SABP/WORKFORCE/0015 NAME OF POLICY: REASON FOR THE POLICY: WHAT THE POLICY WILL ACHIEVE: WHO NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT IT: Stress, Prevention & Management in the Workplace To identify, where possible eliminate and manage residual stressors in the workplace in compliance with legislative requirements imposed on the Trust. Identifies potential workplace stressors and a systematic approach to manage & control these by a process of risk assessment. Responsibilities for all employees are identified and the procedure for identifying and managing stressors outlined in line with the standard risk assessment policy. All directorates, clinical and managerial staff. DATE APPROVED: 4 th February 2016 VERSION NUMBER: 5.0 APPROVING COMMITTEE: Executive Board DATE OF IMPLEMENTATION: 29 th February 2016 DATE OF FORMAL REVIEW: 4 th February 2019 AUTHOR/REVIEWER: Jayne McCance DIRECTORATE RESPONSIBLE: DISTRIBUTION: Quality & Performance All Directorates, clinical & managerial staff 1 of 13
VERSION CONTROL SHEET Version Date Author Status Comment 2.1 Aug 2011 Jayne McCance 2.2 May 2012 Amanda Shaw Review & Update Draft Include EAP counselling service & remove in house counselling Approved at PAG 3.0 05.02.15 PAG Extension To allow full review 4.0 January 2016 5.0 February 2016 Jayne McCance Jayne McCance granted Review & Update Approved Summary of Changes since Version 3.0 Page/Paragraph/ Appendix Number (select the appropriate action) Page 7 Page 7 Page 8 Page 8 Page 8 Page 9 Original / New / Amendment / Deleted Statement (select the appropriate action) Specific reference to e-learning courses being available as a minimum being provided by Learning & Development. Remove staff side participation in specific working group to manage stress at work. Reference to management of Health & Safety Procedures (ref:sabp/risk/0012) removal of reference to Policy Removal of reference to working group to develop Strategy & action plan to combat stress in the workplace. Inclusion of Equality & Human Rights Policy Equality Analysis 2 of 13
Stress: Prevention & Management in the Workplace 1. Purpose This policy and accompanying procedure aims to provide a structured process for trust management and staff to manage stressors arising out of work processes, practices, environments and relationships that have the potential to exert a negative effect on the mental health and wellbeing of employees, people who use our services or visitors to the Trust. This will ensure the Trust is compliant with the Health & Safety at work etc. Act 1974 and subsequent regulations and guidance. This will support the provision of safe places and systems of work contributing to the creation of a healthy, efficient and effective workforce providing appropriate and timely care to people who use services. 2. Policy Statement The Trust recognises that workplace stress is a health & safety issue and acknowledges the importance of identifying and reducing workplace stressors. The policy will provide a framework to eliminate or control stressors in the workplace, by identifying individual responsibilities for compliance with the policy and providing a system of evaluation to identify areas for improvement. 3. Glossary Stress:- The Health & Safety Executive, define stress as The adverse reaction people have to excessive pressure or other types of demand placed on them. This makes an important distinction between pressure, which can be a positive state if managed correctly, and stress which can be detrimental to health. DoH :- Department of Health HSE :- Health & Safety Executive CiC :- An (EAP) Employee Assistance Program providing a Confidential Advice Line available to all Trust employees. Information and advice on a number wide ranging subject areas via a free phone telephone 0800 919 709 with onward referral to short term individual counselling where indicated. Advice to support a healthy lifestyle is also available from the well on line website. www.well-online.co.uk For SABP employees username sflogin Password Wellbeing 3 of 13
NAME OF PROCEDURE: REASON FOR THE PROCEDURE: WHAT THE POLICY WILL ACHIEVE: SABP/WORKFORCE/0015 Stress, Prevention & Management in the Workplace To provide guidance for staff to identify, and where possible eliminate and manage residual stressors in the workplace in compliance with legislative requirements imposed on the Trust. This procedure describes how Surrey & Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust will identify potential workplace stressors and how a systematic approach to manage & control these by a process of risk assessment will be implemented. Responsibilities for all employees are identified and the procedure for identifying and managing stressors outlined in line with the standard risk assessment policy. All directorates, clinical and managerial staff WHO NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT IT: DATE APPROVED: 4 th February 2016 VERSION NUMBER: 5.0 APPROVING COMMITTEE: Executive Board DATE OF IMPLEMENTATION: 29 th February 2016 DATE OF FORMAL REVIEW: 4 th February 2019 AUTHOR/REVIEWER: Jayne McCance Occupational Health Manager DIRECTORATE RESPONSIBLE: Quality & Performance DISTRIBUTION: All Directorates, clinical & managerial 4 of 13
