Minimizing stress

As early as 1985, Harvard Business Review began to alert companies to their responsibilities toward the stress of their employees. The article “Who's liable for stress on the job?” underlined that proactive management of stress was becoming imperative at the risk of being dragged into court. In fact, stress-related lawsuits have multiplied in the past two decades, and employees who sue their employers in this domain are increasingly likely to win their case.

We have analyzed the writings of several experts on stress. According to these specialists, companies have many good reasons to minimize employee stress, above and beyond their legal obligation to do so. From our analysis of these publications, we elicited four key principles for reducing stress:

– Conduct a detailed assessment to measure stress in your organization and understand what is causing it.

– Review your operating practices. A few simple modifications may greatly help reduce the level of stress in the organization.

– Train your managers. They play an important role in regulating the stress of their employees.

– Pay particular attention to exceptional situations, such as organizational change, trauma, and the personal problems of employees. The company’s attitude is decisive in helping people recover after such difficult times.