Work related stress - Research and statistics

Key HSE research publications on stress can be accessed via this page. Reports are listed in chronological order. For information on research projects currently underway, please contact us.

Statistical information

Statistical information is available from HSE's stress statistics page. This includes reports from the annual Psychosocial Working Conditions surveys 2004-07, in addition to further detail on stress incidence, prevalence and resultant working days lost, taken from the annual Labour Force Survey.

HSE Management Standards and stress-related work outcomes

Paper produced to assess the impact of the Management Standards on work related stress outcomes. Produced for and published by the Society of Occupational Medicine. The research paper aimed to investigate the relationship between the HSE MS and the following stress-related work outcomes: 'job satisfaction', job-related anxiety and depression and errors/near misses.

• HSE Management Standards and stress-related work outcomes - Kerr et al 2009

A summary of the evidence

These two papers describe the evidence behind our approach to tackling stress and the development and validation of the Management Standards.

• Work related stress in the UK: A new Management Standards approach. Part 1 - Background
• Work related stress in the UK: A new Management Standards approach. Part 2 - Practical developments

Both of these reports have also been published in the international journal Work and Stress 2004, vol. 18, no.2

• Psychometric analysis of the UK Health and Safety Executive's Management Standards work related stress Indicator Tool
  A review of the HSE's Management Standards Stress Indicator Tool and its effectiveness.

A summary of the evidence of the need to evaluate line management competency

Research has shown that one of the major causes of work related stress is the impact of managers and their skills to manage staff and stress in the work place. The following reports describe the evidence behind the creation of tools that help managers to evaluate their skills and identify whether their behaviours promote stress or help to minimise and resolve stress:

• RR553 Management competencies for preventing and reducing stress at work - phase one
• RR633 Management competencies for preventing and reducing stress at work - phase two; and
• Preventing Stress: promoting positive manager behaviour

Workplace interventions for people with common mental health problems

This systematic review is designed to provide evidence-based answers on key questions related to mental ill health in the workplace. It is intended to assist managers, occupational health professionals and other interested parties in making management decisions and offering advice.

• Workplace interventions for people with common mental health problems: Evidence review and recommendations

Attitudes, opinions and experiences of attendees at the ISMAUK stress workshops 2004

This report summarises the results of telephone research undertaken on behalf of the Health & Safety Executive between 10 June and 24 June 2005, involving attendees at workshops organised by the International Stress Management Association UK during November and December 2004 to introduce HSE's new Management Standards for work related stress.

• RR389 - Attitudes, opinions and experiences of attendees at the ISMAUK stress workshops 2004

HSE contract research reports on work related stress

Those who want more detail may be interested in the following set of full research reports.

• Case study: Establishing the business case for investing in stress prevention activities and evaluating their impact on sickness absence levels
  This case study outlines the business benefits attained by Somerset County Council from undertaking a process of stress risk assessment and intervention.
• Psychosocial risk factors in call centres: An evaluation of work design and well being
  This research suggests that working as a call hander is more stressful than many other jobs. It outlines the key stressors present in call-centre environments, and proposes measures to eliminate or reduce the impact of these stressors.
• Beacons of Excellence in Stress Prevention
  The report outlines criteria for best practice in stress prevention. These criteria were used to identify organisations that could be considered examples of best practice in various aspects of stress prevention.
• Best Practice in Rehabiliting Employees Following Absence due to work related stress
  The report provides examples of how to encourage employees to return to work and to prevent a reoccurrence of their initial stress. The case studies in this report cover England, Scotland and Wales, and some specific advice for small and medium sized companies.
• The Whitehall II Study: Work, environment, alcohol consumption and ill health
  This report demonstrates the links between psychosocial risk factors and subsequent ill health. The findings are based on the longitudinal Whitehall II study of 10,000 British Civil Servants.
• Review of existing supporting scientific knowledge to underpin standards of good practice for key work related stressors: phase 1
  This report has informed the development of HSE's draft Management Standards for stress by identifying evidence that explains the mechanisms by which workplace factors (such as poorly designed/managed workload, lack of appropriate support) lead to stress.
• Interventions to control stress at work in hospital staff
  This Report provides examples of how sources of work stress were identified and managed in a number of hospital settings. The evidence from these case studies demonstrates that that risk management can be a powerful tool for dealing with sources of work stress.
• Effective teamworking: reducing the psychosocial risks
  This report proposes a model for understanding team working and its impact on employee mental health.
• The scale of occupational stress - The Bristol Health at Work study [PDF, 6.3MB]
• The scale of occupational stress - A further analysis
  The "Bristol study" and its follow-up work have provided important indications of the scale of the problem of work related stress in the UK and have informed the development of the draft Management Standards.
• Organisational interventions for wowrk stress - A risk management approach
  This report presents a risk management approach to the reduction of work stress, describing its origins, strategies, processes and procedures. It illustrates these through six organisational case studies.

To access all of HSE's research reports search the research site.