Managing Work Related Stress in the Workplace Ahead of Stress Awareness Week
Work-related stress is not a side issue. It is one of the leading causes of ill health in Great Britain, and the scale of the problem is hard to ignore.
HSE statistics show that 964,000 workers experienced work-related stress, depression or anxiety in 2024/25, with an estimated 22.1 million working days lost as a result. Behind those numbers are people struggling with workload, job demands, poor support, unclear roles, conflict, change, or a mix of several pressures at once.
International Stress Awareness Week, taking place from 2 to 6 November, gives organisations a timely reason to pause and ask a practical question: are current arrangements really helping to prevent and manage work-related stress?
Employers have a legal duty to assess and manage risks to workers’ health, including the risks linked to work-related stress. A proactive approach can protect workers, reduce sickness absence and help create healthier, more sustainable working environments.
The challenge is knowing where to start.
Work-related stress needs the same attention as any other workplace risk
Stress can sometimes be treated as a personal resilience issue. That is too narrow. While people respond to pressure in different ways, employers still need to look at the work factors that may be causing or worsening stress.
Work-related stress can arise when people feel unable to cope with the demands placed on them. That might be due to too much work, not enough control, poor communication, weak support, conflict, uncertainty, or unclear expectations.
In practice, the causes often overlap. For example, a worker may cope well with a busy period if they have clear priorities and supportive supervision. The same workload may become harmful if priorities change daily, breaks are missed, and nobody feels able to raise concerns.
A useful starting point is to treat stress risk management like any other part of health and safety management:
identify the hazards
decide who might be harmed and how
assess the level of risk
put proportionate controls in place
check whether the controls are working
This does not need to be complicated. It does need to be honest, structured and followed through.
Stress Awareness Week is a useful prompt, but stress risk management should not be a once-a-year exercise.
Identify the main causes of stress in the workforce
The first step is to understand where the pressure points are. Assumptions can be misleading, especially in larger or more complex organisations. Senior leaders may see one picture, while line managers and workers experience another.
Evidence can come from several places:
sickness absence data
staff turnover
exit interview themes
employee surveys
incident reports
grievance records
one-to-one conversations
team feedback
occupational health input, where available
The aim is not to build a perfect dataset. The aim is to spot patterns.
For example, one team may report high workload and missed breaks. Another may be struggling with unclear role boundaries after a restructure. A third may have recurring conflict between shifts or departments. Each risk needs a different response.
HSE’s Management Standards provide a helpful framework for thinking about the common causes of work-related stress. They cover six broad areas:
Area | What to look for |
Demands | Workload, work patterns and the working environment |
Control | How much say workers have over how they do their work |
Support | Encouragement, resources and help from managers and colleagues |
Relationships | Bullying, conflict or unacceptable behaviour |
Role | Whether people understand their responsibilities |
Change | How organisational change is managed and communicated |
Using a framework like this helps keep the focus on work design and management systems, not just individual coping skills.
Recognise the signs early and make it safe to speak up
Stress is not always obvious. Some workers will say they are struggling. Others may stay quiet until the problem has already affected their health, performance or attendance.
Common signs can include:
changes in mood or behaviour
withdrawal from colleagues
increased irritability
tiredness or loss of concentration
more mistakes than usual
changes in attendance or timekeeping
reduced confidence
difficulty making decisions
These signs do not automatically mean someone is experiencing work-related stress. They do signal that a supportive conversation may be needed.
Managers play a key role here. They are often closest to the day-to-day pressures, but they may need training and confidence to respond well. A poor response, even if well meant, can stop people speaking up again.
Good conversations tend to be simple and private. They focus on listening, understanding the work factors involved, and agreeing practical next steps. They do not require managers to diagnose a health condition.
Useful questions include:
What part of the job feels most difficult at the moment?
Are there any tasks, deadlines or processes causing particular pressure?
Is anything unclear about your role or priorities?
What support would make the biggest difference?
Are there changes we can make now while we look at the wider issue?
The tone matters. Workers are more likely to raise concerns where they believe they will be taken seriously and not blamed.
