Employment Relations

- Stress

Introduction

On 27 May 2004 ETUC, UNICE/UEAPME and CEEP reached a European framework agreement on work related stress (for the full text, see http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/news/2004/oct/stress_agreement_en.pdf). The voluntary agreement must now be implemented by the national member organisations according to the procedures specific to management and labour at national level within a 3-year timescale.

Content of the agreement

The main provisions of the agreement can be summarised as follows:

The text

acknowledges that stress can potentially affect any workplace and any worker but that not all work places or workers are necessarily affected,
recognises that stress is not a disease and that pressure can be positive,

gives a nuanced description of work-related stress, taking account of differences in individual reactions to stress,
does not deal with violence, harassment and post-traumatic stress,
proposes a method to identify whether there are problems of work-related stress and define ways of preventing, eliminating or reducing them, which

a) takes full account of the multi-facetted character of stress,

b) encompasses both health and safety and organisational aspects of stress,

c) leaves full latitude for decisions to be taken at company level and recognises that the responsibility for determining the appropriate measures rests with the employer.

Implementation of the agreement

With regard to its implementation, the proposed agreement

contains a commitment of the members of the signatory parties to implement the agreement,
leaves the choice of the tools and procedures of implementation to the members of the signatory parties in accordance with national practices,
includes a procedure for reporting on the actions taken to implement the agreement,
foresees a possibility to review the agreement after five years if one of the signatory parties request it.

The UK perspective and the development of Management Standards for Stress by the HSE. It is anticipated that the European framework agreement will be implemented in the UK in a similar fashion to the telework agreement, i.e. through guidance issued jointly by the CBI, TUC and CEEP UK as mediated by a government department. This will take into account existing legislative provisions and guidance in relation to addressing psycho-social risks at work and is likely to take account of the Management Standards for Stress launched by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in November 2004 (see http://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/index.htm).

Negotiations on the implementation of the stress agreement in the UK are currently under way and a joint text is due to be launched under the UK Presidency of the EU in the second half of 2005.

NEW GUIDANCE TO HELP DEAL WITH STRESS AT WORK

New guidance on managing stress at work was launched on 13 July 2005 by the social partners (CBI, TUC, CEEP UK and FPB), DTI and HSE. The new booklet aims to raise awareness of the issue of work-related stress, which costs British business £3.7 billion each year, and will act as a tool to help business to deal with the problem.

The guide stems from a European social partner agreement signed last year and defines stress at work, outlines the existing UK and European legislation in this area and acts as a compilation of practical resources to prevent and manage stress in the workplace. Employment Relations Minister Gerry Sutcliffe today welcomed new guidance saying “This new guidance brings together the experience of both business and unions and offers a practical approach on how business and their employees can deal with work-related stress”.

Charles Nolda, who represented CEEP on the team which agreed the European level guidance, emphasised that CEEP UK was pleased to be associated with this document. “The guide itself may not break new ground in the prevention and treatment of work-related stress but it is of great importance that the unions, the employers the HSE and the dti are all publicly committing themselves to the same messages: stress is a problem that needs to be taken seriously in the workplace and good people management is the best method of prevention and treatment”.

The guidance, the first of its kind dealing with stress, has been produced by the CBI, TUC, the Forum of Private Business and CEEP UK in conjunction with the DTI and Health & Safety Executive.

For copies of the guidance please contact Tina.Weber@lge.gov.uk

For information on the HSE’s Management Standards for stress see http://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/

Download the guide

Good practice

UNDER CONSTRUCTION – this page will contain examples of stress management standards implemented by CEEP UK members.