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Posted By songwriter
Good morning and a merry Xmas to you all.
we have had 2 people in the work place going off on the sick through stress and 1 other person with a claim in against the company for stress, this is going to get worse as we are a reactive company. can anyone please tell me how i can advise the directors that we are all working long hours with no dinner breaks and it doesn't encourage people to do a good job etc. please help. thanks in advance.
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Posted By Mark Farrell
I would start with writing to them and expressing your concerns.
I would then use the current claim against the company as an example of what is going to occur with greater frequency once the word gets round.
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Posted By water67.
Hi, seems to me the absence and litigation are clear indicators to your company that "all is not well" with regards to stress there is more than enough information out there on causes, effects etc. etc. I suggest you have a look at the HSE stress management tool. The HSE have also prosecuted a hospital trust for failure to have stress risk assessments. somewhere down south of England I think, sorry cant remember which one. May help convince your managers.
Cheers
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Posted By Dave Merchant It was West Dorset Hospitals NHS Trust back in 2003. See www.hse.gov.uk/stress for examples of management practice - they've now issued a set of guidelines.
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Posted By Seano
Surely the prospect of the claim coming in and that there maybe another 2 coming in would give them a kick to get something sorted??
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Posted By songwriter
thanks for your replies, like i said, we like to pay out on claims and be reactive, i know it sounds stupid but thats what i'm up against.
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Posted By Paul Duell
It DOES sound stupid - but many of us will have worked for companies with similar policies, so don't worry about that!
Stress is one of the least well understood H&S issues - I think many managers don't take it seriously and think that staff should just soldier on.
As others have said, remind the board that prevention is cheaper than cure!
P
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Posted By anon1234
I'm not sure that people don't generally take it seriously - they just don't know how to manage it when faced with other conflicting demands. One of the earlier posts referred to working long hours and not taking breaks - is this because the budgets don't allow for additional staff, uneven work loads, or just that some people don't trust others to do the job right so don't delegate effectively?
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Posted By Gilly Margrave
Quite apart from potential stress injury claims; long hours and no breaks may well be a breach of the Working Time Regulations. The employer may feel it can bear injury claims but do they have a similar view of criminal prosecution?
Gilly
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Posted By Kieran J Duignan
Songwriter
In many ways, I v.much appreciate your dilemmas as I've spent over 25 years as a qualified counsellor and chartered occupational psychologist, as well as a CMIOSH and CFCIPD, addressing challenges of work-related stress.
The basic physiological and psychological facts concern the balance of healthy stress that enables all animals to function effectively. The genuine difficulty lies in figuring out how to design work and educate people at all levels about sources of stress and how to channel them productively.
Apart from occasions when I'm asked to serve as an expert witness, my preferred approach now to an employer, in almost any sector, is radical and simple: Show how they can literally make more money by training and incentivising people at all levels to become psychologically fit. In effect, this is a combination of quality management, safety management and leadership development where a host of possible methods can contribute.
Where employers have tried out my offer, the first result has been enormous relief on the part of frustrated and angry employees and the second has been very strong support by trades unions. This then opens the door for HR and Safety managers to indicate the changes under way to directors; some of them then, more often than not, are only too content to get on a moving bus eager to share the credit for driving it.
Make 'psychological fitness' your watchword for 2008!
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Posted By songwriter
thanks for all of your advice, i'm working with dinasours and blinkered people who can only see profit, we spend a pound to save a penny, bad business but who ami.lol
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