Assess and manage risks using evidence-based approaches
Once the main causes are clearer, the next step is to assess the risk and decide what action is needed. This should be proportionate to the size and nature of the organisation.
For a small organisation, this might involve structured conversations, a short survey and a simple action plan. For a larger organisation, it may involve more detailed data analysis, consultation groups and written risk assessments for different teams or functions.
The key is to focus on prevention as well as response.
Support for individuals matters, especially when someone is already struggling. But individual support alone will not fix a work system that continues to create harmful pressure. If workload is consistently too high, offering wellbeing tips will not remove the risk.
Practical control measures may include:
Adjusting workload and priorities
This could mean reviewing staffing levels, reducing unnecessary tasks, staggering deadlines, or giving clearer guidance on what matters most when demand is high.
Improving control
Where possible, workers should have some say over how they organise tasks, plan work, take breaks, or influence local decisions that affect them.
Strengthening management support
Regular check-ins, clear feedback and accessible managers can help workers raise concerns before they become serious.
Reducing conflict
Organisations should have clear expectations for behaviour, routes for raising concerns and prompt action where bullying, harassment or poor conduct occurs.
Clarifying roles
Stress can grow when people do not know what they are responsible for, who can make decisions, or how success is measured.
Managing change well
Change is less stressful when people understand what is happening, why it is happening, how it affects them and where they can ask questions.
A strong approach uses worker input. People doing the work often know which changes would help most. Consultation also improves trust, because workers can see that their experience is shaping the response.
Review whether existing measures are making a difference
Putting measures in place is not the end of the process. Organisations need to check whether actions have reduced risk.
This review does not have to be complex. It can include:
repeating a short stress survey
reviewing sickness absence trends
checking workload indicators
asking teams whether agreed changes have helped
monitoring use of support services
discussing stress risks during health and safety reviews
looking at whether issues recur in the same area
A review should ask two simple questions:
Did we do what we said we would do?
Did it make work less stressful in the areas we identified?
If the answer to either question is no, the organisation may need to adjust the plan. That is normal. Stress risk management often improves through regular review rather than one large intervention.
It is also helpful to avoid relying only on lagging indicators, such as absence. By the time absence rises, stress may already have caused harm. Leading indicators, such as workload concerns, missed breaks, changes in demand or feedback from teams, can give earlier warning.
Where changes could reduce risk
A useful reflection for Stress Awareness Week is this:
Where in the organisation could changes reduce the risk of work-related stress?
That question works best when it is specific. Instead of asking whether the organisation “takes stress seriously”, look at real work situations.
For example:
Are deadlines realistic during peak periods?
Do workers know how to raise concerns without fear?
Are managers trained to recognise and respond to stress?
Are priorities clear when workload exceeds capacity?
Do workers have enough control over how they carry out tasks?
Is change communicated early enough?
Are there teams where conflict, absence or turnover keep recurring?
Are support measures known, accessible and trusted?
The answers may point to quick improvements, such as clearer escalation routes or better check-ins. They may also reveal deeper issues, such as workload planning, staffing levels or management capability.
Both matter. Small changes can help, but serious risks need proper attention.
Free HSE webinar on managing work-related stress
Following International Stress Awareness Week, HSE is hosting a free webinar on Tuesday 10 November at 3pm UK time.
The session will explore practical approaches to preventing and managing work-related stress. It will cover common causes of work-related stress, employers’ responsibilities, and how HSE guidance and tools can help organisations identify risks and take appropriate action.
The webinar will be useful for organisations reviewing their current approach, as well as those looking to make improvements. It offers a practical way to build confidence and understand the next steps.
A proactive approach protects people and improves work
Managing work-related stress in the workplace is not about removing every source of pressure. Some pressure is part of working life. The issue is whether demands are reasonable, risks are assessed, and workers have the support, clarity and control they need.
Stress Awareness Week is a good moment to pause, review and act. The organisations that make the most progress are usually those that listen carefully, look for patterns, involve workers and keep checking whether their actions are working.
A practical next step is to choose one area of the organisation where stress risks may be higher, gather evidence, speak with workers and agree a small number of clear improvements. That first step can lead to better health, fewer lost working days and a safer working environment for everyone.
