Dealing With Stress - The For and Against
You've probably heard a number of the following arguments relating to managing stress in the organisation, for example taking a diagnostic approach, undertaking stress risk assessments, providing stress training for individuals and managers. Some of the arguments against don't bear close scrutiny, but others appear on the face of it to be more 'plausible' and understandable. From our perspective we're interested in wellbeing and company performance, and what needs to happen to improve these areas. We're interested too in ensuring that you do the right thing to protect both the company and the individual.
AGAINST
- 'we'll deal with it when it arises'
- 'we can't afford to'
- 'it would just be a tick-box exercise'
- 'we know it's the law, but we're unlikely to be prosecuted'
- 'it's a 'nice to have', but not essential'
- 'we don't need it'
- 'we promote wellbeing in other ways'
- 'it's not our responsibility'
- 'if you mention 'stress', employees will take advantage of the situation/bash the employer'
- 'we've not really had a problem before, so why do anything now?'
- 'we've already got it covered/we have an EAP'
- 'it's not important enough to spend money on'
- 'we can manage addressing it directly'
- 'stress is an individual issue/why should we do anything?'
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FOR
- 'it's the law and therefore we should do it'
- 'we may be prosecuted under the health and safety legislation if we don't address it'
- 'we don't want to get caught'
- 'we don't want to risk being taken to court by an employee'
- 'staff who aren't supported won't perform as well'
- 'it will have a positive impact on productivity'
- 'if stress becomes an issue it will look bad for me as a manager/us as an employer'
- 'if people go off sick it will cost us money'
- 'other companies are addressing the matter, and so should we'
- 'it's just good management practice'
- 'we are genuinely concerned about promoting the health and wellbeing of our staff as an end in itself'
- 'a healthy workforce is a more productive one'
- 'we are liable to have a more committed and engaged workforce, who are less likely to leave and need replacing, with all the associated costs'
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Please get in touch if you'd like to have a word about any of the above. Ask for Marc Kirby on 0118 9721820, or email him on info@stressmanagementplus.com
