the workplace stress epidemic
by Thelma Agnew
Whether you work in a hospital or classroom, office or factory, stress at work can be a very real experience. More and more of us are suffering from stress and stress-related illnesses, according to research.
© stockbyte
More than half (53%) of people in work have suffered stress in the past 12 months, the latest survey by the International Stress Management Association found. The study, released on National Stress Awareness Day in 2001, found one in four people had taken time off sick through stress in the previous year.
Channel 4's own survey, published in 2000, found stress is on the rise. A total 41% of workers interviewed for the poll were more stressed by their jobs than a year earlier, the survey found. Find out more about the Channel 4 survey at our stressful lives.
Many of us find ways of coping with these work strains but the pressure can easily get too much. One in five people – an estimated five million workers – is 'very' or 'extremely' stressed at work, according to research by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in 2000. The HSE estimates that this stress toll leads to something like 6.7 million lost working days each year, costing society up to £3.8m.
The HSE research, 'The Scale of Occupational Stress: The Bristol stress and health at work study', published in 2000, found clear links between high stress scores and adverse working conditions such as having too much to do and not being supported by managers.
Workers who reported being very stressed had a range of health and behaviour problems, from poor mental health and back pain to excessive drinking and smoking.
Professor Andy Smith, who headed the research conducted at Bristol University, says the results confirm that workplace stress is a major problem. Indeed, he believes the scale of the epidemic is probably much greater than 'one in five' workers.
'We have used a conservative cut-off point based on a rating of "very" or "extremely stressed". If one includes those reporting moderate levels of stress then the scale of the problem is even greater,' says Professor Smith.
stress on the rise
Looking at past research, the Bristol team suggests that from 1990 to 1995 there was a 30% increase in occupational stress. In 1995, stress, depression and anxiety was the second most commonly reported group of work-related illnesses, after backache and other musculo-skeletal disorders.
Yet despite huge media interest in stress and government backing for 'family friendly' workplace policies, there is no sign that the stress epidemic has peaked. In fact stressed workers appear to be getting more stressed.
longer hours
One survey which has followed a group of 5,000 British managers since 1997, confirms that long working hours are part and parcel of many people's jobs. A total 91% of managers regularly exceed their contracted hours, according to the Quality of Working Life Survey 2000, published by the Chartered Management Institute in 2001. Three-quarters of the managers asked said working late or at weekends was the only way to deal with their workload, while two-thirds believed it was a part of their organisation's culture.
However, the tide may be turning. Only 8% worked more than 60 hours a week, compared to 12% in 1997. Fewer managers thought work more important than home – down from 16% in 1997 to 12% in 2000.
the stress toll
Another major survey, carried out in 2000, found that almost three-quarters of executives claimed workplace stress was damaging their health, happiness and home life – not to mention their performance at work.
This study, by the Chartered Management Institute and PPP healthcare, found a quarter of executives had taken sick leave in the past year as a result of their stress.
what's causing workplace stress?
The Health and Safety Executive defines stress as 'the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressure'. It can affect anyone. According to the HSE, the conditions which may lead to stress include:
- too much – or too little – to do
- boring or repetitive work
- role confusion
- lack of control
- lack of communication and consultation
- blame culture
- lack of support for individuals to develop their skills
- inflexible work schedules
- poor working relationships with others
- bullying, racial or sexual harassment
- physical danger (such as risk of violence) and poor working conditions (such as noise).
Cary Cooper, one of the country's leading stress experts, who is BUPA professor of organisational psychology and health at the University of Manchester's Institute of Science and Technology, blames 'Americanisation' for the stress epidemic.
He argues that as American trends such as longer working hours, the short-term contact culture and 'downsizing' – where companies shed jobs – became the norm in the 1990s, so stress levels among employees have risen.
the bigger view
Much of the latest research on stress is focussed on the big picture – the stress-inducing organisation, not the stressed-out individual.
'Stress at work is about processes,' says Elizabeth Burtney, research specialist for sexual and mental health at the Health Education Board for Scotland (HEBS).
HEBS is involved in a pioneering project to create a risk assessment 'tool' which employers will use to find the stress hot spots in their organisations and then rebuild healthier environments. A similar project has been piloted in three NHS trusts in England under a project supervised by the HSE.
who gets stressed?
Anybody can get stressed. It has nothing to do with weakness. But everybody has a different threshold at which they become stressed.
it's good to feel in control
'Stress is about too many demands and a lack of control. But it also depends on how the person perceives the situation,' says Professor Stephen Palmer of the Centre for Stress Management in London.
