The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is clear: every employer has a legal duty to protect workers from stress at work by carrying out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment and acting on the findings. This duty, rooted in the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, applies as much to psychological health as to physical safety. Recent guidance and enforcement activity underline that goodwill and informal chats, on their own, are no longer enough.
To turn legal duties into practical action, the HSE has set out its Management Standards for work related stress - a framework that focuses on six core aspects of work: Demands, Control, Support, Relationships, Role and Change. When these areas are poorly managed, organisations see more ill health, higher sickness absence and reduced productivity. For Chamber members, the detail will vary by sector, but the themes are familiar: intense workloads and deadlines, limited autonomy, difficult client or customer interactions, unclear roles, restructuring and frequent organisational change.
Using the Management Standards means treating stress like any other health and safety risk. That involves gathering data, listening to staff, identifying hotspots and agreeing realistic control measures - for example, reviewing workload in critical teams, improving role clarity, supporting line managers, or setting clearer norms around availability and working time.
Line managers sit at the heart of this. They are often the first to notice early warning signs, and the people employees turn to when things feel overwhelming. Yet many managers have never been given the tools, confidence or language to talk about stress constructively. Good practice does not ask managers to become counsellors; it asks them to understand their responsibilities, apply a risk assessment mindset and hold timely, boundaried conversations that lead to practical adjustments.
When organisations take this seriously, the benefits go far beyond compliance. Actively managing psychosocial risks is linked to better engagement, stronger performance, reduced absence and a more resilient workforce - all critical in a competitive regional economy.
For Coventry & Warwickshire Chamber members, the real question is not “Should we be doing something about work related stress?” but “Can we clearly show how we are identifying, assessing and managing it across our business?” Starting with the HSE Management Standards, investing in manager capability and embedding small, consistent changes can help local employers meet their duties, protect their people and build sustainable growth in an uncertain environment.
