One of the main risks that are faced by office workers is stress. Stress needs to be managed so that the person affected doesn't suffer from ill health. In addition it is important to control the risk of stress as a manager or business owner because it can lead to problems such as costs caused by absences, reduced productivity, replacement staff and even compensation pay outs.
To help you to control stress it is important to manage health and wellbeing in the workplace and put in place skills that are taught through training such as the following courses:
- Managing occupational health and wellbeing
- NEBOSH working with wellbeing
- IOSH managing occupational health and wellbeing
Work Related Stress
Stress can be caused by multiple elements within the workplace. It could be down to poor job design, bad organisation, poor managerial skills or conflicts between employees and their colleagues or managers. Stress could also be caused by physical problems that have been caused by work including repetitive strain injury (RSI), eye strain, headaches and other aches and pains.
There are several ways that you can deal with stress in the workplace. The first step is to identify that stress is the cause of the problem. You may then go on to enact plans that can help to reduce the health risk such as providing treatment and rehabilitate the sufferer. However, that may not be enough. You will need to look at the causes and assess whether the job needs to be evaluated and improved to ensure others are not affected.
Improve Work Design
There are six management standards that are able to cover the sources of stress in the workplace. You will need to focus on:- Demands that are being placed on the individual - including working patterns, the amount of work they are required to do and the environment where the work is carried out.
- Control - Does the individual have any say in their work?
- Support - Is there any sponsorship, provided resources, encouragement that is provided by the business?
- Relationships problems - Are there conflictions within the workplace?
- Role - Do they really have a grasp on their role and what is required from them?
- Change - Has change been effectively communicated?