Social work recruitment and retention

It’s important to look at the things you can do almost
instantly, like an audit of printers and photocopiers; stuff
that can make people’s lives much easier very quickly.
You must not underestimate how important these things
can be to people. We have to communicate what we can
do or the reasons why we can’t do something.
Early adopters of the SWRB Health check
The Health and Safety Executive Tools on Stress
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Management Standards
define the characteristics of an organisation where the risk
of work-related stress is managed effectively. Each of the six
standards focuses on a key source of workplace stress. When
poorly managed, each of these six aspects of work is associated
with poor health and well-being, lowered productivity and
high levels of sickness. The standards therefore provide
a model of good practice and an aspirational level of
achievement for organisations or services seeking to manage
stress effectively. There are strong links between the HSE
standards and the push/pull factors already outlined.
The six standards relate to the following aspects
of work:
1 Demand: Feeling able to cope with your workload.
2 Control: Having a say about the way in which you carry
out your work.
3 Support: Feeling supported by managers and colleagues.
4 Relationships: Working in an environment free of bullying
or intimidation.
5 Role: Having clarity over your role.
6 Change: Receiving sufficient information to manage
necessary organisational change.
The HSE Management Standards provide a good starting
point for discussion within an organisation seeking to
manage stress more effectively. Forming an accurate local
picture requires collating existing data (for example on
staff sickness) and staff consultation. The HSE Management
Standards Indicator Tool is designed for this purpose.
It comprises a set of 35 questions (based around the six
standards) that can be distributed as a survey; there is also
an analysis tool freely available on the HSE website.
When survey responses are entered, the tool provides a
summary of performance in each of the six areas and helps
to identify aspects of concern. It can be used to inform and
develop action plans. The tool also allows trends to be
analysed over a three year time frame for services committed
to monitoring the longer term impact of any actions taken.
The HSE suggest that survey results be discussed in staff focus
groups where solutions to issues identified can be explored.
Survey returns might usefully be analysed at the level of team or
role type to help develop a clearer analysis of workforce health.
As support provided by managers is recognised to be a key
aspect of preventing and managing stress, the HSE also
produces a Line Manager Competency Indicator Tool which
allows managers to reflect on their own behaviours and skills
and how these have an impact on those they line manage.
The tool is based around four aspects of behaviour that
research indicates are important in preventing and reducing
the stress of those being managed:
1 Being respectful and responsible: Managing emotions
and having integrity.
2 Managing and communicating existing and future work.
3 Managing the individual within the team.
4 Reasoning/managing difficult situations.
The competency indicator tool can be used as part of an
online learning package which encourages managers to seek
feedback from colleagues about their skills and behaviours,
supports them to reflect on this feedback alongside their own
responses and then takes them through material about the
four key themes of manager behaviour.
Further reading
To access all the HSE standards/tools or for further
information visit www.hse.gov.uk/stress
www.rip.org.uk
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