The news that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is investigating Birmingham University on grounds that work-related stress could have been prevented has been a wake-up call for many employers: psychosocial risk cannot be ignored anymore (see this feature).
Neither can stress be treated on an individual level, either, because it’s a systemic issue and must be tackled on a strategic level (see this article on new research showing unmanaged stress is a measurable business risk).
Yet, while 93% of business leaders globally admit that psychological safety directly impacts business performance, many organisations lack clear strategies to address these related risks. A study by the International Institute of Risk & Safety Management and Workplace Options (WPO), published in February, found that there’s a critical disconnect in wellbeing efforts on this front.
We spoke to a handful of experts for practical advice on how to embed psychosocial risk assessment into your culture.
1. Start by asking these questions
According to Jo Yarker, Professor of Occupational Psychology at Birkbeck, University of London and Managing Partner at Affinity Health at Work, the first step is to ask:
What are the risks that I am assessing?
What have I already got in place to mitigate these risks?
What is our plan for taking action, and who will be involved?
“You can identify risks, but unless you understand where you really are at this point of time, both in terms of your provision and in terms of the governance structures and accountability, you will be less effective in taking appropriate action,” she says.
2. Be clear about definitions
Being clear about definitions and job roles at the start helps with understanding where you are. Dr Laura Hague at Group Safety Manager at engineering firm Mott Macdonald recommends the ISO 45003 guidance can be helpful here. On the back of this guidance and answering the questions above, Mott Macdonald developed its own framework which it encapsulated in an infographic to make accessible to all.
“It shows what wellbeing looks like to us, in all its facets,” says Hague.
3. Plan – thoroughly
Ensure you have a proper planning phase.
“Put parametres around things like who is going to be responsible for what afterwards, and be clear about what budget you’re going to put in place to address any risks identified” says Yarker.
“Because you’re nearly always going to find issues. There’s always going to be room for improvement. So you need to account for running the risk assessment process and then having a clear plan about how you’re going to discuss and identify actions is key.”
4. Incorporate the HSE Management Standards
You may want to consider additional risks – or even outcomes such as job engagement or employee health – but as a minimum it is important to make sure you consider the six key areas in your assessment – work demands, support, control, role, relationships and change.
5. Forget benchmarking
Different employers will need different interventions because their psychosocial risks are different.
“So benchmarking is not particularly helpful in this context. Instead of focusing on ‘am I doing better than my competitor?’ focus on ‘what are our leading risks?’” says Yarker.
“You want to risk manage internally, rather than constantly look to compare.”
6. Consult the SOM’s buyer’s guide
Once you’ve done your risk assessment, you need to understand the actions necessary to improve. This could be the way work is designed, or the way you support your people.
“It’s really important to think about what interventions you are going to put in place or how you are going to help control that risk,” she says.
If you are unsure of what a good intervention looks like, Yarker suggests the SOM’s Buyer’s Guide is a good place to start answering these questions.
“It’s very helpful and comprehensive, so you have to be fully committed to going through it and working out where you are and what you need to achieve your desired outcomes,” she says.
7. Think systemic, not just individual
Often, when employers look at the interventions they’re currently implementing, these are not achieving the outcome they set out for.
This is, in Yarker’s experience, often because there is a series of activities but they’re all targeted at an individual level rather than systemic:
“But if your challenges are around workload or bullying, it doesn’t matter how many individual interventions such as developing mindfulness or time management, or how good your EAP service is, if you don’t address the problem at its source. So matching challenges to activities is really important.”
8. Get senior sponsorship
It’s challenging to embrace the cultural change required to embed psychosocial risk management approach if the person leading the work lacks seniority to make decisions or doesn’t have a voice on the board.
In this case it’s often common for the board only to know about the work when a problem occurs.
“Where staff consultation, employee voice activities, or a stress risk assessments show the same problems are being raised again and again over several months or years, but no action is being taken to address it, then this can become a serious challenge.” says Yarker.
