Guide for employers
Stress Risk Assessments: A Guide for Employers
A stress risk assessment is how an employer finds the parts of work that are causing harmful stress, and decides what to change. It is a legal duty, not a wellbeing extra. This guide covers what the law requires, the six areas HSE asks you to look at, how to carry out an assessment, what to do when one employee tells you they are struggling, and when to bring in occupational health.
Key points
- Employers have a legal duty to assess the risk of work-related stress and act on it.
- If you employ five or more people, the assessment must be written down.
- HSE’s six Management Standards give it a structure: demands, control, support, relationships, role and change.
- When stress is affecting an employee’s health, attendance or safety, bring in occupational health.
What is a stress risk assessment?
A stress risk assessment looks at how work is organised and asks whether any of it is putting people at risk of stress-related ill health. It follows the same steps as any other workplace risk assessment: find the hazard, decide who could be harmed, act, record what you found and review it. The difference is that the hazard is the way the work is designed, such as workload, control and support, rather than a machine or a substance.
Organisational
Looks across a team or the whole workforce. Carried out regularly, and where most of the prevention happens.
Individual
Looks at one employee’s situation, usually after they have told you that work is affecting them.
Most employers need both.
Is a stress risk assessment a legal requirement?
Short answer: yes
HSE is clear that employers have a legal duty to protect workers from stress at work by doing a risk assessment and acting on it.
The duty comes from the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, which require a “suitable and sufficient” assessment of the risks to employees’ health and safety. Stress is one of those risks.
Do you need to write it down?
If you employ five or more people, the assessment must be written down. With fewer than five you do not have to record it, although HSE notes that doing so makes it easier to review later.
Acas also points to the Working Time Regulations 1998. Long hours without regular breaks are a recognised cause of stress, so working patterns belong in the assessment too.
The six HSE Management Standards
HSE’s Management Standards cover six areas of work design that can affect stress levels. Using them keeps the assessment on causes the employer can actually change.
1
Demands
Workload, work patterns and the working environment.
Can people do what is asked of them in the time available?
2
Control
How much say people have in the way they do their work.
Do people have any say over how and when they do their tasks?
3
Support
Encouragement and resources from the organisation, managers and colleagues.
Do people know where to go for help, and do they get it?
4
Relationships
Conflict and unacceptable behaviour at work.
Is there a way to raise and deal with poor behaviour?
5
Role
Whether people understand their role and are free of conflicting demands.
Does everyone know what is expected of them?
6
Change
How organisational change is managed and communicated.
Are people told about changes early, and consulted?
HSE also publishes a Talking Toolkit to help managers hold these conversations with their teams.
How to carry out a stress risk assessment
For most organisations this does not need to be a large exercise. HSE’s own advice is to note the main points. What matters is that it is done, acted on and reviewed.
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Identify the risks
Work through the six areas with the people who do the work. Look at what you already know: absence patterns, overtime, turnover and any grievances.
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Decide who could be harmed, and how
Some groups carry more risk than others, such as teams facing peak workloads, people new to a role, people going through change, and employees returning after absence.
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Agree what to do with the people affected
Acas advises working with employees to decide how to remove or reduce each risk and what action to take.
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Record what you found and what you decided
Note the significant risks, the action agreed, who owns it and by when.
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Review it
Return to the assessment regularly, and sooner if something changes, such as a restructure, new systems or a rise in absence.
Organisational and individual stress risk assessments
The organisational assessment is the regular one. It looks at teams and the organisation as a whole, and it is where most of the prevention happens.
The individual assessment is triggered by a person. Acas says that if an employee tells their manager they are experiencing work-related stress, the manager should carry out an individual risk assessment. It applies the same six areas to that employee’s job, and should record:
- what the employee says is causing the pressure
- what has already been tried, and what effect it had
- what the employee thinks would help
- the actions agreed, who owns each one, and a review date
Treat it as a conversation rather than a form to complete. The aim is to change the work, not to assess the person.
Does it need a clinician?
No. An individual assessment is a management process. Occupational health comes in when the employee’s health, attendance or safety is being affected, which is covered below.
Stress risk assessment template
HSE publishes a free risk assessment template, with example stress risk assessments for a bakery with 9 staff, a financial services company with 40 and a college with 150 across several sites. Whatever template you use, it should record:
- the hazards found, set against the six Management Standards
- who could be affected
- what is already in place
- further action needed, with an owner and a date
- when the assessment will next be reviewed
When to involve occupational health
A stress risk assessment deals with the work. Occupational health deals with how an employee’s health and their job affect each other. You need the second when the first is no longer enough. Consider an occupational health referral where:
Absence is prolonged, repeated or unclear
An absence where the underlying reason is not understood.
A return to work needs planning
After stress-related absence, a phased return to work is often the safest route back.
Health seems to be affecting work
Performance, conduct or safety appear to be affected.
Adjustments are being asked for
The employee has requested changes, or the duty to consider reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010 may apply.
The role is safety critical
A health condition may affect the employee’s ability to work safely.
Refer early
The most common mistake is referring at the point a decision has effectively been taken, when advice can no longer change the outcome.
Specialist support
Some cases need specialist support. Our psychiatry services include confidential counselling and structured therapies such as CBT for anxiety, depression and stress, and our occupational psychiatrists advise on fitness to work. Our wellbeing services include an Employee Assistance Programme with stress management support, and mental health training and workshops on stress management, resilience and mental health awareness. If burnout is the concern, see understanding burnout and how occupational health can help.
Frequently asked questions
How often should a stress risk assessment be reviewed?
Regularly, and whenever something significant changes, such as a restructure, new ways of working or a rise in absence. Acas advises repeating the assessment on a regular basis and reviewing the action plan as you go.
Who should carry out a stress risk assessment?
The employer is responsible for it. In practice managers usually lead it, with HR or health and safety support, and the employees affected should be involved throughout.
Can an employee ask for a stress risk assessment?
Yes, in effect. If an employee tells their manager that work is causing them stress, Acas says the manager should carry out an individual risk assessment. An employee unhappy with how it was handled can raise it informally first, and then through the grievance procedure.
Does a stress risk assessment need a clinician?
No. It is a management process about the work. Clinical advice is needed when an employee’s health is affecting their attendance, performance or safety. That is when to make an occupational health referral.
Is a stress risk assessment the same as a wellbeing survey?
No. A survey can be a useful source of information for the first step. The assessment is the decision about what to change, written down, acted on and reviewed.
Support from R-Health
R-Health is physician-owned and physician-run. Referrals are assessed by consultant occupational physicians rather than passed to a screening service. If stress is affecting an employee’s health or attendance, see our occupational health assessment services or get in touch to discuss a referral.
Related guides
Sources: HSE, Work-related stress and how to manage it; Acas, Risk assessments for work-related stress.