HSE Management Standards

The Management Standards cover six key areas of work design that, if not properly managed, are associated with poor health and well-being, lower productivity and increased sickness absence. In other words, the six Management Standards cover the primary sources of stress at work. These are:

    * Demands – Are the demands of your job reasonable? ( workload, work patterns and the work environment)
    * Control  – How much  control do you have over your work? ( what you do, when, where and how you do it)
    * Support – Do you receive encouragement,  support, training and and resources from line management and colleagues?
    * Relationships – Are relationships healthy? (avoidance of conflict and dealing with unacceptable behaviour)
    * Role –  Are you clear on your roles and responsibliities? ( Job description, appraisals, contracts).
    * Change – Is organisational change (large or small)  managed and communicated in the organisation effectively?

The Management Standards represent a set of conditions that, if present, reflect a high level of health well-being and organisational performance.They:

    * demonstrate good practice through a step by step risk assessment approach;
    * allow assessment of the current situation using surveys and other techniques;
    * promote active discussion and working in partnership with employees to help decide on practical improvements that can be made;
    * help simplify risk assessment for work related stress by:
          - identifying the main risk factors for work related stress;
          - helping employers focus on the underlying causes and their prevention; and
          - providing a yardstick by which organisations can gauge their performance in tackling the key causes of stress.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/standards