Actions to support staff who feel stressed

The Policy for the Prevention and Management of Work-Related Stress sets out the University’s commitment to, and arrangements for, reducing the impact of work-related stress. This includes ensuring appropriate arrangements to support staff who are impacted by work-related stress. Line managers play a key role in this.

Recognising stress

Managers should be alert to signs that individuals in their team are being affected by stress. The 'What is stress?' webpage provides further information to help understand and identify whether stress might be an issue.

Be proactive

Managers should aim to be proactive in their approach, which means incorporating wellbeing conversations into regular interactions such as 1:1s, not just when they appear to be struggling. This is particularly important when people are working remotely.

For example, use openers such as 'I’ve noticed you haven’t seemed yourself lately – how are you?' and 'I know there’s a lot going on at the moment – how are you finding things? Make sure you then check in again at a later date to see how things are going. Be mindful that a pattern of more frequent short-term absences might be an indication of underlying stress.

If you have cause for concern, you might sensitively encourage a colleague to reflect on whether they are experiencing stress. The International Stress Management Association’s (ISMA) ‘How to identify stress’ checklist is aimed at helping individuals recognise stress in themselves. There are development activities to support managers on the staff learning portal including having wellbeing conversations.

Stress-related absence

Ideally, we want to recognise and address stressors before someone is absent from work due to stress-related ill health. However, it may be that the first indication of an issue is absence from work. Think about mental health in the same way as you would physical health. Managers should refer to the Absence management policy in the first instance. This includes guidance on the use of occupational health (OH) to support the process. If an employee is off for more than 2 weeks with work-related stress or a related mental health condition, you should refer them to OH.

What to do

Show concern - first and foremost, demonstrate that you are concerned for the persons health.
Support - the University has resources to support colleagues. Check that they are aware of the support available and how to access it. This includes support relating to stressors outside of work such as housing, family and financial issues.
Get advice - if work is affected speak to your People Manager and consider making a referral to Occupational Health. The Employee assistance programme also includes a free management consultancy helpline where you can seek advice.
Consider the risks - where WRS is a contributory factor complete an individual stress risk assessment in discussion with the individual. Where someone has been absent from work as a result of work-related stress this should form part of the return-to-work process.
Manage the risks - the individual risk assessment process includes considering what actions and/or adjustments could help. Make sure these are implemented/addressed, and if necessary modify work tasks and responsibilities.
Encourage appropriate personal responsibility - the University’s policy for the prevention and management of work-related stress recognises the duty of care it has towards its staff and the legal duty it has to identify, assess and respond to occupational causes of stress. It also notes the responsibility every employee has to take reasonable care of their wellbeing and take advantage of opportunities for counselling, training or other relevant activities. The individual stress risk assessment includes a section to discuss individual actions and engagement with wellbeing resources which are applicable whether WRS or not.
Follow up - have regular check-ins to check how things are going, whether any adjustments or actions are helping, and continue to demonstrate your support. If work continues to be affected, consider referral to Occupational Health if not already in progress.

Finally, consider whether there could be anything that might be impacting others within the team. It might be that the issues are isolated to one person but equally they might not be. There is further guidance on reducing stress in the workplace which includes a team-level risk assessment template.

If you would like further guidance on progressing a wider piece of work with your team/department, speak to your Strategic People Partner or email organisational-development@brookes.ac.uk.