Feeling the pressure – stress in the workplace

Feeling the pressure
– stress in the workplace

Campaigns like the Samaritans’ Stress Down Day have recently drawn attention to stress at work, but how can you tell the difference between necessary pressure for results and unreasonable stress levels? Pf’s Diana Spencer explores the growing issue of workplace stress.

A third of people in the UK cannot get to sleep at night due to anxiety about work and three-quarters are unable to ‘switch off ’ when they leave the workplace. In an age when everyone is concerned with the health of our bodies and our environment, it seems the health of our minds is being neglected. Whether it is driven by consumerism, perfectionism or necessity, many of us seem to be driving ourselves towards a mental breakdown with the amount of work and responsibility we take on.

“Employers that invest in training and developing their managers to ensure they exhibit the behaviours that manage stress at work will also reap benefits in terms of reduced conflict and staff turnover, as well as increased motivation and commitment”

Obviously, it isn’t only our working lives that cause us stress, but it is usually a combination of occupational and personal factors that bring a person to the point where they are unable cope. Here are some more ‘stress-facts’:
• It is estimated that the cost of stressed workers to the British economy is £3.7 billion every year.
• One in five workers say they feel extremely stressed at work.
• Three-quarters of executives say that stress adversely affects their health, happiness and home life, as well as work performance.
• Work-related stress, depression or anxiety account for around 10.5 lost working days a year.
• The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) says that stress is likely to become the most dangerous risk to business in the early part of the 21st century.

Compensation payments for stress-related injuries are also on the increase, so the mental health of its workforces is an area that employers are being forced to address with some urgency.

Stressed for success

There are a number of signs that you might be suffering from stress: if you recently spent a holiday with your family worrying about work, for example, or became ill while you were away because it was the first time all year that you’ve properly relaxed, or sat on the flight home fretting about the workload awaiting you. Many of us suffer from some stress as a result of our work-lives, but for the majority, simply putting things in perspective and shifting the priorities in our lives is enough to solve the problem. For others, stress can be more serious and impacts their ability to function, both in the workplace and in other areas of their lives.

For a salesperson, pressure is all part of the job – without it you wouldn’t get that ‘buzz’ that drives you from appointment to appointment. The problem arises when that pressure becomes more than you can handle. Feelings of isolation and lack of support can add to stress and as a large part of a medical sales representative’s day is spent alone, it is perhaps more important that you have the support of your manager and colleagues to help ease the pressure.

Stress rules

While there is no statute that specifically covers the issue of work-related stress, the laws governing this area have arisen from case law rather than legislation. As this is an area that is constantly evolving, with an increasing number of cases, it is important that employers stay on top of any developments.

Changes to the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) in 2005 had a large impact on stress legislation, as conditions such as stress, anxiety and depression may now be sufficient to qualify someone as disabled if it impacts their ability to carry out day-to-day duties for at least a year.

In the absence of official legislation, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has introduced the Management standards for work-related stress. Although the guidance is voluntary, it could be used as evidence against employers that continue to neglect their responsibility in managing stress. The six Management Standards cover the main causes of stress at work: demands, control, support, relationships, role and change.

“We want employers to work with employees and their representatives to implement the Stress Management Standards and introduce a process of continuous improvement,” explains the HSE. “This will be good for employees and good for business.”

Stress-down day

Workplace stress recently hit the headlines as a result of charity Samaritans’ ‘Stress Down Day’ campaign. The charity earned celebrity support in urging people in the UK to wear their slippers to work on 1 February 2008 to raise awareness of the growing stress levels amongst UK workers.

A survey conducted by the charity indicated that nearly a third of workers feel their employer turns a blind eye to stress, over half have seen an employee cry over pressure and nearly half are worried about the affect stress is having on their health.

“These results really disturb me,” comments Professor Cary Cooper of Lancaster University, an expert in the field of workplace stress. “Shouldn’t we be managing people by reward and praise rather than by fault finding and bullying?”

