Stress in Small Businesses. Are we at crisis point?

There are two key people issues to be aware of when leading a small medium enterprise (SME). The first is that people get stressed while at work, the second is that they avoid talking about it.

Being able to recognise stress levels among your team is a leadership skill. Research showed that:

over 4 out of 5 SME employees had been affected by ‘excessive’ workload’

And that one third of SME employees experience a mental health problem during their working life  (CIPD, Employee Outlook, Focus on Mental Health, July 2016)

Add to this that employee health outcomes are worse within the SME sector, owners and SME leaders would be advised to sit up and be aware of what is going on among their employees.

SME employees are less likely to talk about stress with their managers.

Only 17% of SME employees are likely to feel comfortable to talk to their manager about stress, compared to 30% of employees in large companies (Open Business Council). Is it because the smaller no of employees means greater fear about being judged? Lack of anonymity? Or not wanting to ‘let the team down’ ?

Work stresses at play

The lack of career progression, low pay and hence the inability to save effectively are key stress points for SME employees. People in larger companies find the long hours and management pressures as causing the most stress.

Whatever the root cause of the stress it is important that people have someone they can talk to, a path to understanding that they can raise personal issues in a safe space. Businesses that don’t have an in-house HR team may find that their people don’t quite know how to start the conversation.

 Recognising stress

 The Health and Safety Executive has a number of tools and tips on how to manage stress in work ( Work-related stress and how to manage it: signs of stress - HSE). This includes:

• arguments
• higher staff turnover
• more reports of stress
• more sickness absence
• decreased performance
• more complaints and grievances

 At an individual level look out for:

• taking more time off
• arriving for work later
• being more twitchy or nervous
• mood swings
• being withdrawn
• loss of motivation, commitment and confidence
• increased emotional reactions – being more tearful, sensitive or aggressive

5 steps to creating a safe space for talking

The CIPD recommend the following 5 steps to manage stress in the workplace and create an environment where people are able to talk about their wellbeing.

1.  Think about the end goal, be proactive and not reactive to mental unwellness
2.  Write your commitment to employee wellbeing down so that people know what to expect – think about the emotional, physical, financial and social needs of your employees
3. Develop your commitment with your employees so they can own in
4. Seek external experienced advice – you don’t need to do it on your own
5. Track and measure and review 

Time to talk day

2nd Feb has been allocated as Time to Talk day - a day to bring people together to talk about mental health. It is an opportunity for SME owners and their teams to take some time to start talking about the impact of working in a SME on individual sense of wellbeing. For more information on how you can talk about mental health visit Mind and Rethinking Mental Illness. If you need help on how to start the conversation drop me a message and I would happily connect and share ideas and strategies

For more insight on people and creating a great culture subscribe or follow me. for more information on the services I offer visit www.gleecoaching.co.uk