideal companion volume to People Skills. |
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DVD Resources
Dealing with Stress: A 3-DVD Set (Avenue Media Solutions) In the modern workplace it seems that stress is never far away. In the highly pressurised world we work in today there is a challenge to us all to make sure that we do not allow potentially stimulating and rewarding pressures to reach a level where they become harmful and destructive stress. Individuals and organisations that fail to take seriously the challenge of stress in the workplace are risking some very serious and harmful consequences. To help avoid the damage that stress can do and to support efforts to deal with it effectively. Stress issues are often oversimplified, with the subtleties and complexities not properly understood. Because of this, the DVDs offer a clear understanding of what stress is all about. Each of the three presentations draws on the expertise of leading author, Dr Neil Thompson. DVD 1 is entitled Understanding Stress and provides an introductory overview for everyone concerned with the problem of stress. It explains the difference between pressure and stress and emphasises the need to understand the three dimensions of stress (pressures – coping – support). It also outlines the various costs to be paid for not dealing with stress. DVD 2 is entitled Meeting the Stress Challenge and focuses on the individual’s responsibility for keeping pressures within manageable limits. It also helps learners to understand the causes of stress. As such, it provides a foundation for preventing stress. DVD 3 is entitled Managing Stress and emphasises the manager’s role in keeping stress at bay. This covers legal and professional requirements, identifies some common pitfalls to avoid and highlights positive steps that managers can take. It provides a firm basis for effective management and positive leadership. Each DVD is approximately 30 minutes in length and the set includes additional learning resources that can be printed out from pdf files on the DVD to offer up to two days’ training. |
