Stressful working environments can be a huge factor leading to high staff turnover and high levels of absenteeism. As a business owner, it may have become more difficult to recognise and manage stress with larger amounts of the workforce working from home.

What Is Stress?

HSE defines stress as ‘the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed on them’.

Employees essentially feel stress when they can’t cope with pressures and other issues. It is encouraged that employers attempt to match demands to their teams’ skills and knowledge. Also, providing planning, training and support can reduce pressure and bring stress levels down.

There are a number of ways of identifying stress in your team, for example, employees may feel or suggest that they:

• are not able to cope with the demands of their jobs
• are unable to control the way they do their work
• don’t receive enough information and support
• are having trouble with relationships at work, or are being bullied
• don’t fully understand their role and responsibilities
• are not engaged when a business is undergoing change

Stress affects people differently – what stresses one person may not affect another, with factors such as skills and experience, age or disability potentially impacting whether an employee can cope.

There are six key areas of work design which can affect stress levels:

• demands
• control
• support
• relationships
• role
• change

Employers should assess the risks in these areas in order to manage stress in the workplace.

What Are The Signs Of Stress?

Although not an illness, an unmanageable level of stress can make you ill. Recognising the signs of stress can help employers to take steps to reduce and manage stress in their workplace.

If workers begin acting differently, it is often a sign they are stressed. Managers should look out for signs of stress in teams and workers and consider whether the stress could be associated with work pressure.

Stress in teams

• arguments
• higher staff turnover
• more reports of stress
• more sickness absence
• decreased performance
• more complaints and grievances
• Employers must assess the risks of work-related stress in their workplace and take action to protect workers.

Stress in an employee

Changes in the way someone acts can be a sign of stress, for example, they may:

• take more time off
• arrive for work later
• be more twitchy or nervous

Changes in the way someone thinks or feels can also be a sign of stress, for example:

• mood swings
• being withdrawn
• loss of motivation, commitment, and confidence
• increased emotional reactions – being more tearful, sensitive, or aggressive

Acting early can reduce the impact of pressure and make it easier to reduce or remove the causes. If managers are worried that a worker is showing some of these signs, they should encourage them to see their GP. These signs can be symptoms of other conditions. If there is something wrong at work, and this has caused the problem, managers should take action.

If you are feeling signs of stress at work, it is important to talk to someone, for example, your manager. If you talk to them as soon as possible, it will give them the chance to help and stop the situation from getting worse.

If the pressure is due to what your line manager is doing, find out what policies are in place to deal with this. If there aren’t any, you could talk to your:

• trade union representative
• worker representative
• HR department
• worker assistance programme/counselling service if your company has these or
• GP

Many workers are unwilling to talk about stress at work, because of the stigma stress has. But stress is not a weakness and can happen to anyone.

What Your Employer Must Do

Your employer has a legal duty to assess the risks to your health from stress at work and share the results of any risk assessment with you. Your employer may follow HSE’s Management Standards approach, which helps identify and manage the main causes of stress at work.

Stress risk assessment

Employers have a legal duty to protect employees from stress at work by performing a risk assessment and acting on it.

If you have fewer than five workers, this does not have to be recorded, however, it may be useful in order to. Once you have five or more workers, it is a legal requirement to write the risk assessment down.

Any paperwork you produce should help you communicate and manage the risks in your business. For most people, this does not need to be a big exercise, but rather noting the main points about the significant risks and what actions have been decided upon. There are a number of risk assessment tools and templates available from the HSE.

Help with stress caused by non-work issues

For help outside work, the following organisations have useful websites or helplines you can phone for advice in confidence.

The Great Resignation is the informal name for the widespread trend of a significant number of workers leaving their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Texas A&M professor Anthony Klotz defined the term  “The Great Resignation” (paywall). 

“How we spent our time before the pandemic may not be how we want to spend our time after,” says Klotz.

Klotz believes how we spend our time pre and post-pandemic will cause a massive shift in the future of work he identifies the key factors of Hybrid and remote work as a key driver in people reassessing the status quo. 

