Edge Hill Management

Response to Stress Survey, Thursday 17 May 2001

Edge Hill welcomes the opportunity to respond formally to the findings of the Stress Survey reported by Natfhe. We do however have concerns that Natfhe is publishing this material without the express consent of those participating in the survey. Such action is contrary to the professional advice received by the institution and our response cannot be seen as endorsing such publication.

The issue of work related stress is taken very seriously at Edge Hill and where it has been identified managers and Human Resources work co-operatively and positively to address the issues.

A significant amount of support is already provided to staff. This includes:

• a totally confidential staff Counselling Service which is provided free of charge
• use of an independent Occupational Health Service to provide guidance and support to staff and managers
• use of Return to Work interviews which are aimed at providing support to staff on their return from illness
• open door policy by Directorate and Human Resources to enable staff to raise issues of concern
• a positive approach by Human Resources in developing strategies to support any member of staff experiencing illness

Action taken by Human Resources to support staff has included:

• redeployment
• changes to role, responsibilities and hours of work
• provision of equipment and resources
• mediation and communication with managers and staff
• development of action plans to monitor progress
• phased return to work
• development opportunities in the use of alternative therapies
• assessments of work stations and working environment

A survey on The Management of Sickness Absence undertaken by HEFCE last year indicated that Edge Hill operated to Best Practice and indeed we were commended for the way in which staff who experience illness are provided with support. A recommendation from that survey was that Edge Hill should develop an overarching procedure, which would bring all the elements of support and management of sickness.

In order to achieve this the Occupational Health Working Group has been formed. The group includes representatives from across college and from both Natfhe and Unison. The group is reviewing our current processes and will make recommendations on how we further develop our support to staff. We note that Natfhe failed to attend the recent meeting of the Working Group.

The external review by HEFCE presents a very different picture to that in the Natfhe report. Human Resources regularly review absence information to ensure that, where stress has been diagnosed, action is taken to support the member of staff. Sickness for academic staff for 2000 (reported via self or medical certificates) indicates the following.

Of the 5 staff reporting stress or debility, 2 had absences of less than 10 days.

This conflicts with the Natfhe report which received responses from fewer than 8% of staff employed on teaching staff contracts in 2000/01 and which states "many members of staff have suffered severe physical and emotional conditions that have been caused either directly or indirectly by work related stress".

None of this negates the importance of stress, nor our commitment to supporting individuals who are affected by it. We would ask that staff report such issues to their manager or Human Resources and we will continue to seek ways to effectively identify the symptoms of stress and manage them in a supportive way.

In an average week Human Resources deals with approximately 100 staff queries, often of a sensitive and confidential nature. The number of staff utilising the service has grown significantly over the last two years. Our hope is that this level of trust shown in the service by so many colleagues can be replicated throughout the institution.