Managing stress

Ten ideas for reducing your stress levels 1. Set your alarm 15 minutes early and just lie in bed 2. Make time to eat breakfast 3. Stand on escalators rather than walk 4. Take off your watch. Work to your own agenda 5. Leave a hole in your diary on every day of the week. Use these gaps to relax 6. Eat more fruit and veg, even if this just means tossing a salad to go with a ready meal 7. Swap coffee for green tea 8. Spend ten minutes every evening planning the next day 9. Restrict your ‘to-do’ list to just seven essentials 10. Avoid checking emails last thing at night (Taken from Slow Down: Enjoy life and live longer, see review on page ?)

Employers and management have a significant role to play in minimising the effects of stress on the employees of a company. Organisations are required to assess and manage the causes of any ill-health at work and this includes stress, anxiety and depression. The HSE encourages employers to monitor ill-health in the workplace and what form that takes, survey staff as to the reasons for any absence from work and agree and share an action plan to minimise the causes of stress in the future. Another way of managing stress in the workplace is to encourage a culture of ‘well-being’. This approach is more proactive in identifying ways to create and healthy and happy workforce, and can include training in stress management and relaxation techniques, the promotion of healthy diet and exercise and personal counselling schemes.

Recent research published by the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD), HSE and Investors in People has reinforced the importance of management in managing employees’ stress levels. The CIPD’s Ben Willmott comments: “This research and guidance shows that managing stress at work is part and parcel of good people management. Employers that invest in training and developing their managers to ensure they exhibit the behaviours that manage stress at work will also reap benefits in terms of reduced conflict and staff turnover, as well as increased motivation and commitment.”

One example of a successful stress policy is Hinchingbrooke NHS Trust, which was failing to meet its key performance indicators in recruitment, retention and sickness absence. A Valuing Staff campaign was introduced, including a stress audit, which sought the views of staff and addressed their concerns. As a result, the Trust experienced the lowest sickness absence for two years, vacancies at the lowest recorded levels and lower staff turnover.

Stress in pharma

The pharmaceutical industry has responded to these issues in a variety of ways, such as providing access to leisure facilities, educating managers to recognise when a member of their sales force is struggling to cope and offering 24-hour Employee Assistance Programmes (EPAs) and counselling services. However, perhaps most significantly, many companies are now opening up more flexible and part-time working options to improve employees’ work-life balance. An example of this is AstraZeneca UK’s ‘Balanced Living Charter’, which states the company’s commitment to the physical and psychological well-being of its employees and to improving their work-life balance through various programmes.

Many companies will also have specific a ‘stress policy’ to define what should be classed as harmful stress levels and how the company should respond to provide the best support for the employee. In its own such policy, Lundbeck encourages managers and other employees to attend stress awareness workshops and states: ‘The Company considers that good management style and a regard for its employees is possibly a more effective approach for dealing with stress than any temporary high profile “stress initiative”.’

In researching flexible working within medical sales, Steve Wright of Southern Business Consulting discovered that the majority of UK companies do offer flexible working options. Of the eight top pharma companies surveyed, all offered flexible working, and half of these implemented these policies before Flexible Working Regulations were made law in 2003.

Steve comments: “Those companies with established flexible working practices identified far more benefits than those that had not taken the strategic decision to utilise flexible working before the legislation required them to do so, with employee retention and employee morale being identified as the greatest benefits. Other benefits identified included improved productivity and easier recruitment.” (Visit www.managementdevelopment.org/articles for full details of the research project.)

De-stress yourself

However, it is not just your employer that needs to be aware of the effects of excess work stress. UK workers are often tempted to turn to alcohol, cigarettes or comfort eating when they feel under pressure, rather than address the source of the problem.

A report published by the Stroke Association revealed that the most common way of dealing with stress by nearly 50% of UK workers was to ‘get angry’, with a further 43% eating more, 34% turning to alcohol to drown their sorrows and 23% attempting to smoke themselves happy. These self-destructive behaviours often do little to reduce your stress levels, and can also have an extremely detrimental effect on your health, such as increasing blood pressure.

Employees need to take a share in the responsibility for their stress levels, as well as general health. Approaching your manager if you are experiencing an unreasonable amount of pressure can result in a productive dialogue and solution that will be beneficial to you and your employer and not increase your risk of ill health.

Greater awareness of workplace stress, such as that generated by Stress Down Day, will make employers more aware of the health of their employees, but also make it easier to approach your employer should you feel stressed due to work demands. It is through knowledge and understanding that win-win situations will be reached in this area and that workforces will be healthier, happier and more productive.