Stress at Work: a simple guide

Almost 8 in 10 UK employees say they’d be influenced to leave their current job due to high levels of stress.¹

This guide covers what workplace stress is, how to tackle it and when to seek help.

What is workplace stress?

To some degree, we’ve all experienced it. The worry in the back of your mind as a deadline approaches and emails pile up, or that uneasy feeling in your stomach as an important presentation looms.

Often this is perfectly natural and a little of stress can actually do you good — this is known as ‘optimal stress’. The shot of cortisol and adrenaline moderate stress causes can increase output and productivity.

However, the risk is that we pass our personal threshold for stress and never ‘come down’ from the peak.

The signs of stress at work

It's important as a manager to be able to spot early warning signs that stress is building.
These include:

• Changes in mood
• More difficulty meeting deadlines
• Changes in performance
• Loss of confidence or self esteem
• New difficulties with colleagues or personal interactions
• Uncharacteristic pessimism
• More trouble focusing

Unfortunately, hybrid working can make it more difficult for employers to spot employees who are struggling with their mental wellbeing, due to reduced face-to-face contact.

Causes of stress at work

It's important to know what the causes of stress are, so you can act on them early.

Some of the top causes of stress at work can be²:

• Workloads
• Pressure to meet targets or deadlines
• Management style  
• Non-work factors: personal health issues
• Non-work factors: relationship issues

Why is this a problem?

Chronic long term stress can impact mental and physical health.

Not only can it lead to employees suffering sickness absences but reducing employees’ stress levels can boost morale, reduce absenteeism and increase productivity.

It’s clear to see why stress can impact employers’ bottom lines - sickness absences and presenteeism can reduce productivity significantly.

Tackling stress if it occurs

The first priority should be ensuring that people managers are confident and competent to spot signs of stress, have open conversations and point people to the appropriate support.

Our range of CPD-accredited workplace training workshops for people managers include webinars on stress management and mental health.

If you’re not sure where to start, our Workplace Health and Wellbeing Review can help. This process examines your current mental health and wellbeing strategy. We then provide an action plan of suggested improvements and support your business over 12 months to help you implement them.