Best Advice on Stress Risk Management in the Workplace - Part 2

What Can We Do to Abate Stress (Manage Stress Risk) in the Workplace?

What Managers Can Do

Managers can choose the diligent alternative and adopt the "Best Practice Model" of stress abatement. If the major organizational drivers of workplace stress and its consequent health and safety problems are high demand/ low contr ol coupled with high effort/low reward conditions, the diligent alternative requires that we tackle these hazards if we seriously want to make a change.

Many studies concerning the effectiveness of health and safety promotion initiatives point to a common success factor that addresses the low control, low reward part of the problem which appears to be the most threatening part. In a word, this factor is participation. It means getting more employees more involved in the organization and design of their own work. The chart shows areas in which payoffs for improved mental health can be anticipated. Because of its close connection with mental health, gains in physical health can also be expected, as can reductions in injury and property damage rates. All these gains are associated with lower costs, higher productivity and greater competitiveness.

The road to fuller participation is not without its bumps and byways. Many who have gone through the process successfully describe it as "messy." However, the gains are potentially enormous.

What Partners Can Do

With the full endorsement, commitment and support of management and unions workplace committees whose members deal with stress-related issues in the course of their work can form partnerships, for example, Occupational Health and Safety Committees and Employee/Family Assis-tance Program Committees. These are usually committees that contain a fairly wide representation of the work force at various levels. Together they bring to the table a wealth of knowledge concerning the sources and effects of stress at work. In active collaboration with senior management, the partners can further develop a local knowledge base about the sources and effects of stress through the various means shown on Overhead 23.

This information feeds into the Best Practice Model for Stress Abatement at the "Knowledge" end. It provides the basis for developing a diligent alternative strategy for stress abatement.

N.B.: Committee members frequently point to a need for ongoing education and training with regard to workplace stress -- its origins and management.

Once equipped with the necessary knowledge, committee members can recommend or facilitate further educational and training events or processes for the work force at large, with an emphasis on reaching supervisors and managers at all levels.