The great resignation, if the stats are to be believed, will massively affect organisations from the US to the UK and their ability to function and drive businesses forward. 

Some Stats: 

• According to a survey conducted by LinkedIn, 74% of the participants said time spent at home during the pandemic caused them to re-evaluate their current work situation.
  • survey of 1,000 UK workers reveals that almost a third (29%) of UK workers are considering moving to a new job this year. Findings also uncovered the industry’s most likely to be affected by this with Legal (44%), IT & Telecoms (42%), and Sales, Media & Marketing (40%). 
  • Employees between the ages of 30 and 45 have had the greatest increase in resignations with a 20% increase between 20 and 2021. (Harvard Business Review)
  • More than 19 million US workers and counting—have quit their jobs since April 2021 (McKinsey & Company)
  • 65% of employees say the pandemic has made them rethink the place that work should have in their lives. Gartner

Top Reasons for the Great Resignation 

• The Covid Pandemic: The covid pandemic has given workers time to reflect on their current work, what this means to them and how this aligns to their life and values. 
• A backlog of resignations: workers considering resigning from their jobs prior to COVID-19 stayed in roles due to the uncertainties surrounding the pandemic.
• Working from home: remote work became the norm for a lot of people, so when businesses started asking them to return home full-time many wanted to remain working from home.

• Sense of belonging being valued: there is a disconnect between what the employees consider important and what their managers and companies see as important. (McKinsey’s & Company)
• Employee burnout: while 42% of employees were already experiencing burnout before the pandemic, that number skyrocketed to 72% during the pandemic, due to increased anxiety, heavier workloads, and people taking less time off. (Limade)

An Opportunity for Change   

Many believe the great resignation is an opportunity for change, forward-thinking companies are shifting their focus towards retaining employees and making work more meaningful. For work to be more meaningful employers need to focus on true authentic employee engagement and understand the root cause of leavers and develop strategies, engagement models, and tools that make employees want to stay. 

Companies in 2022 should  focus on: 

Understanding Employee Key Drivers: Companies need to understand what is driving employees at a company and social level so that they can shape their offering to be more meaningful to employees. Companies need to take their employer brand seriously and understand how this aligns with employee values. Companies that invest in their employer brand see staff turnover reduced by 28%. (Office Vibe)

Flexible work Arrangements: Forward-thinking companies will focus or Hybrid, work from home and remote first models to tap into the talent pool that sees flexible working as their preferred model of work. COVID, it was a novelty. The rise of the four day work week in 2021 may start to become the norm in 2022 for forward-thinking companies and become a competitive advantage for companies in the war for talent (LinkedIn). Recent research has shown job seekers Searches for jobs that allow employees to work from home in Ireland were six times higher in December 2021 than before the Covid-19 pandemic began Irish Examiner.  (Irish Examiner – Remote Working)

Focus on employee Wellbeing and mental health: With burnout being a significant factor in the great resignation, companies need to focus more on the mental health of employees according to research from the CIPD, Fostering employee wellbeing is good for people and the organisation. Promoting wellbeing can help prevent stress and create positive working environments where individuals and organisations can thrive. Good health and wellbeing can be a core enabler of employee engagement and organisational performance.  

Employee engagement technology: With hybrid, WFH, and remote working, companies need to make use of digital technology to improve employee experience and engagement, there has been an explosion of technology in this area that focuses on both productivity, communication, and internal social elements of the business. These software products can strengthen business communication, employee engagement, culture, and connection to the business. Products such as Workplace from Meta, Viva from Microsoft, and Humu all focus on the workplace and improving employee experience and engagement. 

The Future 

As COVID 19 has had major impacts on the world of work across the globe lots of organisations and individuals are still in a period of adjusting to a new normal. Companies that thrive will be the ones that hire employees that authentically share their values. Forward-thinking organisations will focus less on the transactional elements of employment and more on: 

• Understanding employee key drivers
• Employer Brand
• Employee experience and engagement 
• Mental health 
• Flexibility In the workplace 
• Equality, Inclusion, and Diversity 

2022 will be an interesting year for organisations as they develop new strategies to retain and hire staff post COVID.  

