As an employer, we have a legal duty to assess the risk of work-related stress and to put in place measures to control this if the assessment identifies that the risk is significant.
Familiarise yourself with the Supporting The Wellbeing of You and Your Staff - Guidance which contains key information and practical advice for managers.
One of the line manager's key responsibilities is to proactively monitor each member of their teams workload and stress levels. We have highlighted a few steps to help you do this:
- Workload Review should be an integral part of your one to one meetings with your team. The Guidance below on workload discussions may help to structure and plan for the conversation.
- Encourage your team to regularly monitor their personal workload and stress levels by making use of the workload and stress management resources and training.
- Utilise the HSE Talking toolkit or Mind Wellness Action plan to assist with preventing work related stress
- If you suspect or know that stress is a significant risk, contact healthandsafety@abdn.ac.uk or your HR Partner to conduct a Stress Risk Assessment . This will enable you to identify stressors and put in place appropriate plan to address them. Agree a review period and follow-up meeting.
- If an individual is known or suspected to be suffering from stress, whether they are absent as a result or not, it is likely that an individual stress risk assessment will be required. In these circumstances a referral to Occupational Health for advice is also recommended.
If you have particular concerns relating to stress and require additional support or advice please contact healthandsafety@abdn.ac.uk or your HR Partner.
Workload Discussions & Reviews
As a manager you can play a part in proactively determining workload for you, individuals in your team and the team overall. Creating a culture of openness within a team so both Line Manager and team members can discuss workload honestly, mitigate associated stress and put in place appropriate support is crucial.
This Workload Mapping Tool could be useful to analyse and document individual or team workload pressures and can be completed individually by team members or by a line manager for an entire team.
- Individual Discussions
-
Workload discussions should form part of your regular 1:1 meetings with your staff, as well as checking in on stress levels and general wellbeing. Honest and open conversations help in identifying any actions or support measures required that can help mitigate some of the impacts.
To support these meetings consider suggesting that the individual prepare a Workload Mapping Tool document and/or using our stress bucket exercise to use as a framework for discussion and on-going monitoring.
- Team Discussions
-
For group meetings, a Line Manager could complete the Workload Mapping Tool document to discuss with the wider team.
During either of these meeting or any workload discussions, it may be helpful to discuss:
-
Prioritising or pausing projects - Consider how realistic deadlines are. Think about which projects you need to prioritise to help you fulfil your role. Could work be paused on a particular project to make your workload feel less overwhelming? Think about a date to revisit this.
-
Exploring new ways of working - are there resources, tools or digital solutions that could help make some processes or tasks less time consuming.
-
Collaborate or delegate - Is there potential to involve others in the delivery of some projects? Could you upskill a colleague to enable them to help support with the task? Think about how you can draw on expertise from colleagues across the university who have a focus or specialism in that area.
-
Regularly review - Agree a timeframe to review individual or team workload and assess the impact any changes have had on workload, stress or productivity. If you or your line manager feel that a more detailed stress risk assessment should be completed please follow the guidance here.
-