Step 5: Monitor and review – Monitor and review action plans and assess effectiveness

1. Identify the risk factors

   Step 1 - Identify the stress risk factors: understand the Management Standards.

2. Who can be harmed and how

   Step 2 - Decide who might be harmed and how: gather data.

3. Evaluate the risks

   Step 3 - Evaluate the risks: explore problems and develop solutions.

4. Record your findings

   Step 4 - Record your findings: develop and implement action plans.

5. Monitor and review

   Step 5 - Monitor and review: monitor and review action plans and assess effectiveness.

You should review any action you take to tackle the sources of excessive workplace pressure. You need to:

• monitor against your action plan to ensure the agreed actions are taking place;
• evaluate the effectiveness of the solutions you implement; and
• decide what further action or data gathering, if any, is needed.

Monitor and record progress against your action plan

You should periodically check that agreed actions are being undertaken, for example, that meetings are being held, or that there is evidence that certain activities have taken place. It is important to make a record of this progress against your action plan.

Evaluate the effectiveness of solutions

The timescale within which you evaluate any solutions will depend on what kind of solutions you have developed. How long actions take to deliver their expected ’measurable’ outcomes can vary greatly.

The timing of your reviews will depend on how long it will take to implement each action and how long the focus group and the steering group expect it will take to have any impact.

Methods of gathering information and data

The methods of gathering information and data to evaluate the effectiveness of solutions will again depend on the kind of solutions you have developed.

It is important to ask your employees whether they feel the solutions are having the desired effect.

You may find it useful to use a mixture of approaches to consult staff, for example:

• set up specific meetings to review progress on major actions;
• set up regular sessions to talk with your staff about sources of work-related pressure, for example, as part of team meetings;
• make use of informal contacts with staff to ask about the effectiveness of solutions.

Gather data

Another way to demonstrate the effectiveness of your plan is to collect data on such things as employee turnover, sickness absence and productivity, and to measure progress against emerging trends or changes in this data.

Follow-up surveys

One way to measure progress is to repeat the Management Standards survey or other survey you may have used as part of Step 2. The Management Standards approach suggests that you do this after a period of time as part of the 'continuous improvement' model. You may wish to set this up as an annual survey or as part of an annual survey.

You have now completed all the steps in the HSE Management Standards risk assessment approach.