Stress management guidance for line managers

It is essential that managers have an active role in facilitating and supporting staff to do their jobs effectively and to contribute to the success of their team and the University as a whole. As line managers and supervisors, you are responsible for the health and safety of your team, and this includes ensuring that their work-related stress is managed and minimised. Your management style can have an impact on stress, so it is important that you are aware of good management practices and that you develop your management skills. It is also important that you recognise the signs of stress in your team and know what support to give team members who may be suffering from stress. 

The HSE Stress Management Competency Indicator can help assess your effectiveness at preventing and reducing stress in your staff and identify your developmental needs. These tools allow for a mixture of self-assessment and input from peers, staff and senior managers. 

 If you need more training, check the Management Development programme for resources and opportunities. 

Impact on the department 

Stress will impact on work performance and productivity and lead to increased absenteeism, staff turnover and accident rates.  If stress is not addressed, staff may be at risk of developing further mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression, or physical health problems, such as heart disease, upper limb or digestive disorders.

It is generally accepted that the longer a member of staff is absent from work with stress, the harder it is for them to return. This will have a significant effect on their emotional and economic wellbeing and departments risk losing a valuable member of their team.

As a university that wants to be recognised for its world-class research, we cannot afford to lose the knowledge and expertise of our researchers, or the staff who support them. Absence of team members will increase pressure on other staff, making it harder for the team to meet its objectives or to give students a quality teaching experience.

Impact on the University

The University has to bear the costs of long-term sickness absences, ill-health retirements, the replacement and retraining of staff, and possible litigation. Stress is recognised as a health and safety issue and failure to address it could lead to enforcement action, impacting negatively on the University's reputation.

Reasonable pressure at work can be positive and motivating. However, work-related stress can occur when pressure exceeds a person’s capacity to cope. The cause of work-related stress will vary between individuals. The stage at which excessive pressure leads to work-related stress will also vary between individuals.

We are committed to taking all reasonable steps to make sure that the health of our staff is not put at risk because of too much pressure or excessive demands at work. In this spirit, we will work with managers and staff to achieve steps to minimise the risk of high stress. For more details, please see the Stress Management Policy. 

• Have clear regular two-way communication with your staff. Are there formal meetings? Is there the opportunity for informal discussions?
• Recognise and praise individual or group achievements, hard work and efforts
• Give supportive and constructive criticism when required
• Provide opportunities for staff members to discuss their concerns.  Listen sympathetically to their concerns and take action about these concerns as appropriate
• Communicate and discuss team objectives, mission and values
• Involve staff in proposed changes in staff, work tasks and responsibilities
• Think through the impact your actions and decisions have on the staff for whom you have responsibility
• Give time to individual members of staff

• Have clear roles and responsibilities for your staff which they understand and work to
• Regularly review known work pressures such as excessive workload, tight deadlines, staffing levels, and need for staff skills development
• Identify jobs where stress has been or is a problem and see what can be done to reduce the risk of stress to the staff member in the role
• Ensure that instructions and requests to staff are clear and are not conflicting
• Allow flexible work schedules when this is practicable
• Where possible, ensure staff have some control over their work tasks and that their work has variety

• Where there are relationship problems, tackle these early, identify issues and agree the steps to try and resolve the matter
• Ensure staff members are not working over their contracted hours on a regular basis
• Encourage staff to take their full entitlement of holidays each year
• Provide as good a work environment as possible with the appropriate equipment to do the work efficiently
• Make sure you follow up on concerns that members of staff report to you and feed them back on steps taken to address the concerns

• Treat stressed staff in the same way as those with a physical health problem
• Discuss the issue with individuals and demonstrate that you are concerned about their health
• Consider a formal stress risk assessment when making significant changes or if there are signs that staff may be experiencing work-related stress
• If work is affected, discuss the problem with your Employee Relations Adviser or refer the individual to Occupational Health
• Ask if there is anything you can do to help
• Consider any simple adjustments to work, taking account of the risk factors given above
• Advise the individual about sources of help within or outside the University (available on the Wellbeing Directory)
• Actively follow up with an individual staff member who has stated that they are stressed and continue to demonstrate your wish to support them
• Monitor sickness absence. If a staff member has frequent short absences or is absent with a stress-related illness, contact Occupational Health early for advice
• Review and, if necessary, modify the work tasks and responsibilities of individuals who have had sickness absence due to stress or depression, and continue to monitor their progress