Stress Survey, 2000-2001

1. POLICY STATEMENT

The College acknowledges that all people encounter stress in their personal lives and are committed to managing work-related stressors as any other health and safety risk. Through the risk assessment process, the College will continue to identify hazards and assess all mental and physical risks to health and safety with the objective of reducing them, as far as reasonably practicable.

Arrangements for Securing the Mental Health of Employees

The College will complete risk assessments to:

(a) identify possible work-related stressors

(b) reduce identified stressors, including environmental, work organisation, and people stressors, as far as is reasonably practicable

(c) provide training in stress awareness, communication, time management, handling difficult situations, and employee relations as an integrated approach to managing people effectively

(d) treat employees with stress in the same way as those with any other occupationally induced health problem

(e) provide appropriate support for distressed employees

(f) ensure adequate rehabilitation of employees returning to work

(g) monitor potential stressors within the organisation.

2. SAFE SYSTEM OF WORK

The identification and control of possible organisational stress is multi-faceted. It can relate to the way the organisation values and manages people, particularly during times of change. In essence there should be a climate in which people have the confidence to seek assistance and discuss their work-related problems. The following precautions should be adopted.

1.Develop and promote the requirement to inform, and ensure there is participation in decision-making, and recognition and support for the difficulties encountered in the workplace. Therefore the culture, the management style and the expectations the employer has of the employees are worthy of consideration when addressing possible work-related stressors. In practice there are numerous policies, procedures and opportunities that can be identified and promoted as being relevant to the control or reduction of work-related stress, eg the human resource policies and systems such as appraisals, training and development; the procedures and systems to identify and manage role ambiguity and boundary conflicts; recognising that isolation by position or the nature of the work are as relevant to stress levels as work load; time pressures and jobs in which there is a responsibility for the health, safety and welfare of others.

2.Revisit or develop policies regarding discrimination, aggression, bullying and harassment that can cause high levels of work-related stress. This must then be supported by creating a climate which provides employees with the confidence to report such incidents, and once reported to ensure there is a system for fast and adequate management of the situation.

3.Identify and implement training programmes to ensure staff are competent in all aspects of their job, particularly man management and communication skills. The more traditional approach to health and safety is also an element of controlling stress. Therefore ensure the completion of risk assessments and preparation of appropriate safe systems of work to control risk factors intrinsic to the job such as the physical working conditions; workstation design; computer-based tasks; exposure to chemical and/or biological hazards.

4.Ensure effective consultation regarding the identified risks and hidden factors such as the need for working irregular hours and the requirement to take work home on a regular basis to meet routine work loads.

5.Maintain a clear and universal approach to managing attendance at work and to rehabilitating employees back into full and gainful employment.

3. SUMMARY POLICY STATEMENT

Organisational or work-related stress requires a broad based approach to ensuring that people are valued and that the organisation recognises that stress is real and not a weakness of the individual. To develop this, it is necessary to explore what is meant by work-related stress. There is no single agreed definition of stress. It can be considered as the response the body makes to all non-specific demands. No matter what the situation, when the perceived demand exceeds the personal coping ability and resources, the body and mind are aroused. In essence, all systems are geared up either to fight the challenge or to flee from the situation to avoid harm. This is sometimes referred to as the fight or flight response.

This physiological response can be life saving or, in a less dramatic way, provide the extra alertness and sharpness to improve performance — a positive response. A positive stress response is the key to meeting short-term challenges such as making an important presentation or meeting a specific deadline. Negative stress is the result of attempting to cope with sustained or continual challenges such as trying to meet unrealistic time pressures or working in a hostile environment — physical or mental. The employee cannot run away or fight so must suppress the body's normal and protective physiological responses. The person then becomes distressed, eventually is exhausted, under-performs and can suffer minor and major illnesses. In some situations the standard response of the employer is to deal with the results of stress, under-performance, aggression or absence and ignore or fail to consider the cause.