Report based on Short survey on our web site

People find our web site for reasons that are probably many and varied, however we believe that for many they find us because they have a personal interest in the subject of stress. For some this is a professional interest because their job role requires that they take an interest but for many it is because they believe they are stressed. We hope that reading the white paper and articles on our site is helpful to all who visit, not least of all to those who have been prompted to search the web because they feel stressed and who perhaps find that they are under pressure but not stressed.

We at Morpheus Personal development Ltd have a range of organisational stress audits as well as a range of tools to help identify whether an individual is stressed. Stress is a massive subject in its own right and this report will concentrate upon it, however we advocate that stress, as an important part of health and safety at work, is also only part of the larger subject of well being at work.

Much thinking is taking place in the light of Dame Carol Black’s recent report “Working for a healthier tomorrow” available at http://www.workingforhealth.gov.uk/Carol-Blacks-Review/
and in particular pages 18 to 25 of “Building the case for wellness” at http://www.workingforhealth.gov.uk/documents/dwp-wellness-report-public.pdfhttp://   set out a very strong commercial case for tackling the issues around workplace wellness and within it the avoidance of stress,

“For example, the systematic reviews considered provide the
following benefit-cost ratios:22

• Programmes targeting medical costs alone found a return
  on investment of 2.3
• Programmes targeting absenteeism found returns on
  investment of 2.5, 4.9 and 10.1.
• Programmes targeting absenteeism and presenteeism
  found returns on investment of 1.81, 3.24 and 8.81.
  Individual case study reviews highlight even higher returns:23
• The benefit-cost ratio for programmes targeting
  musculoskeletal issues were as high as 15.4, 24.6 and 84.9.”

Our own experience working with clients bears this out. When a holistic approach on health and well being is taken to include –

	at work factors as set out in the HSE’s Management Standards
	non work factors around well being and lifestyle are assessed
	when policies and procedures are in place
	when managers are trained in their use, particularly in effective return to work interviewing and management of absence in co-operation with occupational health professionals.

the return on investment is impressive and the number of sickness days greatly reduced.

The results of our survey

On 3 February 2009 the short questionnaire on our web site had been visited and started by 933 people; their profile is interesting –

Their job profile

Contrary to popular belief this demonstrates that those in the lower strata of organisations feel more stressed – or does it? Actually it probably demonstrates that those in lower and middle ranking roles suffer more since 40% of the respondents belong to this category and this is disproportionate to the general workforce.

Their age profile is –

55% of participants are in the 31 to 50 age range; this is the age range when people are as well as pursuing their careers also nurturing a growing family.

The gender split is –

What is the reason for the 2:1 split of female to male? Are women more stressed or just more likely to search the web for information?

Coping with the demands of day to day work

There is in most stress surveys a built in assumption that a positive or negative response to a statement e.g. “I usually cope well with the demands of my job” is a predictor of stress levels. So, in the first statement above 86% of respondents have indicated that they feel they cope well with their job demands and some may therefore assume that those people do not feel stressed. However when asked to respond to the specific statement “This makes me feel stressed” 65% have indicated that whilst they cope well it stresses them. If the simple assumption were made only 14% of people would be considered as stressed by answering “disagree” and “strongly disagree”.

59% of participants report that they cannot go to their manager with work concerns and 72% indicate that going or not going to their manager with works concerns stresses them.

Similarly whilst 52% of participants indicate that they cannot go to their manager to have work concerns addressed, 68% indicate that having work concerns addressed is stressful.

66% indicate that they are encouraged to use their full range of skills and abilities. This is generally regarded as a ‘good thing’ and might not be considered to be stressful. In fact 53% say that it causes stress for them.

Similarly 71% say that they are encouraged to take on new and challenging work, something often seen to be a motivator, yet 61% say that it stresses them.

57% report that they do not get adequate support from their manager; unsurprisingly 65 % report that getting support from their manager stresses them.

60% indicate that they do not get constructive feedback from their manager and this corresponds to 62% indicating stress from this source. This statement is repeated later with similar results.

In the critical area of change 67% say that they are not well informed when changes are proposed and 66% that this causes stress. 60% say that they and their manager do not talk about the likely impact of changes and 67% that this causes stress. 63% indicate that they do not have sufficient support when change occurs and a massive 72% that change stresses them.

What conclusions do we draw from this? First and foremost is that a simple response to a statement which implies a stress condition is unsound – it is important to ask the question directly – does this make you feel stressed?