1. Introduction This procedure should be read in conjunction with the Stress: prevention and management of in the workplace policy. 2. Responsibilities The Chief Executive & Trust Board The Chief Executive has overall responsibility for the prevention and management of stress arising out of employment with the Trust and has nominated the director of Quality & Performance as the Board Member with specific responsibility in this area. This includes:- Being responsible for ensuring that adequate resources are made available and appropriate arrangements are put in place to make certain the aims and objectives of this policy are being met and maintained. All workplace stressors will be identified by a process of risk assessment. Wherever possible stressors will be eliminated and where this is not possible, control measures will be put in place. Risk assessments will be reviewed at regular intervals to ensure effectiveness is maintained. The Trust will provide training for all staff in good working practices. Provision will be made for managers to have the necessary resources to enable them to implement this policy. The Trust will provide a confidential short term counselling service via an external Employee Assistance Program CiC for individuals affected by stress arising from work or where external factors are impacting on work practices in line with DoH guidance The Provision of Counselling Services for Staff in the NHS. Human Resources Team are responsible for :- Undertaking the annual staff survey in line with Department of Health requirements. Ensuring exit interviews of all staff leaving employment with the Trust are recorded. Monitoring rates of sickness absence in all areas. Lead on the implementation of the Trust wide strategy to promote health & wellbeing and monitor progress. This will include promoting mental health & wellbeing through productive & healthy working conditions. Collating information from the above & reporting the finding to the board. Providing continual support to managers and individuals. Encouraging managers and individuals to access support from the Occupational Health and the Employee Assistance Program provided by CiC. Providing managers with guidance on implementing this policy. 5 of 13
Operational / Service Managers are responsible for:- Ensuring risk assessments for work related stress have been carried out and are being reviewed on a regular basis in line with health & safety protocols. Initiating prompt action when staff raise concerns regarding issues that could result in workplace stress. Ensuring compliance with policies impacting upon working lives, respect for all at work and employee health & well being. Communicating organisational change and procedural change to staff in a timely fashion. Departmental Managers are responsible for Conducting risk assessments to identify local workplace stressors and implementing measures to eliminate or control the stressor. Ensuring an effective and efficient communication strategy between local staff groups and management. Facilitating regular staff meetings. Monitoring workloads to ensure staff are not overloaded and they have the knowledge and skills to meet the demands of the role. This is most important when changes to the organisation are planned. Prior to staff being asked to take on additional or new tasks, managers must ensure employees have the necessary skilling and knowledge. Ensure staff have meaningful developmental opportunities. Monitoring working hours and additional worked hours to ensure that staff are not overworking. Monitor holidays to ensure that staff are taking their full entitlement. Ensuring bullying and harassment is not tolerated within their area. Attend all mandatory training and additional training identified to facilitate the management of health & safety within the workplace. Offer additional support when aware that staff are subject to social or domestic pressures outside work e.g. family illness, bereavement. Employees are responsible for:- Raising concerns regarding pressures at work with their immediate line manager, if this is not appropriate, with their Service / Operational manager. Following Trust procedures put in place to control pressures at work. Attending mandatory and other training identified to provide the necessary skills and knowledge to fulfil their role. Occupational Health Professionals are responsible for :- Supporting individuals when additional pressures in the workplace have been identified. Advising managers on suitable rehabilitation programmes for staff returning to work following sickness due to stress and implementing reasonable adjustments in accordance with requirements of the Equality 6 of 13
Act 2010 disability requirements and referring on to external agencies such as Access to Work. Facilitating support to managers implementing risk assessments. Receiving reports and monitoring Trust Counselling service provided by the Employee Assistance Program operated by CiC. Monitoring the effectiveness of this policy and reporting the findings to the Health, Safety & Wellbeing committee. Advising the Trust management on developments in guidance and practice related to the prevention and management of pressures and stress at work. Monitoring the effectiveness of measures to address stress and reduce sickness absence due to stress. Learning & Development dept. are responsible for :- Ensuring as a minimum an e-learning course to facilitate the prevention of stress in the workplace is accessible to all employees. Staff Side Representatives with appropriate skills will :- Participate in the risk assessment process to identify stressors in the workplace. May take an active and participatory role in any consultative process that could precipitate stress in the workplace. Consult with members on issues involving stress in the workplace. Conduct inspections of the workplace to ensure environmental stressors are properly controlled. 