(Photo courtesy of https://isma.org.uk/)
In my experience of working with companies, many Managers are just not up to the job of managing employee stress. In fact, many actually create the stress. Every workplace wellbeing specialist I have heard speak at various events, cite poor line management as being a significant problem for companies. Yet, it is relatively straight forward to offer some line manager training to ensure that they are up to the job.
For a start, has the Manager assessed themselves as competent when it comes to managing stress? There are some free tools out there which give the Manager a baseline of what they need to work on. They could also ask their direct reports to rate them using the same tools. Of course it can be hard to hear the truth about weaknesses but any good Manager would want to improve and should be encouraged to continuously work on these skills.
So, what sorts of factors should Managers consider? Let’s start with the big one. MICRO MANAGEMENT! It is possibly the most stressful factor for employees if they don’t feel trusted to manage their work in their own way, that suits them best. In fact, trust generally is a big issue. If the relationship isn’t solid enough, there is no way an employee would open up to their boss. What they should be encouraging is open communication so that if the employee is struggling under the weight of workload, they can tell their boss and together something can be worked out. Then, there is the role itself. Is the employee doing the right job? Does their job description fit the work they do? Often, especially with long standing employees, the job they are doing is quite different to what their written description states! Often, they may even be carrying out additional tasks that are not even mentioned in their job description.
These are just a few elements of management style/technique that can affect employees but the Health and Safety Executive sets out 6 key areas. Demands, Control, Support, Relationships, Role and Change.
Please contact us here at Wellbeing in Work to discuss how we can help. hello@wellbeing-inwork.co.uk