Work-related stress is an occupational hazard for many public sector workers. Ben Hicks of the Institute for Employment Studies explains what managers can do to help
Ben Hicks
Guardian Professional, Thursday 15 March 2012 07.45 GMT
Article from The Guardian
Work-related stress is a common cause of absence and sick leave. Photograph: Trinette Reed/Getty Images
Public sector workers take an average 9.1 days sick leave a year compared to 5.7 days in the private sector, research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD) shows, and a leading cause of this absence is work-related stress.
While Health and Safety Executive (HSE) data suggests that illness due to stress at work has been declining, high levels remain in some areas of the public sector, especially in health, social work and education. Stress in these occupations can have a range of causes such as increased workload and increased pressure to meet targets, job insecurity, and organisational change/restructuring; however these jobs differ from those in many private sector organisations in that employees frequently undertake a more 'people-focused' role. This can result in additional stress through the emotional demands placed upon staff.
Studies indicate that emotional demands can lead to stress and burnout in those who routinely deal with others in distress, such as oncology staff, social workers, police officers, lawyers, counsellors, aid workers and researchers working with vulnerable people. Terms such as emotional labour and compassion fatigue have been used to explain how emotional demands impact on employees working within these professions.
Emotional labour can involve faking, hiding or managing emotions in order to meet environment expectations. Although this behaviour can be favourable in some situations (such as nurses disguising a low mood when with patients) it can lead to job-related stress, resulting in job dissatisfaction and emotional exhaustion. Compassion fatigue can arise from dealing with traumatic work situations and the negative emotions of others. This can result in symptoms of distress similar to trauma, leading to an inability to work and a greater likelihood of mental health issues.
Emotionally demanding jobs can be psychologically damaging and it is important that support is offered to employees in order to ameliorate these negative impacts. Line managers are potentially well-positioned to offer this support if they are provided with adequate systems and behavioural guidance to enable this.
Research undertaken by IES highlights some considerations and behaviours that line managers should take onboard to effectively support their employees in emotionally demanding jobs.
Personal resilience is one factor that can alleviate the negative consequences of high levels of emotional demand. Although this can be inherent in some employees, much of this is learned through practice and experience within the job role. Younger, less experienced workers are unlikely to have developed high levels of resilience and line managers may need to provide staff with greater levels of support in the early stages of their career.
IES research on the mentor-mentee relationship highlights the benefits of having an experienced 'buddy' within the department (this may or may not be the person's line manager). This relationship can provide less experienced employees with the opportunity to 'offload' and share any emotional encounters with more experienced members of staff.
Peer support is also valuable for employees dealing with high levels of emotional demand. Line managers should aim to establish mechanisms and processes by which employees, both new and experienced, can regularly meet to discuss their emotional issues and provide support to one another. Once established line managers need to actively encourage the use of these processes. Peer support can also alleviate some of the emotional burdens and responsibilities placed upon line managers themselves.
IES research for the HSE has shown that in some organisations there is a widespread or embedded view that exhibiting signs of stress is a weakness. These attitudes will only exacerbate any emotional distress employees' face and will encourage them to 'bottle up' their issues rather than initiate open and honest conversations with their manager. Line managers should aim to counter this with an 'open-door' policy and other behaviours which show genuine concern, warmth and empathy for their employees. It is also necessary that senior management exemplify this approach to bring about a top-down cultural change within these organisations.
Line managers need to be able to spot the early signs of an employee suffering from the adverse effects of emotional demands and to act appropriately. If they feel unable to handle the situation themselves then the employee should be referred to other support, such as HR, occupational health or an employee assistance programme. Line managers who feel they do not have the specific skills or knowledge to recognise the early signs of emotional distress should seek more specialist training to ensure they can manage the situation effectively.
Finally all levels of management within organisations should consider the effect of emotional demands upon the line manager themselves. The CIPD employee outlook survey found 49% of middle managers are currently experiencing 'excessive pressure' at work. Therefore there is a risk that managers' own health and wellbeing could be compromised by dealing with the additional emotional difficulties of their employees. Public sector employers need to be wary of this and should ensure systems are in place to support managers so they in turn can support junior employees effectively.
Ben Hicks is a research officer for the Institute for Employment Studies, an independent, not-for-profit centre for research and evidence-based consultancy on employment, the labour market, and HR policy and practice.
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Article from The Guardian