Reflections on sight loss - RNIB

Your health
Working with stress
Health and social care workers frequently work in challenging and stressful
situations. Sarah Underwood identifies problems and offers solutions
In a hectic working world, stress, anxiety,
confusion and depression can be frequent
visitors, but they can be challenged and
managed to deliver a better personal
experience of work and a listening employer
dedicated to sustaining a satisfying and
efficient working environment.
Nick Johnson, chief executive of the Social
Care Association, a professional organisation
for people who work in all aspects of social
care, says: “Stress is not necessarily bad. Some
stress can be healthy, increasing adrenalin and
helping us achieve what we need to do. But
when people are unsure of their job role, don’t
know whether or not they are valued, face
demands beyond reasonable expectations, are
not well managed, or have a case load that is
too large and too much documentation to
complete, then stress creeps in.”
Johnson believes good management and
leadership are critical to stress management,
as well as the strength and support that is
derived from staff teams that function well.
Communication is key (which raises questions
about the health of increasing numbers of
people working at home without structured
support), and chats around the water cooler
can be brief, unacknowledged counselling
sessions.
On a larger scale, with 35,000 registered
employers of social care staff across the
country, most of which are small to
medium-sized businesses, there is a need to
network.
“Small companies don’t think of themselves as
part of a network of 1.5 million workers. All
they can manage is keeping afloat locally. To
get more support, employees need to be
connected outwards. We need a social care
equivalent of Facebook, but probably a closed
community, so that workers can share their
views and problems,” says Johnson.
Time, often in short supply, is also of the
essence in stress management. Many social
care employees work beyond contracted hours
and have a greater commitment to service
users than to their managers, but any
management withdrawal of time and money
leads to a feeling of failure, even if it is
beyond the employee’s control.
Johnson adds: “Time to reflect – as in the
plan, do, evaluate and reflect cycle – has
diminished or been lost altogether. Less time
to reflect means less capacity to learn from
mistakes and avoid stress. Many managers and
workers feel they are on a hamster wheel and
can’t stop running, but they need to get off
and look at how they are doing things.”
Johnson says there is little that keeps him
awake at night, but acknowledges self-induced
stress around deadlines and an abiding stress
in the long-term leadership of an organisation
that he wants to be credible and successful.
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