Three tier approach to managing work related stress

This diagram shows at a glance how work-related stress can be managed effectively. The first step is primary and prevention, then secondary and being proactive and thirdly tertiary and being reactive. The preventive primary approach will give a strong foundation taking into account of health and safety law and this can be by changes to job design.

Primary and preventive is the most effective but is often missed and is not always costly or having an impact on the organisation. Key is to tackle stress at source by carrying out a risk assessment. Health and safety law expects organisations who have 5 or more staff to carry out a stress risk assessment.

By carrying out the stress risk assessment, this will identify the hazards or stressors, assess the risks such as excessive workloads due to unrealistic targets, control the risks by eliminating or reducing them.

The last step of the risk management process is to review the effectiveness of the implemented control measures and to check that they are working as planned. If a control measure is not working well, it must be changed or replaced. This should all be discussed with staff as they often can have good suggestions for control measures.

Secondary and being proactive is very popular but less effective as it doesn’t identify the source of stress. Many organisations will provide resilient training, mindfulness, CBT, yoga sessions, wellbeing day which are useful but will not reduce and prevent stress.

Tertiary and being reactive is helping those who have been off sick return to work effectively. Using occupational health services is the most effective and ensuring that staff have support to return to work such as reasonable adjustments and a phased return. Ideally there should be good discussion between management, HR and occupational health.

Occupational health should be at the primary stage when an individual is under stress and impacting on their psychological and physical health. However, this is not always the case and can in fact be at the reactive tertiary approach.

Discover how to spot and tackle stress in the workplace with our stress risk assessment for organisations, teams and individuals. We'll break down the key steps, share practical tips, and help you create a healthier, happier work environment for everyone.

Please get in touch if you wish more details on the IIRSM approved Stress Risk Assessment training at here

Diagram - from Professor Gail Kinman