'It's an interaction between the person and the environment.' People need the right amount of pressure for them.
Some researchers argue that young people in their 20s are coping relatively well with today's brutal work culture, because they have never known anything else.
Not so, says organisational stress expert Professor Cary Cooper. He argues that the young have basic needs, like everybody else, which are not being met. 'They would like somebody to value them, they want a little bit of security. They want to be managed properly, by reward not by punishment,' he says.
Contrary to the popular stereotype of the stressed-out boss, stress-related illness is lowest among top-ranking professionals and managers, studies have found. It is highest among shop-floor workers and managers at junior levels. It is thought that the amount of control you have in your job and work environment is a key factor in stress. People at the bottom have the least control over their working lives.
taboo
Yet many people delay seeking help because stress still carries a stigma, says Elizabeth Burtney of HEBS.
'It can be difficult to talk about stress in organisations with a closed style of management that expect their employees to work hard and not care about their home life.'
is your job stressful?
Every job has different pressures, but the most stressful have certain characteristics in common, says Professor Cooper.
They include jobs where there is a lot of change. Professions like health care and teaching are high risk because they are often treated as political footballs, Professor Cooper says. Other high-risk areas include jobs where there is a lot of downsizing or new technology.
Two people in vastly different jobs can have very similar stress levels, he adds.
'A prison officer has the pressure of working for the government, of overcrowded working conditions and role conflict within the prison. On the other hand a freelance journalist or photographer, who appears to enjoy autonomy and control, has the problem of not being able to say no to work. And working from home can cause big problems because of the lack of social contact.'
Britain's 20 most stressful jobs*
- Prison officer
- Police
- Social work
- Teaching
- Ambulance service
- Nursing
- Medicine
- Fire fighting
- Dentistry
- Mining
- Armed forces
- Construction
- Management
- Acting
- Journalism
- Linguist
- Film producer
- Professional sport
- Catering/hotel industry
- Public transport
*Based on research assessing 104 jobs, by Professor Cary Cooper at the University of Manchester's Institute of Science and Technology, in 1997.
getting worse
More than 60% of the 104 jobs assessed by Professor Cooper's team showed increases in stress levels from 1985 to 1997. The top 20 most stressful jobs scored an average 6.5 out of 10 on the stress scale. Prison officers scored 8.8 – up from 7.5 in 1985. Librarians, on the other hand, scored only 3.3 – up from 2.0 in 1985.
Check out advice on handling stress for teachers, farmers, and call centre workers.
stress and the law
There is no single or specific law governing workplace stress. But employers do have responsibilities for their workers' stress levels under general health and safety at work regulations and through common law principles determined by a number of court actions.
The bedrock of statutory duties was laid down in 1974 with the Health and Safety at Work Act. This gives employers a 'duty of care' to ensure that employees are not made ill by their work.
Employers are also required, under the 1992 Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations, to assess the nature and scale of risks to health in the workplace and put adequate control measures in place.
The EU Working Time Directive should also have an impact by limiting the length of the working week and requiring employers to adjust conditions to suit the worker – not the other way round.
legal landmarks
Employers' legal requirement to protect employees from stress was underlined in a landmark court case in 1996, when Northumberland county council paid £175,000 in compensation to a former employee, social worker John Walker, who had suffered two nervous breakdowns as a result of stress at work.
There have since been other high profile cases, but proving a stress case against an employer is still not easy. In the case of John Walker, the case against his employer was watertight.
The TUC's health and safety policy officer, Tom Mellish, explains: 'He complained to his management that he was having problems with his workload, that he was under stress, and they said "fine, fine". He had a nervous breakdown.
'Management negotiated his return to work, promising to make the conditions better. Nothing happened. He came back to work and had a second breakdown. It was the second breakdown that won the case.'
To win compensation in court, a victim of workplace stress must do more than prove that they have been injured by stress. They must also establish:
- the duty of care was breached by the employer
- the employer's negligence caused the stress. Stress caused by factors outside work, such as marital problems, doesn't count
- they had already raised the problem with their employer
- the stress was reasonably foreseeable.
the future of stress at work
The Health and Safety Executive has launched a major initiative on tackling stress. Guidance issued for managers in September 2001 makes clear that employers are now legally required to tackle work stress and explains how to carry out a risk assessment of the problems.
