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How can employers help protect workers from the effects of stress?
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Stress, whether work-related or personal, can negatively impact the mental and physical health of your employees.Workers who struggle with stress are more likely to engage in at-risk coping behaviours like using alcohol or other substances, which can increase the risk of developing a substance use disorder.
Employers cannot remove all workers’ stress. However, they can establish policies and programs to prevent mental harm and support mental health in the workplace. Here are three practical steps you can take in your workplace:
- Establish norms and expectations: define a program to protect workers from mental harm and support impaired workers that adheres to a “Plan-Do-Check-Act” framework. This can help ensure all policies and plans are working and doing what they are supposed to do.
- Deal with stigma: eliminate stigma to mitigate workers’ fear of seeking help for mental health or substance use concerns.
- Train leaders in duty to inquire: mental health conditions and substance use disorders frequently manifest as workplace behaviour changes. Leaders must know how to act when they suspect an employee may be experiencing a mental health concern or impairment. Leaders have a duty to inquire whether employees need help, creating an opportunity for their employer to fulfill their duty to accommodate.
CSA Group Standards can support your efforts to protect the mental health of your employees. Learn how CSA-Z1003, Psychological health and safety in the workplace*, can guide you in creating a mental health strategy. Leverage the framework outlined in CSA Z1008, Management of impairment in the workplace, that addresses all types of impairment, including fatigue and substance use, and take advantage of training and other available resources.
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*The full designation and title of the standard is CAN/CSA-Z1003-13/BNQ 9700-803/2013 (R2022), Psychological health and safety in the workplace - Prevention, promotion, and guidance to staged implementation
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