1. Being Proactive:
An Organisational Approach to
Managing Workplace Stress
Presentation by
Raaz Dhamelia
KS School of Business Management
Ahmedabad (India)
Co. No. 9574 201 201
2. Healthy Work: Managing Stress in the
Workplace. (2003)
“ Creating a healthy and safe workplace requires
employers and employees to work systematically
together to identify hazards and manage them”
3. Stress an integral and inevitable
feature of most contemporary
workplaces
Workplace stress arises when individuals perceive
an imbalance between the pressures and
demands made on them and the resources they
have to cope with these demands
4. Managing Stress in the Workplace
Traditional view
Stress the responsibility of the individual
Organisational view
Employers and employees have a responsibility
to address work-related stress
5. The HSE Amendment Act 2002
Objective:
To promote the prevention of harm to all persons
at work through the systematic management of
hazards
6. HSE Amendment Act 2002 holds
Employers Responsible for
Implementation of effective systems for
identifying existing and new hazards,
including work-related stress
Systematic management of hazards, by
eliminating them, isolating them or
minimising them, in that order of preference.
Provision of opportunities for employee
participation.
7. 3 Approaches to Tackling Work-
related Stress
Prevention
Identifying and acting on the causes of stress
Stress Risk Assessments
Management
Giving staff the skills to cope / manage
Treatment
Professional medical and psychological support
8. Stress Risk Assessment -
A Preventive Approach
SRA aims to identify:
1. The level stress (the harm)
2. The main sources of work-related stress (the
hazards)
3. What practicable steps can be taken to
eliminate the sources of stress
(hazards), if possible
9. An International Perspective
An international review of stress prevention
in the workplace highlights that there has
been a lack of systematic Stress Risk
Assessment (Kompier and Cooper, 1999).
The UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
Guidance recommends that a risk
assessment approach be followed when
tackling work-related stress
10. Step 4 & 5 - Record and Re-Assess
Step 2: Step 3 (a): Step
Step 1: Evaluate Risks
Evaluate Harm Introdu
ntify Hazards
Who could How likely What c
What might
be harmed, is it that the to redu
ause harm?
and how? hazard could that
cause harm? will ca
11. Comparison of a Risk Assessment
With a Stress Risk Assessment
Risk Assessment Stress Risk Assessment
1. Identify the Hazards 1. Assess levels of stress
(harm)
2. Evaluate the Harm 2. Identify main sources of
stress
3. Evaluate the Risk 3. Identify the main sources of
stress for individuals / teams
4. Introduce Controls 4. Identify what can be done to
manage the main sources of
stress
12. Stress Risk Assessment Process
1. Planning and Consultation
2. Data Collection
Qualitative methods e.g. interviews, focus
groups, Stress Diaries
Quantitative methods e.g. structured surveys,
StressTools
3. Data Analysis
4. Feedback and Action Planning
13. StressTools
A Tool for Tackling Work-related Stress
StressTools aims to help organisations identify and
manage work-related stressors.
StressTools takes a preventive approach
emphasising removing work-related stressors rather
than treating stress symptoms
StressTools developed by the Keil Centre with the
assistance of Birbeck College and local industry
StressTools won the European Health and Safety
Best Practice Award.
15. Task-based SRA
Identify and control stressors and other human
factors hazards arising from an unusual, complex or
hazardous task
To be included in pre-existing Risk Assessment
process
Emphasises links between stress and safety
Tackles stigma associated with mentioning stress
16. Future-focused SRA
Involve cross-section of employees identifying work-related
stressors likely to be associated with a future project or
organisational change and planning preventative measures
Focuses on preventing future work-related stress
Relevant to major projects or organisational changes
Identifies relevant work-related stressors through employee
involvement
Can be tailored to local circumstances
Identifies actions to prevent / manage future sources of work-
related stress
17. Team-based SRA
The team-based SRA method, which identifies
levels and sources of stress in teams doing
similar work in organisations and identifies
locally relevant solutions through employee
involvement is particularly relevant in light of the
changes to the Health and Safety in Employment
Amendment Act 2002.
18. Team-based SRA Involves 4 Steps…..
Step 1. Evaluating harm .
Measures team members’ perceptions of level of work-
related stress and benchmark levels of stress with other
groups
Step 2. Identifying the hazards.
Assesses which work- related stressors are causing stress,
using a generic (40 predefined) and locally relevant work
related stressors. Identifies the main work-related stressors
affecting team members now or in the recent past
Step 3. Evaluating risks.
Assesses what are the most significant sources of stress for
team members and describing these sources in more detail.
Step 4. Introducing controls.
Identifies what can be done by management or team
members to prevent and manage work-related stress
19. Conducting a Team-based SRA
Train project organiser / working team
Needs to be well-respected by the team
Important to maintain confidentiality about employees opinions
about stressors and levels of stress
Prepare for the team-based SRA
Use cross-section of employees to identify local work-related
stressors
Customise the team-based SRA
Identify sub-groups
Choose comparison group for benchmarking purposes
Add local work-related stressors
Add additional questions. Questions need a yes no answer
format
Collect data
Paper workbook / on-screen option
20. Results of Team-based SRA
Stress levels
Stress comparisons with benchmark group
Stress exposure - % of people in each group which
indicated that each stressor was “often” of “always” a
source of stress
Stressors high- low
Ranked stressors – significance of stressors
Movement
Written comments on main sources of stress
21. StressTools
14 Management Standards Providing Guidance on How
to Prevent Work-related Stressors
Workload Job design
Management support
Job Insecurity
Tools and equipment
Teamworking
Communication
Performance Role ambiguity
feedback Skill under-utilisation
Training & Work-life balance
development Effort-reward imbalance
Hours of work
22. Each Management Standard Includes…
A definition of the stressor
How the stressor can cause individual harm and organisational
harm
How to identify if problem exists now or may do so in the future
Management practices that may prevent or resolve these
problems
A table which includes:
“States” which describe a well-managed organisation, in
relation to this stressor
A space to record current organisational practice, enabling a
gap analysis to be done
Examples of the types of best practice which exemplify the
“state”
A space to record next steps/actions
23. International Research Shows
1. Most of the activity in the field of stress
management has focused on reducing the
effects of stress rather than on reducing
the presence of stressors at work.
2. Most activities are primarilyy aimed at the
individual rather than the organisation.
3. Concluded that successful management of
stress requires intervention at both an
individual and organisational level.
24. Benefits of Stress Risk Assessment
Signals to employees that the employer is
being proactive and serious about managing
stress in the workplace.
It ensures that subsequent stress-related
activities aimed at management or treatment
are targeted at specific problems and specific
individuals.
Provides a tailored approach to managing
stress rather than a “pray and spray”
approach. In the long term it is more effective
in terms of costs and time.
25. In Conclusion
Compared to other stress management
techniques
The risk assessment approach to stress is
likely to more effective, as the source is being
addressed rather than the symptoms
It is a proactive