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INTRODUCTIONmanifest itself in individuals and what the associated impact and costs are likely to be. Asan aid to developing this understanding a full set of presentation slides with explanatorynotes is included at the end of this Introduction to the Toolkit (Tool 1). This can be usedto run a short stress awareness session in your organisation.Step 2: The business caseThe second important milestone in organisational stress management is securingstakeholder buy-in. The success of any stress management approach relies heavily onthe commitment of all those involved, particularly senior management. It is importantthat they are engaged as early as possible since their commitment to the process andto acting on the results of any stress survey or audit will be critical. Unfortunately, itwill not always be an easy task to persuade key decision-makers and budget-holders toinvest the necessary resource required to deal with stress issues – demonstrating thepotential value of the investment will be important here. One critical part of convincingthe key stakeholders is to use the growing body of research evidence, showing thatinvestments in the health and psychological well-being of staff do result in bottom-linebenefits. Tool 7 provides help in producing such a business case.Step 3: Strategy and policy developmentOnce commitment has been secured to investing in and addressing work-related stress,the next step is to develop a stress policy, along with related procedures and guidelines,to bring it to life in the organisation. It is important to do this within a context that willfit with the organisation’s strategy. The stress policy should clearly set out the way theorganisation will deal with stress. Stress policies come in all shapes and sizes and someorganisations find that incorporating their approach to tackling stress into other policiesworks well for them. The policy should not be excessively long, two to three pages isenough to be both succinct and explicit. The most important thing of all is to ensurethat the policy is widely distributed and communicated to all staff, and to ensure thatmanagers, in particular, have a full understanding of their role and their obligations inexecuting the policy. Without this, it will just remain a piece of paper that is referredto from time to time, without any real meaning in the organisation. Tool 8 provides astep-by-step guide for developing a stress policy.In developing the policy position for the organisation on stress, there is also an opportunityto create a strong internal brand for the work that is envisaged in the area. Thishas many benefits and it is clear that organisations that successfully control and managestress in the long term create strong positive brand identities for the work they do. ToolxivA free sample chapter from Stress by Robertson Cooper. Published by the CIPD. © 2008 CIPD.All rights reserved; no part of this excerpt may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in anyform or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior writtenpermission of the publishers or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by theCopyright Licensing Agency.If you would like to purchase this product please go to www.cipd.co.uk/bookstore
9 provides clear guidance on creating a strong brand and marketing the work doneinternally in this area.Step 4: The auditing approachOnce the senior team is on board and a stress policy has been produced, the nextstep is to audit stress levels across the organisation. Auditing is an essential part ofmanaging workplace stress, and is a core element of risk assessment. To target effortand resources where they are most needed, it is crucial to identify who is likely to beaffected by stress within the organisation and what the specific risks are. The best wayto achieve this is to ask individuals about their perceptions using a validated and reliablestress surveying tool. Tool 10 sets out the auditing approach within the context of thefive steps to risk assessment advocated by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) intheir Management Standards. Tool 11 is a suggested focus group approach that fits withthe HSE process. Tool 12 is an aid to action planning.INTRODUCTIONStep 5: Stress reduction interventions and solutionsWhen your organisation has an understanding of what the main stress-related issuesare, it is then time to take action and target interventions where they are needed.There are three levels of intervention when it comes to dealing with workplace stressand the best organisations work at all three levels: Primary interventions: aimed at eliminating or modifying environmental stressorsto reduce their negative impact on individuals, for example job redesign, culturechange, flexible working, work–life balance initiatives. Secondary interventions: focus on increasing the awareness, resilience and copingskills of the individual, for example, stress management training, health promotionactivities and skills training more generally (without trying to eliminate or modify thestressors). Tertiary interventions: concerned with the treatment and rehabilitation of distressedindividuals, for example counselling, employee assistance programmes (EAPs) andreturn-to-work policies.Primary interventionsPrimary-level intervention can be an ambitious task. Interventions take a long time toorganise and can be expensive both in terms of resource requirements and people’sxvA free sample chapter from Stress by Robertson Cooper. Published by the CIPD. © 2008 CIPD.All rights reserved; no part of this excerpt may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in anyform or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior writtenpermission of the publishers or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by theCopyright Licensing Agency.If you would like to purchase this product please go to www.cipd.co.uk/bookstore
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