There is no easy ‘how to’ answer to this conundrum except keep working hard on the business case for risk assessing. Not just how wellbeing leads to better productivity, but also how ill health leads to financial detriment.
“We talk about the opportunities associated with wellbeing but we also are clear about: if you don’t invest in wellbeing, there are many risks. And we spell out what these are,” says Hague.
9. Get buy in from ERGs
Another important, powerful shortcut to getting company-wide buy-in is to target and communicate well with your ERGs about what you’re doing.
10. Watch your words
Clever use of language can be an effective way to instigate cultural change.
Mott Macdonald, for instance, changed the name of its function from Health and Safety to Safety and Wellbeing.
“We addressed the issue through language,” says Hague. “It shows our commitment. We wanted to put wellbeing front and centre and give it equal footing. We wanted to give the message that wellbeing is really important to us as a business.”
Hague adds, though, not to expect overnight miracles; cultural change and people realising the significance of changes like these takes time.
11. Collaborate with other parts of the business
One of the key recommendations made in the WPO report is for “stronger coordination across functions” especially across Risk Management, HR and Wellbeing, advising they “must collaborate with clear accountability, supported by executive leadership”.
Creating a clear stakeholder group that spans the organisation is crucial.
Cross function collaboration has been a priority at Mott Macdonald.
“We’ve focused on bringing people on the journey to align wellbeing more with risk and that comes down to, I’ve learnt, the importance of investing in the existing relationships you’ve got and listening,” says Hague.
“We’ve also worked closely with EDI as we see a huge overlap there, particularly with inclusion. If you don’t feel included, there’s no psychological safety and no trust and you’re not going to feel positive wellbeing.”
12. Embed wellbeing risk assessment into line manager mindsets
Another key recommendation in the WPO report is to invest in manager training and support.
“Front-line supervisors play a key role in fostering team wellbeing and should receive training to identify risks and connect employees with support services,” it says.
The HSE stress management competencies, developed by Yarker and the team at Affinity Health at Work, set out the behaviours that are required by managers to prevent and reduce stress at work. Upskilling your managers in these key behaviours can help them to take early action.
Mott Macdonald has made a “conscious decision” to embed stress risk into Health and Safety questions that line managers ask.
“We say to them that ‘we want you to think about how you’re going to do this project in terms of thinking about the client relationship, the scope of work, the budget, the programme…. We get them to think about: how can we design the project most effectively to reduce the risk of negative wellbeing on staff? How can we eliminate risk and prevent harm?”
13. Give your managers time to properly risk assess
“It’s all very well adding stress to a risk register but it can’t be a tickbox exercise. Ensuring it’s meaningful and sustainable, comes down to your people – particularly managers – asking the right questions. That takes time,” says Carole Spiers, CEO of International Stress Management Association.
She advises asking your managers:
- Do you make time to speak with your staff?
- Do you know what to say?
- Do you know how to bring these conversations to a respectful and constructive close?
“In my experience often managers won’t start the conversation because they’re not sure how it’s going to end and how long it will take,” she says. “And there are no miracle cures here. You can only risk assess by asking employees about their workload and their relationships, and how they’re coping. That takes time.”
14. Commit to genuinely finding out what is causing stress in your company
Spiers is clear: if you want to understand the causes of stress in your organisation, you must make a real commitment to uncovering them.
Yes, you could ask a direct question like, “Do you have any mental health issues?” and often receive a polite “No”. “Technically, you’ve ticked the box,” she says. “But that adds no value. It tells you nothing about the actual risks in your business.”
Instead, she recommends using tools that encourage honest feedback:
“I would advise an anonymous survey, because very few employees will raise their heads above the parapet. But the risks will be there, so it’s about chipping away to discover them. That’s where the line manager’s skill set is crucial—being able to build trust and create a safe space where someone feels it’s okay to speak up.”
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