New research has been published revealing what managers need to do to prevent and reduce stress in those they manage. In interviews with nearly 400 employees and managers, and focus groups with over 50 HR professionals, participants were asked for their views on what manager behaviours are important for preventing and reducing stress at work. The emerging behaviours were grouped into themes to create a framework of 19 management competencies.

Employers can use the framework to train and develop current managers, select and assess new managers and hold managers accountable for behaving in ways that improve staff well-being. This should result in healthier organisations and help to reduce sickness absence.

The research was conducted by psychologists from Goldsmiths, University of London and Affinity Health at Work, funded by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and supported by the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD). Further information about the research is available as follows:

- The full research report can be downloaded from the HSE website: http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/rr553.htm

- Short guidance leaflets providing the findings of …

There’s no doubt that absence remains one of the biggest priorities and most difficult problems to overcome for UK organisations. This I believe is not down to a lack of comprehensive workplace sickness policy but perhaps the application and implementation of the policy, by line managers.

CIPD research has consistently highlighted the importance of line managers taking responsibility for managing absence and argues that the formality of conducting a return to work interview will help to drive home the seriousness with which the company views short term absence.

In some sectors sick pay days are considered just another perk of the job that should be taken so they are not wasted. However in most retail businesses, mine included, rights to sick pay is not an entitlement but only made at the managers discretion. So it remains a mystery why a number of employees have to throw a ‘sickie’ as they know they will not get paid. Minor illnesses such as colds and headaches continue to be the biggest cause of short term absence within the business.

As a …

I am a counsellor trained in person centred therapy. In 2003 whilst working in consultancy, I developed an outreach therapeutic model of working with substance misusing clients within the NHS. The client group was women who had withdrawn from using “treatment” services to support their drug and alcohol use, therefore were considered dis-engaging drug users.

These were chaotic women with a range of associated disturbances such as eating difficulties, deliberate self harming, often sex working, and many balancing social service and or criminal justice involvement. Hospital and G.P data informed us that these women existed, but how could we reach them and work with them positively?

Based strongly in Person Centred Psychology the components of my model gave the mental health professionals a radical alternative to working with clients and patients with mental health and dual diagnosis labels. The model acted as a platform for women’s experiences to be heard and used in furthering treatment plans and pathways. It was an individual way of working, but by experiential encounters and training professionals who also worked in differing …