Employment law SOS: Dealing with workplace stress

There is a difference between pressure and stress. Pressure can be a positive motivating factor, helping employees to achieve their goals and perform better, but stress occurs when this pressure becomes excessive. Stress is a natural reaction to too much pressure. According to the Health and Safety Executive, stress is not an illness, it is a state – but if it becomes too excessive and prolonged, mental and physical illness may develop. Work-related stress develops because a person cannot cope with the demands being placed on them. It can be a significant cause of illness and is known to be linked with high levels of sickness absence, staff turnover and the employee making more errors than normal. Stress symptoms include a pounding heart or palpitations, a dry mouth, headaches, odd aches and pains and loss of appetite for food and sex. There is a legal duty on employers to ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of all their employees, and this includes a duty to control workplace stress. If the employee develops a stress-related mental illness as a result of a 'reasonably foreseeable incident', the employer may be held liable. It would be sensible in this case to have a meeting with the manager to try to identify what is causing him stress, as it may be work related or caused by something external such as bereavement, moving house, separation, or divorce. Once the cause has been established – and depending on the circumstances – suitable action can be taken.