Stress in the workplace: should it be reframed as a workplace hazard?
To safeguard its future as a desirable career path, leading mental health experts in our sector say that we need to change the way we view stress to tackle high levels of mental health problems.
Recent research conducted by IP Inclusive and mental health awareness charity Jonathan’s Voice found that high stress levels are endemic within the IP industry.
Overall, 59% of survey participants said that they experienced high stress levels – a figure that rises to 71% among students.
More than half (55%) reported suffering from anxiety, yet 83% said they had never taken any time off work to address their mental health problems.
Penny Aspinall, mental health consultant at Jonathan’s Voice, believes these findings highlight the fundamental problems with the way IP firms have traditionally tackled the issue of stress in the workplace.
At a recent CITMA webinar Penny told our attendees that, currently, the approach centres on supporting individuals who are struggling, but this is a case of treating the symptoms and not the cause.
To achieve lasting change, we need to flip the way we think about stress in the workplace, working to create an environment that supports a proactive stance on mental health.
Mental health as a workplace hazard
Penny took the stance that no one is suggesting that it is possible to remove stress entirely from legal work. It is an industry where intellectual rigour, accuracy, and meeting deadlines are incredibly important.
Indeed, an element of “good” stress can even be considered desirable, as it can drive strong performance and creativity.
However, when the demands placed on people outweigh their ability to cope over a long period, stress becomes unhelpful and ultimately dangerous.
For individuals, long term stress can result in fatigue, physical illness, mental illness, and eventually burnout. Survey respondents also reported:
- Reduced productivity (59% - rising to 73% among students),
- Difficulties concentrating on work (49% - rising to 72% among students),
- Considering leaving their job (43%) or the profession entirely (32%)
- Almost making a work-related mistake (33%)
- Making a work-related mistake (25%)
It should also be noted that students are considerably more likely to report stress-related impacts, with half considering leaving their job and 43% considering leaving the profession.
As a result of such concerning evidence, stress should be more appropriately considered as a workplace hazard, rather than being viewed as “just the nature of the job”.
When perspective is flipped in this way, responsibility for managing this workplace hazard shifts onto firms.
Rather than focus on an “inside-out” approach of trying to make people more resilient and giving them skills to handle stress, firms should first consider an “outside-in” strategy that looks at the whole system and works to identify and mitigate the root causes of stress.
This unlocks routes to addressing stress that are simply not accessible to individuals.
Penny explains: “We need to start creating an environment where known stressors are recognised, minimised, or even eradicated, in a similar way to how firms approach other types of risk.
“Everyone, at all levels, needs to feel comfortable speaking up and identifying stress. That way, we won’t have people blaming themselves and thinking that they aren’t suited to the profession.”
She advises firms to focus on identifying common hazards and thinking creatively about how to address them.
Looking at a common stressor such as deadlines; these cannot be removed as they are part of the job.
However, we could change the way we deal with them and ask how we can manage them better or mitigate their effects.
Answers might include working to avoid “last-minute” culture and – crucially – ensuring that individual workloads are fair and manageable.
A common student stress hazard is finding enough time for exam preparation.
Given the importance of student progression to the future of the IP industry, mitigating this stressor should be a priority.
Firms could allocate students more time for exam preparation and provide mentors to support and monitor student wellbeing.
Who is responsible for managing stress?
By redefining stress as a workplace hazard, the burden of managing it is lifted from the shoulders of individuals and it becomes a joint responsibility between employers, managers and team members.
Employers must make sure their firm is a safe place to work and implement policies and practices to address the stress hazard.
The success of these policies must be regularly monitored, and creative solutions sought.
Managers have responsibility for managing workloads and supporting their team members, and individuals must inform managers when they are suffering from prolonged and unmanageable stress.
However, this can only be achieved if there is a genuine culture of openness and support for mental health in the workplace. In the legal world, this is one of the most difficult changes to effect.
Changing the culture around mental health
The legal sector’s high-stress culture will not change overnight, but there are indications that a change in perspective is underway. This is partly driven by the entry of a more mental health-aware generation into the workplace where people are more confident raising issues of wellbeing and have a greater vocabulary with which to communicate their needs and expectations.
This is leading to intergenerational learning and prompting senior leaders to recognise the importance of changing workplace culture to address stress more creatively.
This senior engagement is essential to accelerating change; leaders need to both encourage mental health awareness and model good practices themselves.
There is also growing recognition of the commercial advantages of good mental health management.
Employee satisfaction, physical health and commitment to their employer are all improved when good mental health support is in place. Penny noted that some organisations have seen a £5 return for every £1 invested in supporting mental health.
Nevertheless, there is an element of urgency around the need to change, when we look at the IP Inclusive/Jonathan’s Voice survey results
Among an increasingly mental health-conscious generation, if the IP industry is to remain an attractive sector in which to build a fulfilling career it is vital that it improves its performance in managing and mitigating the impacts of stress.
If you would like to watch the full webinar, please click here.
If you are currently struggling with stress at work, you can access support through Jonathan's Voice or LawCare.