April 2024 is Stress Awareness Month: tackle stress in the workplace with five steps in five weeks

This April, Britain’s bosses are being invited to follow five simple steps to prevent and reduce stress in their workplace.

The Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) Working Minds campaign has called on employers to support workers mental health during Stress Awareness Month.

Liz Goodwill, head of the work-related stress and mental health policy team at HSE, said: “We are inviting business owners, employers and managers to join others across Britain to make a difference during Stress Awareness Month in five steps.”

Over the course of April, employers are encouraged to focus on one of the campaign’s 5 Rs for each of the five weeks.

They are: to

• Reach out and have conversations,
• Recognise the signs and causes of stress,
• Respond to any risks you’ve identified,
• Reflect on actions you’ve agreed and taken, and make it
• Routine.
• Preventing work-related stress isn’t just the right thing to do by workers, it’s the law. All employers are required to prevent work related stress to support good mental health in the workplace.

The Working Minds campaign brings together a range of tools and support to help businesses and workers including free online learning, Talking Toolkits, risk assessment templates and examples.

Liz added: “Failing to manage work-related stress can cost employers in reduced productivity, sickness absence costs, or even losing a valued member of the team. Employers are required to assess the risk of work-related stress impacting their workers, and act on the risks identified.  As well as guiding you step by step, we provide all the practical templates, tools and resources you need to get started or, you can use it as an opportunity to review what you already do. A huge part of this is making it part of your everyday working life, not just a one-off tick box that gets forgotten about.”

If you are an employer looking for support, a good place to start is to register for free bitesize learning. https://workright.campaign.gov.uk/working-minds-learning/

You can also…

• Use a Talking Toolkit to help structure your conversations
• Download a risk assessment template to develop your processes for preventing or managing stressors
• Read the Blog: taking an organisational approach to risk assessment can tackle the root cause of issues and help the whole team.
• Find out about NEBOSH HSE Certificate in Managing Stress at Work
• Sign up to the monthly newsletter to help you champion the Working Minds campaign beyond April.

SOURCE: HSE Website