3. Management of Stress A proactive approach to managing stress in the workplace is the most effective and efficient way to manage stress and contribute to protecting employees from the harmful effects of stressors in the workplace. Successful management of stress at work is management led and includes and encourages contributions from all employees. Specialist teams such as Occupational Health and Safety are in place to provide a specialist advisory service to help all Trust employees achieve a working environment and practices to achieve optimum health, safety and welfare in the workplace. However, these practitioners have no control over the day to day organisation of work that must be managed locally and on a Trust wide basis by The Board, Local Managers and each individual employee. The management of stress must be viewed as an ongoing inclusive process and not a one-off exercise. Reviews should be three monthly as a minimum, the review being brought forward if changes are imposed or planned. All work areas will be subject to the risk assessment process in line with the Health & Safety Policy (ref:sabp/risk/0003), this will include assessment of the stressors and the effectiveness of controls in place to manage stress in the workplace. Staff should be consulted and be kept informed of measures to minimise or eliminate the effects of identified stressors. A review of the risks assessment should be undertaken on a regular basis. 7 of 13
An overview of stress across the Trust will be subject to ongoing assessments based on information collected from the annual staff survey, staff turnover, absence rates, usage of EAP(Employee Assistance Program) advice line and referrals to occupational health. The information gathered will be utilised by the health, safety & wellbeing committee. Stress has the potential to affect any member of staff and each individual can react to an identical stressor in a different way, the effect of a stressor is an individual experience and this can result in staff feeling isolated. An ongoing dialogue with staff to identify stressors, review the stress risk assessment and implement stressor control measures is key to managing and reducing workplace stress. 4. Glossary Stress:- The Health & Safety Executive, define stress as The adverse reaction people have to excessive pressure or other types of demand placed on them. This makes an important distinction between pressure, which can be a positive state if managed correctly, and stress which can be detrimental to health. DoH :- Department of Health HSE :- Health & Safety Executive CiC :- An Employee Assistance Program providing a Confidential Advice Line available to all Trust employees. Information and advice on a number wide ranging subject areas via a free phone telephone 0800 919 709 with onward referral to short term individual counselling where indicated. Advice to support a healthy lifestyle is also available from the well on line website. www.well-online.co.uk SABP username sflogin Password wellbeing 5. References Management Standards for Tackling Work related Stress: HSE 2004 The Provision of Counselling Services for Staff in the NHS: DoH 2000 PH 22: Promoting mental health & wellbeing through productive & healthy working conditions: NICE 2009 Equality Act 2010 6. Related Policies 8 of 13
SABP/RISK/0003 SABP/Risk/0016 Health & Safety Policy Equality & Human rights Policy Equality Analysis The equality analysis guidance notes and template are provided to support you in meeting the requirements of the Public Sector Equality Duty which came into force on 5 April 2011. You should use this template to record evidence that equality analysis has been carried out before policy decisions take place. The form is a written record that demonstrates that you have shown due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations with respect to the characteristics protected by equality law. 1. About the policy/project/change Title of the policy / project / change: What are the intended outcomes / changes expected as a result of this policy / project / change: Are there links with other existing policies/projects: (if yes provide details) Stress Prevention & Management To update existing policy & procedure Yes Health & Safety Policy + Equality & Human Rights Policy 2. Decide if the policy / project / change is equality relevant Does the policy/project involve, or have consequences for people using services, carers, employees or other people? If yes, please state the groups of people who are likely to be affected. If yes, then the policy/project is equality relevant. If no, you can skip to section 6. However the majority of Trust policies and projects are equality relevant because they affect people in some way. Yes, the aim is to prevent stress among the workforce and actively manage existing stressors arising out of work activities. The health & wellbeing of employees can impact on colleagues, the delivery of care provided to people using services, interactions with carers and others. 3. Gathering evidence to inform the equality analysis What evidence have you gathered to help inform this analysis? This can include evidence from national research, surveys & reports, interviews and focus groups, policy monitoring and evaluations from pilot projects, etc. If there are gaps in the 9 of 13
