Workplace Stress: A Manager's Guide to Supporting Your Team

The Scale of the Problem

Work-related stress, anxiety, and depression account for over half of all working days lost to ill health in the UK. This is not just a personal issue for affected employees; it represents a significant cost to businesses through absence, reduced productivity, and staff turnover.

As an employer, you have a legal duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations to assess and manage risks to mental health, just as you would for physical hazards.

Recognising the Signs

Stress manifests differently in different people, but common indicators include:

Early intervention is key. The longer stress goes unaddressed, the more likely it is to result in long-term absence or resignation.

The Six Management Standards

The HSE has identified six key areas of work design that, if not properly managed, are associated with poor health, lower productivity, and increased accident rates:

Demands: Workload, work patterns, and the work environment. Employees should be able to cope with the demands of their jobs.

Control: How much say employees have in the way they do their work. Greater autonomy generally leads to better wellbeing.

Support: The encouragement, sponsorship, and resources provided by the organisation, line managers, and colleagues.

Relationships: Promoting positive working practices to avoid conflict and dealing with unacceptable behaviour.

Role: Whether people understand their role within the organisation and whether the organisation ensures they do not have conflicting roles.

Change: How organisational change is managed and communicated.

Conducting a Stress Risk Assessment

A stress risk assessment follows the same principles as any other risk assessment. You need to identify the hazards (sources of stress), determine who might be harmed, evaluate the risks and decide on control measures, record your findings, and review regularly.

Involve employees in this process. They are best placed to identify what causes them stress and what would help. Anonymous surveys, team discussions, and one-to-one conversations all have their place.

Practical Steps for Managers

Creating a mentally healthy workplace requires ongoing attention:

When Someone Is Struggling

If an employee is experiencing stress, have a supportive conversation in private. Listen without judgement, ask what would help, and work together on solutions. Consider temporary adjustments to workload, hours, or responsibilities while they recover.

Signpost to support services such as Employee Assistance Programmes, occupational health, or external resources like Mind or the Samaritans.

How We Can Help

Managing workplace stress is an integral part of health and safety. At Integral Safety, we can help you conduct stress risk assessments, develop policies and procedures, and train managers to recognise and respond to stress in their teams. Get in touch to learn more about our consultancy services.