Sunday, July 26, 2009

Managing Workplace Stress

By Carl Garreth Harris

We all feel stress from time to time. It's just part of modern day living. Fortunately not all the stress we find ourselves under will affect our health. But if the level stress does become too great it can affect our physical and mental well being.

Many people can become stressed out at work, and it is something that both employers and employees need to be aware of. It is only natural that there is a degree of stress in the workplace as the company strives to meet production targets and employees battle to gain their bonuses. That kind of workplace stress has an effect on both bosses and workers.

A degree of stress at work may be what is needed to turn a company from a mere going concern into a very successful one. It can also have a detrimental effect as the stress takes its toll on staff, especially key ones. And that is not good for any company trying to make its mark in the modern business world.

It is essential that employers are aware of the effects stress has on their employees and that they take the necessary steps to avoid it. Britain's Health and Safety Executive puts a large part of the onus on employers for avoiding stress on their employees.

Employers should strive to ensure that work practices and organisation within the business are structured to ensure that their employees suffer as little stress as possible.

It is also important that employers make their employees aware that they should be notified if they feel they becoming stressful due to work. Workers should also realise that their employers do have duty of care towards them.

There are laws on the British statute books, such as the Health and Safety at Work Act of 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work regulation, passed 18 years later, that place an obligation on employers to ensure the welfare of their employees, including not making them unwell though undue stress in the workplace.

Employees should also play their part by informing their employer when the stress in the workplace becomes too great.

That everyone in the workplace remains both physically and mentally healthy is good business sense. Absenteeism through staff suffering from stress can affect the way a company is able to operate. Any employer forgetting that is not only doing his business a disservice, he risks prosecution for contravention of the various health and safety laws.

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