What to Include in Your Workplace Stress Policy
If you’re an employer, understanding the impact of stress on employees’ physical and mental health is crucial, as this can greatly affect their overall behaviour, performance and relationships with other colleagues.
So, how do you create a healthy and positive work environment? This is where a workplace stress policy comes in and if you’re curious about what to include, read on to find out more.
What is a workplace stress policy?
A workplace stress policy is a set of guidelines designed to help identify, minimise and manage stress-related issues among employees and outline the company’s commitment to promoting employee health and wellbeing.
Why are workplace stress policies important?
Of course, the most important reason for implementing workplace stress policies is to help reduce employee stress. By putting your staff first and helping protect their wellbeing, you’ll see a more productive workforce that is happy with their roles and workloads.
They are an excellent tool for outlining how you, as an employer, will help manage stress in the workplace. We all want to build that trust with staff, right? Well, this is a fantastic way to start. Show your team that you can own the responsibility in managing workplace stress by creating a work-related stress policy that tackles the risks and provides guidance in situations where employees are stressed.
And that brings us nicely to our next point: guidance. A workplace stress policy supports staff if they are feeling stressed. Clear guidance is sometimes what people need when they begin to feel stressed. With a stress-at-work policy, you can plan for these situations based on your stress risk assessment and advise them on what to do next with information about how you’ll help.
How to write a work-related stress policy using HSE’s six management standards
The HSE’s six management standards are always worth considering when creating a workplace stress policy. Take a look at our previous blog to see how you can use these standards to make your stress risk assessment. But here are some considerations we recommend when you’re putting together your stress-at-work policy.
Demands
What are you currently demanding from your staff? Are they realistic expectations for completing tasks to the highest standard? This is one thing to bear in mind since this is a common cause of stress in the workplace. It’s essential to have processes in place to support employees experiencing stress from heavy workloads, such as wellness action plans.
Control
It’s always important to offer freedom to staff. Include in your stress at work policy ways employees can have control over their work. This could be a choice of when they take their breaks, discussing work patterns, and encouraging staff to develop new skills if they feel they need them to carry out their work.
Support
Consider how you’ll support staff with resources. For example, an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) might be something you could implement to support mental health at work. EAPs offer external support for employees affected by stress, providing someone to talk to when needed.
Appraisals are something else to include in your work-related stress policy. Scheduling regular catch-ups allows employees to discuss what is causing them stress early on, helping to prevent larger issues from arising.
Relationships
How do you promote positive behaviour at work? This is another thing to think about. Systems must be in place to deal with unacceptable behaviour, whether bullying, harassment, or any form of discrimination. Perhaps outline that conduct of this kind will not be tolerated and include the processes to follow if anyone does experience it.
Role
Clarity is key and can help massively when it comes to helping employees understand their roles and responsibilities. In your workplace stress policy, elaborate on the systems you have in place so staff can raise any uncertainties or conflicts in their role. This way, you can define their role and agree on their responsibilities.
Change
Change can severely impact an employee’s mental wellbeing. It’s up to you to make sure staff are well aware of any changes in the organisation. Include how you’ll provide your team with support and information about any upcoming changes and how this might affect them. Strong communication will help reduce employee stress as they’ll be expecting the changes and will know what it means for them.
What are the legal risks of not having a workplace stress policy?
Although a workplace stress policy is not a legal requirement, it can help you if claims for constructive dismissal were ever brought against your business. By not having a workplace stress policy, you could be making yourself susceptible to these claims under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 which says, “employers have a legal obligation to ensure (so far as is reasonably practicable) the health of employees in the workplace”.
Not only that, you could also breach statutory duties if you fail to control the risks that have already been identified.
Start building your workplace stress policy today!
Our Health & Safety and HR & Employment Law package helps you tackle workplace stress at the core, with 24/7 support, policy creation, risk assessment support, people management software, e-learning, HR consultancy and much more.
Believe us, it works – 85% of our clients believe they have a happier, healthier, more productive workplace from working with us (based on a 2022 survey).
We can also get you ISO 45003 (Psychological Health & Safety at Work) certified in no time. Contact us today and our team will be happy to assist you.
Don’t forget to read our other related blog posts on workplace stress below:
An employers guide to work-related stress
How to manage stress-related absences
How to minimise workplace stress
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