Undoubtedly, the shift towards hybrid work models, whereby employees experience flexibility over their working environment, has become one of the biggest side-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Whilst remote working commenced as an essential measure for many businesses to survive, it has since become evident that flexible working could not only restore the work-life balance, but also revolutionise entire business models.

With the mounting pressure on employers to consider their employee’s mental health, wellbeing, happiness and productivity, the question of how to manage this the correct way has always presented a struggle. Now, however, employers are beginning to understand the key drivers of happiness in the workplace – Flexibility.

Besides necessity, flexibility is the biggest motivation in moving towards hybrid working models. Most employees have adapted to working from home (WFH) and are much happier with their ability to waive daily commutes goodbye, spend more time with their families and generally achieve the much-desired work-life balance. Seriously, who doesn’t love skipping rush hour traffic after a busy day?!

Fully remote working is not necessarily for everyone which is why introducing hybrid models of work can help achieve balance. Whilst 83% of employees feel they do not need an office to be productive, a number of workers continue to feel the strain of isolation, including the lack of collaboration and inability to switch off. If you’re considering implementing hybrid work models in your organisation, there are a lot of considerations before making any changes.

Check out some of our recommendations for a smooth transition!

Take Time & PLAN!

When introducing any major organisational changes, it is fundamental to plan it correctly. Although the media (and maybe even employees) may be hyping up hybrid working, rushing to implement anything due to external pressures could be a disaster waiting to happen. Before making any decision, do your research, determine the interest of your employees, and work out if it is in fact a plausible reality for your business needs.

Gauging your Workforce

Before changing anything, you need to understand your employees’ perspectives. Utilising a company-wide communications strategy, such as anonymous surveys, will ascertain whether WFH, hybrid or flexible working is in fact a consideration. Once you have gauged the attitude of your workforce you will need to ensure new company policy and processes are implemented to reflect the newly introduced practices.

Implementing Policy & Practice

Prior to making any decisions on implementing flexible working models, ensure any necessary paperwork is done. Devising policies which clearly outline expectations from employees can help eliminate any ambiguity, particularly if there is a range of different wants and needs from your workforce.

Not having an appropriate policy or guidance document in place may lead to hostility between colleagues. Remote workers may feel people predominately working in the office are being favoured, whereas in-office workers could perceive remote workers as being less productive. Having transparent, formal directives in place helps to avoid these situations as everyone should know what is expected of them. Ensure that whichever working model is applied, that it does not initiate a potential HR nightmare.

Remote Recruitment

If you are considering employing fully remote employees, ensure you have a fit for purpose recruitment process. Traditional recruitment methods may not accommodate the remote world so you may need to consider things like management alignment, behavioural insights, and candidate profiling to ensure you can make a better hiring decision. Remote recruitment could create a more accessible and inclusive working environment for people with disabilities. Remember, making a bad hire can end up costing a company thousands in lost income, training costs and reduced staff morale, just check out our bad-hire calculator. If you are recruiting for a critical role, get in touch and find out more about our Corvus Assured® recruitment solution, with a 95%+ success rate.

Remote Alternatives to Maximize Productivity

Whilst a hybrid model of in-office and remote working is being strongly advocated at the moment, there are a number of alternative initiatives that may be more valuable to your workforce. For some organisations, introducing a 4-day working week could produce a similar outcome as the hybrid working model. Research is beginning to show that employees’ productivity is equal whether they work for 4 or 5 days per week. Besides striking a better work-life balance whereby employees will be more revitalised and achieve more flexibility in their personal lives, there are additional company benefits including heightened productivity, staff well-being, job satisfaction and retention, and reduced gender inequality.

Notably, the pandemic has accelerated a radical working model that most employers were only beginning to think about, if at all. With strong internal communications, employee engagement and commitment, flexible working models can help you stand out as an employer, recruit better staff, and strengthen your organisation as a success for the future.