Companies House

Policy Statement

Companies House places a high value on maintaining a healthy and safe working environment for all its employees and it recognises its duty of care extends to mental health as well as physical health at work. It is committed to providing a supportive working environment that maintains and promotes the health and well being of all its employees. We are committed to implementing a stress management policy for all employees in the organisation. This includes improving the organisational environment through effective and consistent management; enabling individuals to cope successfully with their work, and providing support for employees whose health and well being are affected by stress.

Policy Aims

• To manage and control factors which might result in excessive or sustained levels of stress at work through effective and consistent management.
• To develop working practices that reduce the factors, which may lead to stress in the workplace.
• To develop procedures to manage problems that do occur and to support individuals who are stressed.
• To increase the awareness of stress and methods to combat it.
• To raise awareness of peoples roles and responsibilities in terms of stress management eg:
  • Executive Committee
  • Managers
  • Team Leaders
  • Staff Counsellors
  • Personnel Managers
  • Health & Safety Adviser
  • Trade Union Side
  • Individual members of staff
• To assist staff in managing stress in themselves and others.
• To ensure that regular communication takes place between any long term absent member of staff and Companies House to enable the organisation to provide as much support as is possible and is relevant to aid recovery and eventual return to work.
• To monitor procedures and outcomes, and to assess the effectiveness of the policy.

Definition of Stress

Stress is what individuals experience when they feel they have difficulty coping with the pressures and demands placed upon them. Some pressures at work are inevitable. A total elimination of pressure is neither possible nor desirable but is important that any such pressure does not become work related stress.

Pressures can arise from an individual's personal life as well as from work and people vary in their capacity and ability to cope with different types of pressure. Some individuals will recognise that their health is affected and will seek help and support, others will not recognise or acknowledge that they are stressed although it may be apparent to their manager and work colleagues. Although in itself, stress is not an illness, there is evidence that stress can lead to mental and physical ill health.

Strategies for Dealing with Stress

1 Preventative measures at an organisational level

We will:

• Promote a culture of consultation, participation and open communication throughout the organisation.
• Provide managers with advice and support to help identify tasks or structures that may create stress.
• Develop a programme to promote good management and team building skills for those with management and team leadership responsibilities.
• Ensure that all employees receive induction, training and development for their job and also, through the PDR process, receive regular feedback on their progress at work.
• Raise the awareness of managers and employees about stress and its causes.
• Provide opportunities for employees to maintain and promote their health and well being.

2 Identification and Management

We will:

• Ensure all employees are aware of the Companies House Stress Management Policy
• Make information available for all employees, on stress awareness and management so they are better able to handle pressure they may encounter, and they are able to recognise stress when it occurs in themselves and others.
• Manage pressures, which may affect employees by anticipating likely problems and taking actions to reduce the effects of them.

3 Supportive Measures for Employees

We will:

• Provide support through the Staff Counselling Service for employees with stress.
• Provide guidance for managers regarding modification of work for employees who are stressed e.g. reviewing work responsibilities; return to work arrangements after sickness absence.
• Provide a range of stress management courses including sessions on time management, assertiveness, and dealing with difficult situations.
• Provide facilities for, and actively promote, a range of health & fitness programmes including relaxation therapies.

4 Monitoring

We will:

• Monitor levels of occurrence of stress and of sickness absence associated with stress with proper regard for confidentiality.
• On a six monthly basis stress related absence and registered stress related incident statistics will be made available to the Executive Committee, collectively and the Trade Union Side, for further discussion and analysis to ensure top-level input into the stress management issue.
• On a yearly basis, or earlier if necessary, undertake a Health & Safety review of Risk Assessment Reports to monitor and manage adverse factors.
• Develop a reporting procedure to provide feedback form to EXCO, the Management Group and the Trade Union Side on the effectiveness of the policy.

5 Health & Safety Executive Definition