How does Stress Risk Assessment differ from Stress Risk Management?
The answer is that Stress Risk Assessment and Stress Risk Management processes overlap in some ways but there are also important differences.
Stress Risk Assessment has been described elsewhere in some detail (See ‘What is a Stress Risk Assessment?). It is usually a whole-organization approach to assessing stress risks at work. As such, it often involves a anonymous survey of all employees. There is an obvious overlap with Stress Risk Management, because once stress problems are identified, they clearly need to be managed in order to minimise risk to employees’ well-being.
However, strictly speaking Stress Risk Management is much more than just the later stages of a Stress Risk Assessment process. It is something that should be happening all the time, on an ongoing basis. Line managers are key to this. They are in the best position to spot local stress issues early and to do something about them. Typically therefore, a lot of Stress Risk Management is done within small teams and with individuals; with managers working directly with the people they manage. It’s very different from conducting a survey, which needs to be both anonymous and confidential.
This presents very different challenges. Managers need themselves to have a set of tools and behaviours (or management competencies) to be able both to prevent stress in their area and to manage individual stress problems when they occur. Some good managers do this naturally, but most require training to improve their knowledge, skills and behaviours.
What Stress Risk Assessment provides is a snapshot and benchmark of organisational and departmental well-being. This is a hugely beneficial step. You can’t measure where you’re going or how much progress you’ve made without knowing where you were in the first place! However, it should not be seen in some tick-box way as a ‘solution’ or ‘answer’ to dealing with stress at work. Stress still needs to be managed, proactively and reactively, on an ongoing basis in workplaces.
Stress Risk Assessment has been described elsewhere in some detail (See ‘What is a Stress Risk Assessment?). It is usually a whole-organization approach to assessing stress risks at work. As such, it often involves a anonymous survey of all employees. There is an obvious overlap with Stress Risk Management, because once stress problems are identified, they clearly need to be managed in order to minimise risk to employees’ well-being.
However, strictly speaking Stress Risk Management is much more than just the later stages of a Stress Risk Assessment process. It is something that should be happening all the time, on an ongoing basis. Line managers are key to this. They are in the best position to spot local stress issues early and to do something about them. Typically therefore, a lot of Stress Risk Management is done within small teams and with individuals; with managers working directly with the people they manage. It’s very different from conducting a survey, which needs to be both anonymous and confidential.
This presents very different challenges. Managers need themselves to have a set of tools and behaviours (or management competencies) to be able both to prevent stress in their area and to manage individual stress problems when they occur. Some good managers do this naturally, but most require training to improve their knowledge, skills and behaviours.
What Stress Risk Assessment provides is a snapshot and benchmark of organisational and departmental well-being. This is a hugely beneficial step. You can’t measure where you’re going or how much progress you’ve made without knowing where you were in the first place! However, it should not be seen in some tick-box way as a ‘solution’ or ‘answer’ to dealing with stress at work. Stress still needs to be managed, proactively and reactively, on an ongoing basis in workplaces.
