Skip to main content
Facilitate Magazine: Informing Workplace and Facilities Management Professionals - return to the homepage Facilitate magazine logo
  • Search
  • Visit Facilitate Magazine on Facebook
  • Visit Facilitate Magazine on LinkedIn
  • Visit @Facilitate_Mag on Twitter
Visit the website of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management Logo of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management

Main navigation

  • Home
  • News
    • Comment
    • People
    • Reports
    • Research
  • Features
    • Analysis
    • Features
    • Round Tables
    • Webinars
  • Outsourcing
    • Contract Finder
    • Contracts
    • FM Business Models
    • Interviews
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Opinion
    • Procurement
    • Trends
  • Know-How
    • Explainers
    • Legal Updates
    • White Papers
  • Jobs
  • Topics
    • Workplace Services
      • Hospitality
      • Catering
      • Cleaning
      • Front of House
      • Grounds Maintenance
      • Helpdesk
      • Mailroom
      • Manned Guarding / Security
      • Pest Control
      • Washroom Services
      • Disaster Recovery
      • Specialist Services
    • Professional Performance
      • Behavioural Change
      • Continual Professional Development
      • Education
      • Management
      • Recruitment
      • Training
    • Workplace Performance
      • Benchmarking
      • Health & Wellbeing
      • Operational Readiness
      • Procurement
      • Security
      • Workplace User Experience
      • Workplace Culture
    • Compliance
      • Health & Safety
      • Risk & Business Continuity
      • Standards
      • Statutory Compliance
    • Building Services
      • Architecture & Construction
      • Asset Management
      • Building Controls
      • Building Fabric
      • Drinking Water
      • Fire Protection
      • HVAC
      • Landscaping
      • Mechanical & Electrical
      • Building Security
      • Water, Drainage & Plumbing
    • Technology
      • Building Information Modelling
      • CAFM
      • Data & Networks
      • Document Management
      • Information Management
      • Internet of Things (IoT)
      • Software & Systems
    • Energy management
      • Energy Management Systems
      • Electricity
      • Gas
      • Solar
      • Wind
    • Sustainability
      • Environmental Quality
      • Social Value
      • Waste Management
      • Recycling
    • Workspace Design
      • Agile Working
      • Fit-Out & Refurbishment
      • Inclusive Access
      • Lighting
      • Office Interiors
      • Signage
      • Space Planning
      • Storage
      • Vehicle Management / Parking
      • Washroom
    • Sectors
      • Corporate Office
      • Education
      • Healthcare
      • Manufacturing
      • International
      • Retail
      • Sports & Leisure
      • Regions
  • Buyers' Guide
Quick links:
  • Home
  • Topics
Know How
Explainers
Workplace services
Pest control

What can managers do about stress?

Open-access content Friday 2nd March 2018 — updated 7.14pm, Tuesday 26th May 2020
p39_Stress_iStock-107430187

Alan Bradshaw, a consultant in workplace mental health, offers tips on how managers can help ease their team's stress.


05 March 2018 | Alan Bradshaw  


What causes stress?

Excessive workloads, lack of control and feeling unsupported increase the risk of stress, as do poor working relationships, a lack of clarity about roles and badly managed change. These often combine to produce a potent recipe for stress-related illness. Major life events outside work such as divorce, bereavement and caring responsibilities all make people more vulnerable to stress. 


Managers can focus on three key areas when dealing with team members' stress: prevention, monitoring and responding. 


Prevention

Prevention is the proactive part of stress management. This involves working with your team to profile the pressures of the job. The team must be involved as the stress they experience is based on their perceptions. Once work pressures are profiled and prioritised, two types of stress management plans can be produced. 


A preventive plan looks at averting stressful situations. This often involves communication with other teams and managers to find ways to tackle problems at source. 


The second, an if-then plan, looks at what can be done to reduce stress, enable coping and support people if/when the situation occurs. If-then plans help because they reduce anxiety about stressful situations (even if the situation doesn't actually occur).


Monitoring

Monitoring is a continuing people management activity to establish any causes for concern about stress and mental health in individuals or the team. If you have a concern, you must act. 


This usually involves having a conversation to paint a picture of how that person sees their situation and if there's anything you can do to help. One golden rule: don't jump to conclusions or make assumptions.


What might give you cause for concern? It's mainly down to what you can see and hear, such as sustained negative changes in people. Everyone can have a bad day, but chronic stress will usually manifest itself in one negative way or another. It might be a change in mood or behaviour, in the way someone interacts with others, or a drop in their work quality. Some negative changes are measurable, such as absence (frequency and length) or work performance, so you need to assess all available data to pick up on worrying trends.


Team meetings and one-to-ones are a great opportunity to identify stress problems before they become disasters. I recommend that managers should discuss 'work pressures' as an agenda item so it becomes normal to discuss demands and what can be done to address them.


Responding

This is the reactive part of stress management. It looks first at what can be done at work to support the person and minimise risks. It often involves developing plans to address causes of stress and making adjustments to make work more manageable. 


It isn't just about pointing people at external support structures such as the employee assistance programme. Yes, access to confidential counselling can be helpful, but counselling is not a panacea and not everyone benefits from that kind of support. 


Conclusion

Preventing, monitoring and responding - sounds simple, but it isn't. There are big challenges in today's workplace not addressed in this article, such as lack of time and remote working. And managers need training and tools to do this. But research shows the small investment in training will yield substantial returns. 


tinyurl.com/fmw0318-health


Alan Bradshaw is a business psychologist and workplace mental health expert with a speciality in stress prevention and risk management

Also filed in:
Topics
Know How
Content
Explainers
Workplace services
Pest control

You might also like...

Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in
  • Mail
  • Print

Today's top reads

 

Latest Jobs

Project Leader (Maternity Cover One Year Contract)

Cambridge
Circa £50,000 Pro Rata + Benefits & Opportunities
Reference
56378

Maintenance Supervisor

Surrey
Up to £43,000 + Excellent Package & Opportunities
Reference
56376

Regional Facilities Manager

South West England
Circa £40,000 + Benefits & Opportunities
Reference
56375
See all jobs »

 

 

Sign up to our newsletter

News, jobs and updates

Sign up

Subscribe to print

Sign up to receive our bi-monthly magazine

Subscribe
Facilitate magazine cover, June 2020
​
FOLLOW US
@Facilitate_Mag
Facilitate Magazine
Facilitate Magazine
CONTACT US
Contact us
Tel: 020 7880 6200
​

IWFM

About IWFM
Become a member
Qualifications
Events

Information

Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Cookie Policy
Think Green

Get in touch

Contact us
Advertise with us
Subscribe to Facilitate Magazine
Write for Facilitate Magazine

General

IWFM Jobs
Help

© 2022 • www.facilitatemagazine.com and Facilitate Magazine are published by Redactive Media Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part is not allowed without written permission.

Redactive Media Group Ltd, 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