Make it common knowledge 

Help raise awareness that all employers are required by law to prevent work-related stress and support good mental health by doing a risk assessment and acting on it. You could: 

• download and share resources, such as posters and social media graphics, with your colleagues and networks 
• talk about it at your next one-to-one with a staff member
• bring it up at a team meeting 
• encourage others to do our bitesize online learning 
  
  

Recognise the signs 

How does stress show up for you, your colleagues and across your team?   

Stress affects people differently and what stresses one person may not affect another, but signs of stress in a team can look like arguments, higher staff turnover, more sickness absence or decreased performance. 

Get to the root cause 

Ask people about how things are going. You could include it as part of your usual one-to-one meeting, mid-year review, include it on a team meeting agenda or perhaps do a survey.  

Try looking for common themes that may need addressing. If you spot a problem or something that might be bubbling, do something about it that will address the root cause.  

For example, if someone is struggling with too much workload, consider how that work is allocated or prioritised.

Find out more about the 6 main causes of stress and ideas to tackle them in the Talking Toolkit.    

HSE’s Stress Indicator Tool is an online survey available for free for up to 50 employees.