Free employer resources for Stress Awareness Month
April is Stress Awareness Month and now is the time to take practical steps to help reduce stress inside and outside of the workplace.
Organised by the Stress Management Society, and supported by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the annual focus on stress is now in its 34th year.
The aims of Stress Awareness Month include educating the public about causes and effects, promoting stress management techniques, and encouraging open conversations.
The Society offers a range of free resources to help people help themselves and others including guided meditation, activity sheets, and recorded webinars.
Meanwhile, the HSE is encouraging employers to take five simple steps – the five R's – to prevent and reduce stress in the workplace:
- Reach out and have conversations,
- Recognise the signs and causes of stress,
- Respond to any risks you’ve identified,
- Reflect on actions you’ve agreed and taken,
- and make it Routine
The regulatory also offers a range of free resources to help employers make the necessary changes:
- Register for free bitesize learning
- Use a Talking Toolkit to help structure your conversations
- Download a risk assessment template to develop your processes for preventing or managing stressors
- Find out about NEBOSH HSE Certificate in Managing Stress at Work
- Sign up to the monthly newsletter to help you champion the Working Minds campaign beyond April
- Watch the webinar with Healthy Working Wales, which is also available with Welsh subtitles
The HSE says that preventing work-related stress is not just the right thing to do for employers but also a legal requirement.