Company bosses must train line managers to identify the signs of stress in the workplace if they want to reduce absenteeism in the workplace, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development has warned.
The organisation claims one in five people say they experience a high degree of work-related stress, with 44% saying they come under excessive pressure at least once a week. Absence through stress costs employers a total of £9.6bn a year, according to the CIPD.
"Workplace stress is the most common cause of long-term absence and also damages employee morale and productivity and leads to high staff turnover," says Ben Willmott, employee relations adviser at the CIPD. "Employers that fail to manage stress are also vulnerable to litigation and potentially high compensation payouts.
"Good people management can help to prevent most of the problems causing stress at work, such as lack of control over workload. If managers set clear goals, communicate with clarity, consult, provide feedback and recognition and develop and coach their teams, stress is much less likely to become a problem.
"Managers also need to be able to recognise when the people they manage are working under excessive pressure so they can intervene before individuals suffer from stress-related ill-health," he added. "It is important for employees to have confidence in their managers so that they can admit to difficulties without fear of appearing weak or incompetent."
The CIPD has unveiled a list of key management behaviours that it claims play a vital role in preventing, identifying and tackling stress:
Managing workload and resources: this requires managers to monitor team workload and refuse to take on additional work when team is under pressure
Empowerment: this requires managers to trust employees to do their work and give employees responsibility
Accessible and visible: this requires managers to make time to talk to employees and avoid being constantly at meetings
Expressing and managing own emotions: this requires managers to have a positive approach and avoid acting aggressively or losing temper with employees
Communication: this requires managers to communicate clear goals and objectives and avoid holding meetings behind closed doors
The CIPD has unveiled three new guides published in association with the Health and Safety Executive designed to help line managers and HR professionals identify the signs of stress. To download a copy visit www.cipd.co.uk/guides