Many organisations now have some form of workplace wellbeing support in place — an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), manager training, mental health awareness initiatives or access to counselling.

All of that can help. But it is only part of the picture.

A more important question is: are there things happening at work that are contributing to stress in the first place?

In the UK, work-related stress is not just a wellbeing issue. It is also a health and safety issue.

HSE workplace stress guidance makes it clear that employers must assess the risks, take action to reduce them and protect employees from harm.

So a good workplace mental health approach should do more than offer support once someone is already struggling. It should also look at workload, management, communication, relationships and other factors that may be creating unnecessary pressure.

What does the HSE say about workplace stress?

Stress and burnout often show up gradually, so spotting the early signs can make a real difference before absence or performance starts to suffer.

UK law places clear responsibilities on employers. Under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, employers have a duty to protect the health, safety and welfare of their employees, so far as is reasonably practicable.

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require employers to assess risks to employees’ health and safety and take appropriate steps to control them. That includes risks to mental as well as physical health.

When it comes to work-related stress, the HSE is clear: employers should assess the risks and act on what they find. For organisations with five or more employees, the significant findings of that risk assessment must also be recorded.

So if workload, poor management, conflict or organisational change is contributing to employee stress, an EAP on its own is unlikely to solve the underlying problem.

What does the HSE expect to see?

There isn’t one single “workplace stress compliance checklist” that every employer has to follow.

What matters is being able to show that you have looked at the risks, taken them seriously and done something about them.

That might include:

  • identifying the main causes of work-related stress
  • looking at who may be affected and how
  • asking employees about the pressures they are experiencing
  • taking practical steps to reduce those pressures
  • recording significant findings where required
  • checking whether the changes you made are actually helping
  • reviewing the risk assessment when things change
  • responding properly when individual concerns are raised

The key thing is evidence.

Having a wellbeing policy is useful, but it does not automatically mean workplace stress is being managed well. The same applies to having an EAP.

What matters is whether the organisation can show that it has looked at the causes of stress and taken reasonable steps to reduce them.

The six areas the HSE focuses on

The HSE’s Management Standards provide a useful framework for doing this.

They identify six areas of work design which, if not managed properly, can contribute to work-related stress: Demands, Control, Support, Relationships, Role and Change.

1. Demands

This includes workload, working hours, work patterns and the working environment.

Questions might include:

Are workloads achievable within normal working hours?

Are employees routinely working beyond their contracted hours simply to keep up?

Do teams have enough people and resources to manage what is expected of them?

Are particular employees or departments showing signs of sustained overload?

High performance and high workload are not necessarily the same as unhealthy working conditions. But when excessive pressure becomes normal rather than occasional, it is worth examining whether the demands being placed on employees are sustainable.

The HSE says organisations should aim to provide employees with adequate and achievable demands in relation to their agreed hours of work.

2. Control

How much influence do employees have over the way they do their work?

Control can include flexibility around how work is carried out, working patterns, pace, breaks and the opportunity to use employees’ skills and initiative.

Very little control combined with very high demands can be particularly difficult.

The HSE Management Standards therefore encourage organisations, where possible, to give employees a say over their work and work patterns.

3. Support

Support means more than telling employees that “our door is always open”.

Do people know where to go when they are struggling?

Do managers have the confidence and training to respond appropriately?

Are employees given the information and resources they need to do their jobs?

Is support available before a situation reaches crisis point?

The HSE describes support as including the encouragement, resources and assistance provided by the organisation, line managers and colleagues.

This is also an area where access to appropriate professional mental health support can make a considerable difference.

4. Relationships

Workplace relationships can be a significant source of stress.

Bullying, conflict, inappropriate behaviour, poor communication and unresolved interpersonal difficulties can all affect psychological wellbeing.

Employers should therefore have more than a written dignity-at-work or anti-bullying policy.

Employees need to know how concerns can be raised, managers need to know how to respond, and unacceptable behaviour needs to be dealt with appropriately.

The HSE specifically includes promoting positive working, avoiding conflict and dealing with unacceptable behaviour within its Relationships standard.