The above results are not surprising given that those who have participated have taken the initiative to find a web site about stress. Therefore the results are not indicative of the general population. They do, however, give a valuable insight into how many people feel about their work situation and experiences and therefore are a useful indicator as to what issues organisations might pay attention to if they wish to avoid stressors in the workplace.

Support and organisational policies and procedures

The results are –

Commendably 55% of participants agree that they know what support is available and how to access it. However this leaves 45% who do not in a difficult position.

This statement is a repeat of an earlier one and has marginally different results with64% indicating that they do not have regular constructive feedback (60% previously) and 64% that this stresses them (62% previously). It has long been known that giving feedback is the most powerful way of motivating people and of reinforcing ‘good’ behaviours and adjusting ‘bad’ behaviours.

61% indicate that their manager’s behaviour is not always acceptable. This is a staggering figure even allowing for the fact that this judgement is entirely ‘in the eye of the beholder’. Unsurprisingly 65% say that this is stressful.

69% indicate that their company has policies and procedures in place to support them if they are subjected to unacceptable behaviour; this leaves 31%that do not. Only 50% indicate that they are stressed by this.

A similar result is found for systems in place to report unacceptable behaviour; 64% say that systems are in place but 51% that it causes stress.

68% say that they are clear about role and responsibilities although 55% that this causes stress.

53% report that they find conflict between different demands made upon them. 67% that conflict between different demands causes stress.

And in summary

Participants are asked to indicate an overall stress level on a scale of 1 to 10; the results are –

A score up to and including 5 is indicative of pressure being felt but that it is manageable; a score of 6-7 is one that requires attention: scores of 8 or more demand serious attention.

This means that a massive 75% of participants feel stressed to the extent that it requires attention with 46% justifying serious attention.

Conclusions

A major problem is that the word “stress” has become so much part of the vocabulary that it is used frequently to represent feelings of being under pressure, frustration or even anger. The people who have chosen to complete our survey have probably done so believing that they are stressed: we have no idea whether they are but their perception is their reality. One of the keys to reducing stress caused by work is to understand what it is that people in an organisation feel is causing them stress. Leaders and managers can then tackle those issues. The other key to reducing stress is to help people to improve awareness and understanding so that people view both their work and out of work lives with a realistic perspective and can not only handle reasonable pressures and demands but also recognise when stress is truly present and know what to do about it.

The Health and Safety Executive defines stress as “the adverse reaction a person has to excessive pressure or other types of demand placed upon them” it is in fact what we could call ‘distress’.

Some commentators discuss “good” and “bad” stress. We make a clear distinction between stress and pressure; stress is felt when the pressure becomes too great. Pressure is helpful and motivating for most people – think

of an elastic band which, when under no tension, is floppy and of no use: when it is under some tension it is doing its job well and if under too much tension it will break. People are like that – if there is too little pressure and stimulation the get bored; when under their range of pressure that is stimulating and motivating they work well up to their peak and if the pressure is too much their performance falls off and they fail.

The graph below represents this -

High level of
performance and
health

Boredom  Stimulation  High pressure  Stress

This is often represented as –

Stress can be caused by cumulative pressures – rather like the straw that breaks the camel’s back; sometimes we can withstand the pressure from one

or more sources if they are not themselves overwhelming but when additional pressures come along they add to the weight felt until a further (perhaps tiny) one makes us stressed. It is like a glass of water being gradually filled until one tiny drop makes it spill over.

People are whole, they do not separate into work and non work components; therefore the person at work brings with them the pressure level accumulated from their non work life in the same way that the person at home brings their work life pressure level with them. It is for these reasons that sometimes people move from pressured to stressed quickly and to a casual observer, for apparently insufficient reason.

Stress is absolutely personal; we each have a different basic threshold level and those particular things that will create a stress response in us. That which one person will regard as perfectly ordinary and unstressful another might find stressful. We think of this as stress being ‘in the eye of the beholder’ and it is what makes it difficult at times for people (especially managers) to understand why someone else is stressed because either the stressors are not visible to them or they are visible but those stressors would not create stress for them.

We at Morpheus Personal Development Ltd do not argue that this survey is representative of the working population but it does throw a beam of light into the pressures that people are finding in their work.

A full questionnaire containing 49 indicators based upon the Health and Safety Executive’s Management Standards is a powerful way for any organisation to identify its stress risks and take appropriate action.

The Morpheus full questionnaire also addresses a very wide range of non work health and well being issues that employers can take into account in formulating their wellness policies and actions.

For further information go to www.morpheuspd.co.uk .