Reducing stress in the workplace – a guide for managers

1.    Do people know what is happening in the team and wider organisation?

Team/Departmental level

• Ensure that there is regular communication within the team/department/Faculty e.g. team meetings, use of Google Chat etc so that people know what is happening and why.
• Use 1:1 meetings to check individual understanding and provide an opportunity to ask any questions.
• Require any managers who report to you to cascade communications onward to their teams.

University level

• Encourage people to interact with University Communications e.g. Staff Update emails, Communications hub and events e.g. Talk to VCG.
• Cascade information received from management briefings e.g. Heads of Department meetings

Helpful resources:

Communication hub including ‘Strategy matters’ and VCG webinars

2.    Are staff able to do the job? 

Training and development 

• Ensure that individuals are trained so they are able to do their jobs, including periodic refresher training on key areas.
• Give new staff a proper induction into the team and the organisation.
• Use 1:1s to ensure individuals can identify development/training needs or opportunities and make sure these are recorded in personal development/training plans and regularly reviewed
• Take into account that people’s skills and the way they approach the work will differ and tailor accordingly.

Equipment, tools or resources

• Ensure individuals know how to access the information and resources required to do their role.
• Check if people feel they have the equipment, tools or resources required to do their jobs effectively.

Helpful resources:

Staff Learning Portal

New starters ‘enabled’ page  (includes links to IT, finance and procurement, facilities and more)

1.   Are you providing people with sufficient autonomy?

• Give people some freedom to work in a way that suits them: whether that's the order of task completion, having more control over the way tasks are done, or potentially the freedom to decide when and where they do their work.
• Try to be outcome rather than process focused.
• Use 1:1s to check whether people feel they have enough or indeed too much autonomy and would prefer more guidance or support
• Provide explanations where it is not possible to allow greater freedom e.g. due to regulatory requirements.

2.   Are you enabling staff to have their say? 

• Talk about the way decisions are made within the team – is there scope for more team involvement? 
• Give people the opportunity to make suggestions and share ideas and take these into account.
• Encourage people to put suggestions into action

3.   Are you making full use of colleagues’ skills and abilities? 

• Enrich jobs by ensuring that staff are able to use various skills to get tasks completed and that staff can understand how their work fits into the wider aims of the unit. 
• Talk about the skills people have and if they believe they are able to use them to good effect. How else would they like to use their skills?

4.  Is there clarity around roles and responsibilities within the team?

• Ensure everyone has a job description and these are periodically reviewed
• Use team plans and team meetings to increase awareness and understanding of what people are doing within the team
• Consider using a RACI matrix or similar to improve clarity

(Also see Role)

5.  How much supervision is actually needed? 

• Only closely monitor colleagues' output or timekeeping if there are existing performance concerns that have been raised with them.  
• Use 1:1 meetings and other methods to get updates and ask people to let you know about issues or exceptions.  

1.  Are you aware of people’s workloads and the amount of time they are working?

• Discuss workload regularly at 1:1s
• Be aware of people’s working patterns/hours of work.
• Monitor whether people are using their leave through the year (not just year-end) 
• Include ‘workload/emerging pressures’ as a standing item of team meetings and 1:1s.

2.  Is there a healthy culture in the team around workload and work-life balance?

• Encourage team members to talk to you at an early stage if they feel as though they cannot cope.
• Encourage a healthy work-life balance and set the right example yourself (role model)
• Encourage staff to take their annual leave entitlement and regular breaks. 
• Encourage staff to look out for each other and provide support to colleagues.
• Introduce flexibility in work schedules where possible to enable individuals to cope with domestic commitments.

3.  Do you support people to manage their workload?

• Listen to people’s concerns
• Ensure clarity about priorities within the team so they can plan their work accordingly.
• Provide regular opportunities e.g. team meetings to review upcoming work and any scope for addressing pressure points e.g. delaying lower priority activities, stopping certain activities, outsourcing or bringing in additional staff. 
• Ensure there is an understanding of why certain activities are necessary
• Proactively look ahead and identify peaks in workload and minimise other activities during this time where possible.
• Use plans and other tools to keep track and ensure visibility of upcoming workloads
• Where possible cover workloads during staff absences.  Discuss opportunities for rescheduling/re-prioritising
•  Support staff to prioritise or renegotiate deadlines. 
•  Encourage people to attend training on time management, prioritisation, assertiveness etc where individuals may need this extra support/guidance.
• Try to consider where strengths and preferences are within the team and align work with those.

1.  Have staff been involved in the changes? 

• Try to involve people as early as possible when considering changes.
• Involve staff in discussions about how jobs might be developed and changed and in generating ways of solving problems.
• Provide ways to enable staff to comment and ask questions before, during and after the change. 
• Have an ‘open-door’ policy to help staff who want to talk to you about their concerns.