evidence available under any of the characteristics, please explain why this is the case and state what actions will be taken to close the gaps as part of the action plan. Please ensure you check Annex C of the guidance notes for sources of evidence. The Protected Characteristics & Evidence Using the relevant available evidence - what is known, understood or assumed about each of the equality groups / protected characteristics identified below that could be relevant to this policy / project / change. Record the sources of the evidence used for all the protected characteristics Health & Safety at work Act 1974 Equality Act 2010& HSE Stress Management Standards 4. Engagement and Involvement Record the names of the people and/or groups involved in gathering evidence and/or testing the evidence against the policy / project / change. Who and how were they involved? Who name of individual / group(s) represented Jayne McCance Laura Quartey Grant Baggott How have these people been involved e.g. meeting Meeting 5. Analysis of the potential impact of the policy / project / change Based on the evidence you have gathered; describe any actual or likely impacts that may arise as a result of the decision and whether these are likely to be positive or negative. Where actual or likely impacts are identified, you should also state what actions will be taken to promote the likelihood of positive impacts as well as minimise or mitigate against possible or likely negative impacts, i.e. what can the Trust reasonably do to actively manage the consequences of its decision / action Eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation: Does the policy / project / change, help eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation in any way? If yes, provide details. If no, provide reasons Age This policy is applied equally among all groups and will 10 of 13
Caring responsibilities view all people equally to eliminate abusive or discriminatory behaviour in the workplace. Disability Gender reassignment Marriage & civil partnerships Pregnancy & maternity Race / ethnicity Religion or belief Sex / gender Sexual Orientation Advance equality of opportunity: Does the policy / project / change, help develop equality of opportunity in any way? This could include removing or minimising disadvantages suffered by people due to their protected characteristics, taking steps to meet the needs of people from protected groups where these are different from the needs of other people, or encouraging people from protected groups to participate in activities where their participation is disproportionately low. If yes, provide details. If no, provide reasons Age Caring responsibilities Disability This policy does not advance equality of opportunity for any group but ensures a fair and equal approach to stress in the workplace for all employees and work areas. Gender reassignment Pregnancy & maternity Race / ethnicity Religion or belief Sex / gender Sexual Orientation Promote good relations between different groups: Does the policy / project / change, help foster good or improved relations between different groups in any way? If yes, provide details. If no, provide reasons. Age This policy does not advance equality of opportunity for any group but ensures a fair and equal approach to stress Caring responsibilities in the workplace for all employees and work areas. Disability Gender reassignment 11 of 13
Pregnancy & maternity Race / ethnicity Religion or belief Sex / gender Sexual Orientation What do you consider the overall impact: Considering the combined impact of the analysis and the actions required to promote the likelihood of positive impacts and minimise or mitigate against potential negative outcomes does the analysis support the implementation of the policy / project / change? 6. Action Planning Actions to be taken as a result of this analysis (add additional rows as required): Name of person who will take this action Monitor usage of CiC Employee Assistance Health Safety & Wellbeing Committee Monitor reasons for sickness given on management referrals to occupational Health department Occupational health team & Health Safety & Wellbeing Committee Date action due to be completed Continual Review Continual Review 7. Authorisation Name & job title of person completing Jayne McCance this analysis: Date of completion: 27.01.16 Name & job title of person responsible for monitoring and reporting on the implementation of the actions arising from this analysis: Name & job title of authorised person: (If there are doubts about the completeness or sufficiency of this equality analysis, seek advice from the Equality and Human Rights Team or the Legal Services & Reporting Manager in the Clinical Risk & Safety Team) Jayne McCance Occupational Health Nurse Manager Billy Hatifani Director of Risk & Safety (Deputy DoN) 12 of 13
Date of authorisation: 04.02.2016 Monitoring Of this Policy What will be monitored That Duties outlined within the policy are still relevant Identification of workplace stressors Risk assessments for prevention and management of work related stress Compliance with the policy How / Method Frequency Lead Reporting to (what Committee) Report Annual Associate Director for Service EAP Advice Line usage Risk Assessment report following on from annual staff survey Quarterly Annual Associated Director for Service Associate Director for Service Report Annual Associate Director for Service Quality Management Board or other Delegated Trust Committee Quality Management Board or Other delegated Trust Committee Quality Management Board or Other delegated Trust Committee Quality Management Board or Other delegated Trust Committee Deficiencies / gaps recommendations / actions If duties of nominated people change, policy to be amended to reflect If duties of nominated people change, policy to be amended to reflect Non-Compliance will be reported to the relevant Associated Director for them to take appropriate action Non-compliance will be Reported to the Relevant Associated Director for them to take appropriate action 13 of 13