How can it be proved that a persons stress, and the absence from work can be totally put down to the job or the work that they do every day, can any one advise me on this subject, I would like to know and understand how this can be quantified without having to take in other possible precursor that also may affect the persons every day well being, comments and advise please.

When completing my MSc we had a guest lecturer who I won't name - needless to say he was a very senior occupational health physician. When asked that very same question, he said that in essence you cannot prove if X causes Y when it comes to stress, as even minor stresses or daily stressors will mount up and amass, regardelss of their job or role. He accepted that stress is more prevalent and likely in people facing roles and those where emotional or physical effort is required and of course these roles may well contribute more to a persons overall stress, but given the modern world we live in, it is almost impossible to put some sort of number or ratio on work stress as a percentage of overall stress. Stress needs to be assessed and looked at in a much more holistic way. Part of the reason for many of the workplace wellbeing services on offer, is that employers are understanding that it is not always there job that is stressful, but a combination of all sorts, like childcare worries, ill health, finances or relationships etc etc. It would take a very detailed survey and a very honest staff member (IMO) to give you a result that you could use to quantify stress at work and give you a % or alike of total stress.

The reason for the question in the first instance, is that I have received a sick note and the doctor has stated that the reason for the absence is "stress at work" which after reading the above paragraphs is quite hard if not impossible to quantify as being the sole reason, comments please

Latchy - this is very good advice. Has anyone sat down with your employee and tried to ascertain the stressors in the workplace?

It can't be proved.

Stress = adverse reaction to (perceived) pressure.

That pressure is the sum total of all the little and large frustrations in that person's life...and when the pressures overcome that individuals ability to cope then stress symptoms will start to occur. These will be personal, work-related, home-related, friend-related and additionally change from day to day.
There is no genuine means of quantification - and if you have a magic method of understanding all the personal demons in a person's head then please let the psychologists know asap!


The workplace is the only one of those that has legal requirements you can call upon though and it is easy to fixate on any workplace stressors as being 'the thing that put me over the edge' since work is where you only spend a smaller portion of your comparative time. Completely incorrect of course but we humans are flawed that way.

Don't know your organisational structure, but I would ask your OH (if you have one) or HR (same) to contact the GP for more information, noting 1 & 2 below.
1) Stress is not an ill-health condition in itself, but can be a trigger to anxiety, depression, physical ailments etc.
2) The GP has only the individuals word it is 'work related' in any case and should not have phrased any sick cert with that term.

Tactics (whilst awaiting GP clarification) are exactly what you would do if you got information on any other 'work related' outcome such as bad back, skin condition etc. Investigate. In this case a conversation with the line manager and possibly others in the same team or job role as a first step.

The employer has to identify hazards and take steps if risk significant blah blah. So you are only looking to see if there is a stress risk component associated with the work. This could be from the job itself - social work, police as examples - or from the particular work environment - management or lack of, bullying colleagues etc.

If there IS evidence of the 'hazard' in the workplace you can also initiate further investigation around the individual - not done by you, but by LM and OH / HR - whilst you can raise the manager's awareness of HSE guidance and go from there.

If there is NO evidence of stress beyond that of just having to work (!) this goes back to OH / HR for them to do the pastoral support element as individual / domestic stressors are indicated. Then you record your findings as you would with an investigation into WRULDs etc.

Some people get 'stressed' at work because they no longer want to be there, or doing that job. I don't see that as work-related, although they might.

Irrespective whether the GP Fit Note had Stress at Work as the reason or any other illness, it is the oragnisations return to work procedure after sickness absence that is the key one which is an HR responsibility and also trained managers & supervisors who implement the return to work, including "stress" aspect of return to work at the front line. Only after the return to work aspect has been dealt with can one have information on what to do.

Yes, there invariably are non-work related stressors.

HSE's formal definition of work related stress is:
"The adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed on them at work."

It goes on to state:-
Stress is not an illness – it is a state. However, if stress becomes too excessive and prolonged, mental and physical illness may develop.

It is an interesting question:
I was eventually diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder earlier on this year. In simple terms, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder happens after a traumatic event involving a considerable amount of fear which most of the time your brain linked to childhood trauma.
While there is a link to my home life & history the source that started it was working in a war zone. My first sick note was “depression due to stress”. Over the years it has taken a lot of counselling, medications, tries & errors before the correct diagnose was finally reached after stress/pressure at work triggered another boot of depression/illness.
Mental health is a very difficult & sensitive subject with lots of stigma still attached to it. In these economic times a lot of employees will be very weary of such sick note & not necessary open to talk about it especially if the trigger is a manager attitude or some bullying in the workplace.

Latchy

Assuming you use the online guidance from the HSE website, or other the enormous volume of other well-researched sources, to design a stress survelllance questionnaire to be completed quarterly by all staff at all levels, you can make an informed judgement about particular sources of work-related stress, if any, affecting any individual you oversee.

On the basis of this regularly updated database of iinformation, you are in a position to judge work-related sources of any particular individual and to take appropriate action accordingly.

Judging from your questions, maybe you need to upgrade the calibre of the questionnaire you use for monitoring stress levels. prescribed in the HSE Management Standards on Work-Related Stress 2004.