New stress guide for employers

A new stress guide highlighting the importance of managing employee stress through tough economic times has been launched.

A new stress guide highlighting the importance of managing employee stress through tough economic times has been launched.
Work-related stress: what the law says has been published by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) to encourage bosses to tackle staff anxiety through good people management – it warns of the potential legal risks that organisations face by ignoring their responsibilities in this area.
The CIPD’s quarterly Employee Outlook survey from July showed almost half (49%) of employees had noticed an increase in stress at work as a result of the economic downturn.
The new guide spells out employers’ legal obligations in identifying and preventing stress in the workplace, and draws attention to recent cases when employers have faced significant compensation payouts for failure to adequately monitor the mental well-being of staff and avert undue strain on employees.
The guide has been produced by the CIPD in association with the Health and Safety Executive, Acas and the cross-government Health, Work and Well-being programme, and was written by John Hamilton, head of safety, health and well-being at Leeds Metropolitan University.
Ben Willmott, the CIPD’s senior public policy adviser, said stress at work can have a significant impact on business performance.
”Employers that fail to manage stress effectively risk losing key staff through high absence levels and employee turnover,” he said.
”They will also suffer from low staff morale and risk higher levels of conflict and accidents in the workplace.  In addition, they potentially face costly personal injury claims, as well as damage to their employer brand.”
Dame Carol Black, national director for health and work, said: ”It is in employers’ interests to manage stress at work proactively and not just assume all staff are coping, particularly in a tough economic environment where many employees are under pressure to do more with less.”

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