If you are currently experiencing or are managing someone who feels they are experiencing ill health as a result of excess pressure at work, the following information may be helpful. This page is designed to help you find suitable sources of support and/or help to enable you to deal with your or your member of staff's personal circumstances.
Depending on the circumstances you will need to consider who else it would be appropriate to involve. For example, if the issue is pressure at work, it may be enough to involve just the individual and their line manager (or their manager if the problem is with the immediate manager), or additionally a TU/employee representative if desired by either party.
However if excessive pressure has lead to ill health or absence from work, you may wish to consult (with their consent) the individual's GP, psychiatrist or other health professional involved in their recovery.
Other people to consider consulting could include HR/personnel, OH or workplace counsellors.
All relevant parties should work together to:
Your first course of action should be to check that there are adequate organisational arrangements in place and that a risk assessment has been conducted recently. If one has not been done recently, this should be a priority. For further information on this, please see HSE's Stress Web Pages.
You should arrange to speak with your member of staff/the employee to find out how you can help them both in the immediate future and longer term. It might also be helpful to contact their GP in writing if they have seen one and give their consent for you to do this.
If you would like to improve your skills in managing/supporting people with stress-related problems, focus on introductory courses in communication skills, and develop an understanding of mental health problems, symptoms and the link between these symptoms and possible ill health.
Pressure at work can be good for you, but if the experience of pressure gets too much, you may begin to feel stressed.
Irrespective of the source of your stress, you should speak to your manager or someone else you feel comfortable talking to in your organisation. If it is work-related, your employer has a duty to take reasonable steps to try to resolve the problem. If it is not work-related they may be able to support you in some way or help to take some pressure off you at work while you resolve the stress in your personal life.
It is important to take action at a personal level and to review your lifestyle to see if you can identify any contributing factors. A simple checklist might include:
In some cases, prolonged stress can lead to physical and/or mental ill health. If you think you are currently experiencing stress-related ill health you may benefit from a discussion with your GP.
For general healthcare information, you may find the Developing Patient Partnerships website useful. For other sources of further information to help you understand and deal with a stress-related illness, please click on the links below:
Read a personal account from someone
who has suffered from stress-related ill health.