Business Mentality

Implied into all employment contracts is a term stating that an employer owes a duty of good faith to its employees. It also owes them a duty to provide a safe place of work. If either of these duties are breached by the employer causing stress to the employee, this may prompt them to resign and bring a claim.

Constructive dismissal occurs where an employee resigns from their employment in circumstances where the employer is guilty of a fundamental breach of its contract of employment with the employee. This may entitle the employee to claim that he or she has been unfairly dismissed.

"Stress claims" usually take one or more of three possible forms:

1. A personal injury/negligence claim for damage in the courts;
2. A constructive/unfair dismissal claim in the Employment Tribunal; or
3. A disability discrimination claim in the Employment Tribunal.

• Conduct an annual staff survey and find out what your employees really think and have an agenda emerging out of the findings
• Give every employee a personal development plan that includes finding out more about the place they work and extending their skills and knowledge
• Let them follow their interests as far as is possible
• Allow job swops and work shadowing
• Always move an employee every two or three years but retain their knowledge and give them time to help settle in the new incumbent
• Take people off their main job from time to time to work on cross company projects
• Gather ideas to constantly improve what you are doing
• Send people out to check out the market and see what other companies are doing
• Innovate constantly at every level
• Celebrate success and allow mistakes but learn from them
• Trust your staff. The vast majority of people are reasonable

There is no specific law against stress at work. The main duties on employers to tackle work-related stress include:

The employer's general duty to provide a safe place of work, safe systems of work, and safe people to work with (Health and Safety at Work Act 1974). This duty covers both physical and mental health. The employer has a duty to undertake risk assessments and to take action to eliminate or reduce risks, including the risk of stress (Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999). The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 gives protection to people that have a disability, as defined in the DDA and this includes mental health problems. If a member of staff has a health issue as a consequence of work related stress, employers must make 'reasonable adjustments' to the working conditions.

Yes. The particular demands placed on women workers are often overlooked when people discuss stress. Most working women have the double burden of juggling paid work with childcare and domestic responsibilities. They are also more likely to be working unsocial hours and caring for the elderly and disabled. Balancing these conflicting demands is difficult, tiring and stressful. Women also tend to be concentrated in lower-paid, lower-grade jobs in the service sector, particularly retailing and the hotel and catering industry. They may have little control over their work. Most nurses and teachers are women, two of the most stressful occupations in the UK.

Any job with long hours and high work demands can be stressful. Stress is not just a white-collar issue. Safety surveys show that bus drivers, Whitehall civil servants, nurses, teachers, doctors, call centre workers, gardeners, home helps and refuse collectors are all susceptible to pressure and stress. Low pay and long hours are one of the main sources of stress in manual jobs.

Carry out a stress risk assessment in the same way as other workplace risks. Achieve acceptable stress levels. Using national survey data, the HSE has set a level of staff satisfaction, called a stress management standard, for six possible sources of stress: demand, control, support, role, relationships and change. For example, to reach a satisfactory standard on work demands, 85% of staff should be able to say they can cope with the demands of their job.

Your mind: Chronic anxiety. Depression. Mental breakdown, even suicide. Your behaviour: Alcohol/substance misuse. Social isolation. Your body: Digestion problems. Diarrhoea. Vomiting. Stomach ulcers. Your immune system: Lowered resistance to infections. Chronic asthma. Chronic dermatitis. Possible increased risk of cancer. Your heart: Heart disease. Heart attack. Stroke. Hypertension.

Yes. If the pressures facied are prolonged, happen too frequently, or are out of your control, the stress reactions in the body can become chronic. This may lead serious or permanent ill health problems: Stress reactions may suppress a person's immune system, increasing susceptibility to diseases. Tense muscles and soft tissues are more easily damaged under pressure. Psychological distress leads to depression and anxiety. Stress is linked with health-damaging habits, such as smoking, alcohol and problem eating, all of which are associated with other diseases.

Stress is a natural reaction to excess demand, pressure or excitement. Hormonal and chemical defence mechanisms are triggered in your body. This is often called the 'fight or flight' reaction. It evolved to help you deal with dangerous or life-threatening situations. You may begin to sweat. Your blood vessels to the skin constrict, muscle blood vessels swell, and the stress hormones called adrenaline and cortisol are released: adrenaline accelerates your heart rate, cortisol raises blood sugar levels. With these changes, your body adapts itself to cope with short-term stress. It can even be enjoyable deliberately to trigger stress reactions in situations of your own choosing, playing sports, on theme park rides, taking part in the performing arts.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) says that problems at work, such as excessive workload, long hours and bullying are all sources of stress. Employers should tackle stressors by carrying out a risk assessment, in the same way that they must deal with any other hazards at work. In its initial advice to employers, Tackling work-related stress (1999) the HSE identified six main stressors at work:

Demands: Can you cope with the demands of your job? This includes workload, the pace of work or your exposure to physical hazards. Is there any way you can discuss your concerns with your employer?

Control: How much, or how little, say do you have over the job you do and how it is organised? Is there any way you can raise concerns with your employer?

Support: Do you receive adequate information and support from your fellow workers and supervisors? Does your organisation cater for individual differences in approach, style and so on? Is training provided in the core tasks you carry out?

Role: Do you have a clearly defined role and position? Does your employer ensure that you don't have seriously conflicting targets?

Relationships: Are you subjected to unacceptable behaviours, such as bullying and harassment at work? Does your employer have agreed procedures to deal with bullying?

Change: How are major changes at work managed and communicated? Are you engaged in these changes?

The HSE defines stress as: 'The adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed on them'. A certain amount of pressure is inevitable in any job, and can be enjoyable. But the danger of the 'good stress/bad stress' argument is that your employer may blame you for not dealing with stress, rather than taking responsibility for how your work is organised.

Excess pressure at work can affect your mental and physical health in many ways: Your body: Weight loss/gain. Skin rashes. Muscle fatigue. Indigestion. Raised blood pressure/rapid heartbeat. Your mind: Anxiety and tension. Irritability. Forgetfulness. Disturbed sleep. Headaches. Your behaviour: Fall in performance at work, or becoming accident-prone. Increased use of alcohol, cigarettes or drugs. Tensions at home. Unless the causes of your stress at work are dealt with, these symptoms can develop into much more serious, long-term ill health.