The flood of claims for workplace stress looks set to recede after a ruling in the Court of Appeal this month overturned three damages awards against employers in stress-related cases.
Yet, despite the ruling, concerns about stress are likely to intensify in offices and boardrooms as companies demand more of their employees. The question remains: who is responsible for controlling stress - the individual or the managers?
It is a question that Rob Briner, lecturer in occupational psychology at Birkbeck College, London, has been researching for the past 18 months. Funded by the Health and Safety Executive, he has examined nine workplace stressors - including workload, communication, home/work balance, role ambiguity, job security and management support - in an attempt to understand the dynamics of stress and its effects on employees. Mr Briner's work will form the basis of a set of HSE standards to help employees and managers deal more effectively with workplace stress.
His work is timely. According to the HSE, half a million people in the UK are suffering from work-related stress, anxiety or depression, while 6.5m working days are lost through stress-related illnesses in the UK each year. A recent Industrial Society survey found that 86 per cent of workers felt stress was a problem in their organisation, with 36 per cent regarding it as a significant issue.