5. Role

Does everyone understand what their job actually is?

Role ambiguity is easy to overlook.

Employees can find themselves absorbing additional responsibilities as teams change or organisations grow. Priorities may conflict, accountability can become unclear, and people may be expected to meet several competing demands simultaneously.

The HSE recommends that organisations ensure employees understand their roles and responsibilities and, as far as possible, are not given conflicting requirements.

6. Change

Restructuring, redundancies, acquisitions, new technology, leadership changes and revised working practices can all place employees under additional pressure.

The change itself may be unavoidable.

How it is managed is not.

Clear communication, meaningful consultation and access to appropriate support can make a significant difference to how employees experience periods of uncertainty.

Under the HSE Management Standards, employees should receive timely information, understand the likely impact of changes on their jobs and have opportunities to raise concerns.

These six areas are a useful reminder that workplace mental health is shaped by much more than access to support. Workload, autonomy, management, relationships and communication all play a part in creating a mentally healthy workplace.

When did you last review your workplace stress risks?

A workplace stress risk assessment should not be something you complete once and then forget about.

Workplaces change. Teams grow or shrink, managers move on, workloads increase, roles evolve, new systems are introduced and restructures happen.

That is why the HSE Management Standards are built around an ongoing process of identifying risks, taking action, checking whether those actions are working and reviewing things again when circumstances change.

A useful question to ask is: What has changed in our organisation since we last looked at workplace stress?

If the answer is “quite a lot”, there is a good chance your existing assessment no longer reflects what employees are actually experiencing.

What about individual employees who are struggling?

Looking at organisational risks is important, but employers also need to think about the person in front of them.

Someone dealing with anxiety, depression, burnout or another mental health difficulty may need extra support, regardless of what is happening across the wider organisation.

There may also be legal responsibilities to consider. Under the Equality Act 2010, a mental health condition can meet the definition of a disability. Where that applies, an employer may need to make reasonable adjustments.

Those adjustments will depend on the person, their role, and what they find difficult. There is no one-size-fits-all solution.

The key is to have the conversation, understand what support may help, and avoid assuming what someone needs.

Where does an EAP fit?

An Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) can be a valuable part of workplace mental health support.

It gives employees somewhere confidential to turn when they are dealing with stress, anxiety, personal difficulties or problems at work.

But an EAP cannot fix everything.

If employees are struggling because workloads are consistently too high, management is poor, roles are unclear, or conflict is being left unresolved, counselling on its own will not remove the cause of the problem.

That is why the HSE places so much emphasis on looking at the workplace itself — not just at the individual employee.

The strongest approach does both: reduce avoidable sources of stress within the organisation and make good-quality support available when people need it.

Questions worth asking your organisation

A good place to start is by asking a few simple questions about how stress is being managed in practice:

  • Have we included work-related stress in our health and safety risk assessments?
  • Do we know what is putting the most pressure on employees?
  • Are workloads and expectations realistic?
  • Do people have enough control over how they do their work?
  • Do managers know how to respond when someone is struggling?
  • Do employees know where to go for support?
  • Are conflict and inappropriate behaviour dealt with properly?
  • Are roles and responsibilities clear?
  • How well do we support people through change?
  • Do we actually ask employees what is making work difficult?
  • When a risk is identified, what do we do about it?
  • Do we check whether the changes we make are working?

If several of those are hard to answer, it may be a sign that workplace wellbeing activity is happening without a clear, structured approach to managing stress.

Workplace mental health is more than a benefit

EAPs, counselling, mental health awareness and wellbeing initiatives all have an important role to play.

But workplace mental health should not sit only within an employee benefits programme.

For UK employers, managing work-related stress is also part of the wider responsibility to protect employees’ health and safety.

That means looking at both sides of the picture: how you support someone when they are struggling, and what may be happening at work that is contributing to that stress in the first place.

BetterCare UK supports organisations with EAP services, employee mental health checks, manager and HR training, workshops and access to clinical mental health support.

If you would like to talk through what might suit your organisation, contact the BetterCare UK team.

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