LRD guides and handbook April 2014

Stress and mental health at work - a guide for trade union reps

Chapter 4

Making the Management Standards work

[ch 4: pages 44-45]

Drawing lessons from experience, the International Stress Management Association (ISAMA) found that:

Programmes were most successful if:

• decisions and policies were first tested on pilot groups;

• support was in place before introducing the stress management approach;

• initial benchmarking was carried out; and

• different methods of assessment were used.

Programmes are not very successful if:

• a survey is carried out without first educating managers about stress and the reason for tackling it; and

• without prior communication with staff.

Programmes were less successful if:

• there was no senior management commitment;

• the project group making the decisions did not understand stress and the issues involved;

• the results of surveys were not communicated effectively to staff; and

• solutions to problems were determined by senior management with no input from staff.

They were also not successful if attention was only paid to educating the individual.

HSE

How to tackle work-related stress: A guide for employers on making the Management Standards work

www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg430.pdf

TUC and union advice on using the Stress Management Standards can be found in Chapter 5 of this booklet.