The managers' guide, Tackling Work-related Stress: A managers' guide to improving and maintaining employee health and well-being, provides a step-by-step approach to identifying who is at risk of stress at work and finding ways of tackling the root causes. It urges managers to look at different possible causes for stress, including culture, workload demands, control, relationships and support
The HSE has also published a guide for employees, Tackling Work-Related Stress: A guide for employees. The leaflet explains what work-related stress means, advises how to deal with stress-related illness, outlines how staff can 'do their bit' and also offers suggestions for coping with unemployment and stress.
your rights
If you think you may be suffering excessive stress levels you should talk to your GP. If you want to find out about your rights in challenging conditions which are causing stress or to take up a legal case, you could contact the Health and Safety Executive, which has an information helpline, or the TUC, which also has a helpline and publishes a leaflet outlining your rights. Details of both organisations are given under help and info.
You can also find out more about your employment rights on the Department of Trade and Industry website www.dti.gov.uk/er.
Want to know more about your rights at work? Read our stress and the law feature.
Check out our feature on managing stress at work.
help and info
Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of third party sites.
organisations
There are several organisations which can offer help with stress problems at work. They include:
Centre for Stress Management
156 Westcombe Hill
London SE3 7DH
Tel: 020 8293 4334
E-mail: dawn.cfsm@btopenworld.com
Website: www.managingstress.com
An international training centre and consultancy which runs modular courses in stress management, stress counselling, psychotherapy and coaching suitable for professionals wishing to gain more knowledge and skills practice in these subjects. Also provides a range of services including stress auditing, stress counselling and stress management for individuals and organisations.
Health and Safety Executive
Infoline: 0845 345 0055 (Mon-Fri 8am-6pm)
Website: www.hse.gov.uk
Responsible for developing new health and safety laws and standards, inspecting workplaces, investigating accidents, enforcing good standards, providing information and guidance and carrying out research.
Health Education Board for Scotland (HEBS)
Woodburn House
Canaan Lane
EDINBURGH EH10 4SG
Tel: 0131 536 5500
Textphone: 0131 536 5503
Website: www.hebs.scot.nhs.uk
The national agency for health education in Scotland, promoting good health through the empowerment of individuals, groups and communities.
Mental Health Foundation
20 Upper Ground
London SE1 9QB
Tel: 020 7803 1100 (Mon-Fri 8.30am-5.30pm)
E-mail: mhf@mhf.org.uk
Website: www.mentalhealth.org.uk
Aims to improve the support available for people with mental health problems and people with learning disabilities. Offers information and literature on all aspects of mental health, including where to get help, information about specific mental health problems, treatments and rights.
Trades Union Congress (TUC)
Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3LS
Tel: 020 7636 4030 (Mon-Fri 8am-5pm)
Website: www.tuc.org.uk
Campaigns on decent employment rights and lobbies the Government to implement policies that will benefit people at work.
websites
BUPA
http://hcd2.bupa.co.uk/fact_sheets/
html/stress_workplace.html
A section devoted to stress at work looks typical stress triggers, symptoms of overload, self-help strategies and where to turn for further help.
Engineering Employers Federation – Managing Stress at Work
www.eef.org.uk/UK/whatwedo/healthandsafety/
services/online/publication11032004-2.htm
Developed to help companies meet their responsibilities, this PDF document provides details of good practice and practical actions that employers can carry out to deal with the issues of stress in the workplace. Includes guidance based on the real experiences of manufacturing companies applying such practices.
Health and Safety Executive
www.hse.gov.uk/stress/index.htm
Advice on work related stress, management standards for stress and links to guidance, research and resources.
The UK National Work-Stress Network
www.workstress.net
Aims to help raise the profile of work-related stress, its causes and how to eliminate it. Works with trade unions, employers, politicians and individuals towards creating a shift in the culture that leads to unnecessary workplace stress.
The Work Life Balance Centre
www.worklifebalancecentre.org
Contains information and articles on work-life balance issues, aiming to raise awareness, promote discussion and best practice, and produce practical interventions to encourage better work-life balance.
reading
Tackling Work-related Stress: A guide for employees (The Health and Safety Executive) |
|
 |
Don't Sweat the Small Stuff at Work by Richard Carlson (Hodder Mobius, 1999) |
 |
Calm at Work by Paul Wilson (Penguin Books, 1998) |
 |
Work Stress by David Wainwright and Michael Calnan (Open University Press, 2002) |
 |
|
(updated November 2002, resources updated April 2005)
