The causes of stress at work
[ch 1: pages 12-14]The Scottish teachers’ union EIS says that it is important to establish the origins of workplace stress. It says that these can be rooted in unacceptable workload, deadlines or targets; in poor, untrained or over stretched managers or in a workplace culture which encourages blame or is subject to constant and unnecessary change. The teaching union NUT adds that, for many teachers, excessive workload is a key cause of the deterioration in their mental health. For others, bullying or harassment is a major factor.
Public services union UNISON says that all the following factors can cause stress or make it worse:
• long hours;
• shiftwork;
• unrealistic targets or deadlines;
• too much or too little work, lack of control and conflicting demands (especially among the lower grades);
• poor management;
• bad relations with other work colleagues;
• repetitive work, boredom and lack of job satisfaction;
• working alone;
• job insecurity;
• job or organisational change;
• low pay;
• jobs with heavy emotional demands;
• bullying, harassment and either actual or threatened violence;
• a poor working environment (such as excessive noise, the presence of dangerous materials, overcrowding, poor facilities, or extremes of temperature or humidity).
Recent research has identified new forms of performance management as a significant source of stress. Performance management and the new workplace tyranny, a report based on a three-year study by Professor Phil Taylor at the University of Strathclyde, focused particularly on the telecoms and finance sectors in Scotland. It found “a significantly negative impact” on workers as a result of “unrelenting intensity” generated under new forms of performance management; overwhelming evidence of the stressful consequences of these new regimes; and that performance management practices “are not merely unjustifiable on grounds of welfare, decency, dignity and well-being, but also counterproductive from a managerial perspective.”
The specialists’ union Prospect reported that a member, Graham Vare, won an unfair dismissal claim against telecommunications giant BT after he was dismissed for poor performance. The employment tribunal found that BT had failed to take sufficient account of medical advice and offer alternative employment.
Mr Vare had worked for BT for 20 years and been promoted several times, but in June 2010 BT began criticising his performance and began formal Performance Improvement Plans (PIP). He became ill with stress and depression and was signed off work for nine months. His Prospect rep asked that he be referred to occupational health (OH). An OH doctor advised that he be moved to an alternative role with less pressure and that he should not face performance proceedings for at least six months after returning to work.
However, shortly after he received a second OH report, which had been significantly altered. There was no reference to role change or delay to performance management proceedings. Prospect reported that the ET noted that BT had contacted the OH adviser between the two reports. He subsequently returned to the same role, with a phased return to full-time work, and faced a new period of performance management monitoring shortly after. He was then dismissed within months for failing to meet his performance targets.
The ET found that BT had been unfair in saying it could not comply with the original OH recommendations and unreasonable to attempt to influence the OH advice. It upheld his claim for unfair dismissal, although it turned down a claim for disability discrimination. A settlement was reached before the employment tribunal was able to decide how much compensation Mr Vare was entitled to receive.
The Whitehall II study, Work, stress and health (2004), provided important insights into the causes of stress. The study found that it was a combination of high demand and low control that caused stress-related illness. Workers in jobs characterised by low control had higher rates of sickness absence, mental illness, heart disease and pain in the lower back.
Work, stress and health, the Whitehall II study (2004)
www.ucl.ac.uk/whitehallII/pdf/Whitehallbooklet_1_.pdf
Performance management and the new workplace tyranny