2.  Do colleagues understand the reasons for change? 

• Ensure all staff are aware of why any planned change is happening. 
• Explain the timetable and what the first steps are going to be. 
• Communicate new developments quickly to avoid the spread of rumours.
• Face-to-face communication is generally best so that people have the opportunity to ask questions and say what they feel, but any means (eg paper, electronic) would be helpful. 
• Have an open-door policy where people can talk to you about their concerns or any suggestions they have for improving the way change is managed. 

3.  Are you supporting staff affected by change? 

• Talk about what the change will mean in terms of day-to-day activity and discuss whether there are any new training needs.
• Ensure that staff are aware of the impact of the change on their jobs. 
• Recognise that people have different reactions to change and support them 
• Ensure you consider the impact of any change on all the points above such as ensuring role clarity post change. 

4.    Do you generally support colleagues to be ‘change ready’?

• Encourage and support individuals to continually keep up to date and develop their skills, for example digital capabilities
• Encourage people to engage in activities around continuous improvement and other more routine change
• Have regular arrangements in place for communication and ensure people are kept generally informed about things beyond the day-to-day team activities.

1.    How supportive are you?  

• Give support and encouragement to staff, even when things go wrong. 
• Show interest beyond the role/task and show compassion and flexibility if someone is dealing with significant pressures outside work.
• Hold regular one-to-ones and make time to talk about any emerging issues or pressures. 
• Make talking about wellbeing a regular part of your interactions.
• Encourage people to share their concerns about work-related stress at an early stage. 
• Think about how available and approachable you are if people do need to speak to you. 

2.     Do you work in a caring and supportive team? 

• Encourage people to recognise the individual contributions of other team members and the benefits of the whole team pulling together. 
• Try to make some time to come together that isn't work-focused, for example away days, team lunches etc to encourage team connectedness.
• Encourage good communication and provide appropriate training to aid skill development (eg listening skills, confidence building etc). 
• Celebrate success 

3.    Do you address unacceptable behaviours or conflict? 

• Actively seek to prevent, or quickly resolve, any conflict at work.
• Ensure that you are familiar with the policies in place including Anti-bullying and Harassment, grievance and disciplinary policies and that team members are aware of the standards expected around behaviour.
• Ensure individuals know how to raise a concern.
• Set the right example

1.   How good is the work environment? 

• Ensure appropriate risk assessments are in place to control physical hazards, if unsure contact the H&S team.
• Be aware of the risk of physical violence and verbal abuse. Take steps to deal with this in consultation with colleagues
• Provide training to help staff deal with and defuse difficult situations (eg difficult phone calls, aggressive members of the public).
• Ensure people are familiar with any lone-working arrangements and how to report any concerns or issues.
• Change start and finish times to help colleagues cope with pressures external to the organisation (eg child care, poor commuting routes). 

2.   Are people being exposed to situations or working conditions that are potentially more stressful or upsetting?

• If someone’s role means that they are likely to be supporting people with mental health concerns they may need additional training so they feel appropriately equipped and supported. 
• If someone’s role is likely to expose them to trauma or regularly dealing with people who are very emotional or upset they may require additional support from you or potentially more structured supervision.

Helpful resources:

    Mental health and wellbeing related development activities 

    Employee Assistance Programme - Manager support 

3.   Do people do work that is interesting and enjoyable?

• Think about rotating or varying tasks that people might find particularly repetitive or boring.
• Try to understand individual strengths and preferences and provide some level of ‘job crafting’ so that people can spend some time on the things they find most rewarding. 
• Help people to understand the ways in which what they do adds wider value and express appreciation
• (also see control)

1.  How clear are colleagues about their role? 

• Use the PDR process to ensure clarity around job goals and objectives.  
• Engage individuals in the process of agreeing goals and objectives to increase levels of understanding, commitment and engagement.
• Try to create a ‘golden thread’ so that individuals can see how what they do contributes to the wider team, department or University goals.
• Make sure individuals have a clearly defined role which enables them to understand exactly what their roles and responsibilities are. 
• Encourage individuals to talk to you at an early stage if they are not clear about priorities or the nature of the task to be undertaken. 
• Actively address any incidences of role conflict or confusion. 
• Display team/department targets and objectives to help clarify the role of the unit and the individual. 
• If the team has gone through change, check to make sure people understand their new roles and are comfortable with them. 

2.    Do colleagues understand what you expect from them? 

• Agree specific standards of performance for jobs and individual tasks and review periodically. 
• Regularly talk to the entire team to make sure that they are clear what you expect of them and what they can expect from you.
• Provide timely feedback if performance is not meeting expectations.