Work Stress - of North Lanarkshire Council Housing and Social Work Services - Case Study Example

Work Stress Case Study in North Lanarkshire Council Housing and Social Work Services and North Lanarkshire Council Housing and Social work services are among the leading providers of housing and social work services in the UK, (NorthLanarkshire, 2014). However, despite the efficient services that the Housing council provides to over 12,300 people in both Social Care homes and personal homes (NorthLanarkshire, 2014), work stress has been a pervasive issue in the Housing and Social work council. Work stress is defined as the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when job requirements do not match the worker’s capabilities, resources, and needs (Park, 2007 cited in National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, 1999). This essay will cover in details the topic of work stress in North Lanarkshire Council Housing and Social Work Services in terms of its causes and impact; it will also address how the issue was resolved. Work-stress has been recognized globally as a key challenge to personal health and organizational stability (Park, 2007 cited in ILO, 1986). Stress usually occurs when the work pressure exceeds the worker’s ability to handle the workload. According to Health and Safety Executive (2014), work stress cases in 2011/12 were about 428, 000 (40%) out of the total 1,073,000 for all work-related illnesses. Statistics from the Labor Force Survey indicate industries related to health-care (especially health medics such as nurses), education centers, and personal care companies reported the highest number of cases of work-stress (Health and Safety Executive, 2014). Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is a national independent body that has always been interested in determining, managing, and solving work-related health, safety and illnesses in different business organizations and social work services in the UK (Health and Safety Executive, 2014). The body aims at improving the work conditions of both managers and employees in both the business and social sectors. In 2005, they carried out a research in North Lanarkshire Council Housing and Social work services to identify the working conditions of the employees in the Housing and Social work services (Health and Safety Executive, 2014). The Health and Safety Executive found out that the rate of sick absence level for the Housing and Social work services was 12% (Health and Safety Executive, 2014). The Social Work Inspection Agency (SWIA) also carried out a research in 2008 in North Lanarkshire Council Housing and Social work services identified that work stress was a prevalent issue in the Housing and Social work services (Northlanarkshire, 2014). The researchers carried out a detailed research analysis in the various Social Care homes where they interviewed different employees and social workers of the Housing and Social work services (Health and Safety Executive, 2014). The research team discovered that stress/anxiety and depression as one of the top three causes of absence within Housing and Social Work Services (Health and Safety Executive, 2014). Compared to other services within the Housing and Social Work Services, the researchers found out that the absence data in the housing and social work sector was the highest, (Health and Safety Executive, 2014). Although the SWIA ((Northlanarkshire, 2014) did not find any national data on absenteeism, they referred to Chapter 4 to concerns about staff sickness levels. The council’s information confirmed that short-term absence was well controlled while long-term illness especially among the home care staff was high (Northlanarkshire, 2014). Northlanarkshire (2014) also indicate that short-term absence had declined from 2.95% (in 2007) to 2.07% in 2008. The overall absence had also declined to 7.70% from 7.11%. The main reasons for absence were stress related conditions and muscle/bone/joint conditions (Northlanarkshire, 2014). However, there was a consistent reduction in absence levels over the past year. Stress affects different workers in different ways. A research study by Motowidlo, Packard, and Manning, (1986) indicated that occupational stress could have a number of deleterious effects, which affect the speed and accuracy in tracking, signal detection, verbal reasoning, sentence formation, and other forms of verbal performance of an employee. Stressors (occupational demands) provide conditions of information overload since people are forced to concentrate rather than perform out of will. This causes brain fatigue and drains the energy required for the demanding task (Motowidlo, Packard and Manning, 1986, p.618). The impact of stress in the business organizations and Social Work Services cannot be ignored. A research study by Park (2007) indicates that workers who are stressed have a high likelihood of being unhealthy, exhibit low motivation, and more likely to produce less work. A huge amount of the national’s economy is lost in paying for the stressed workers’ hospital expenses and litigation costs. There is also lost productivity in the labor force, which negatively affects the development of the economy. Stress can be an obstacle in achieving of personal goals and objectives. In business organizations, employee stress can increase employee turnover rates, high incidences of absenteeism, low levels of employee commitments, and overall job dissatisfaction (Ablanedo-Rosas, et al., 2011, p.1). Therefore, supervisors and employers need to pay attention to employee stress since it has perceived consequences for both individuals and organizations. Workstress (2014) asserts that social workers who are under work stress often to unhealthy lifestyle habits to cope up with the occupational pressure. The report by Workstress reveals that 3% of workers opt to cigarette smoking to cope up with the pressures, another 6% of the respondents interviewed by Workstress admitted to drinking alcohol to relieve work stress (Workstress, 2014). A separate research by Community Care indicates that social employees portray a high likelihood of turning to food to relieve work stress instead of communicating with their senior employers (Community Care, 2014). The research by the Community Care (2014) also reports that the most preferred technique of handling occupational stress is communicating with other work colleagues. A lesser proportion of the social workers prefer talking to their family members or close relatives. Half of the subjects interviewed prefer talking to their managers while less than a third turn to anti-depressants. Most of the respondents consider quitting their current jobs due to the pressure (Community Care, 2014). In North Lanarkshire Council Housing and Social work services, most of the employees were subjected to long durations of working hours (Health and Safety Executive, 2014). The Social work employees were more likely to suffer from mental fatigue. This could have triggered the employees’ resolution to avoid reporting to work. Some of the employees could have voluntarily skipped work to avoid job frustration whereas another section could have been absent from work to seek medication. The Health and Safety Executive research team (2014) discovered that anxiety and depression were the main cause of absenteeism in the Housing and Social work services in North Lanarkshire Council. Most of the social workers complained that they were assigned too many responsibilities of caring in the Social Care homes. The number of employees was inadequate compared to the amount of duties which they were required to perform. In order to accomplish the required tasks, the employees had to work overtime, which was an direct form of exposing them to mental fatigue and depression. In the end, absenteeism incidences among the employees started rising. The high rate of absence from work in the North Lanarkshire Council Housing and Social work services is among the many cases that happen in different business organizations and Social Work services that occur in the UK yearly due to work stress among the employees. The causes vary from one business to the other depending on the operation processes that are undertaken by the employees. The sources of stress in the health care department differ from those experienced by workers in manufacturing industries. However, although the sources vary, the workers display consistent symptoms of fatigue due to work stress. Most of the employees have low work motivation and seem to react slowly to increasing work demand. Researchers have tried to assess the situation to identify the main triggers of work stress and possible solutions that can be implemented to curb the situation. Christo and Pienaar (2006) argue that the sources of work stress include fear of losing job, working overtime, unavailability of security, monotony in job operation, and lack of independence and flexibility. Moreover, work stress has been attributed to lack of resources and equipment; work schedules (for example working late or overtime). Environmental climate has been identified as a source of stress where the employees are unable to perform effectively due to external distractions such as noise and pollution. Matthews and Desmond (2002) have classified causes of stress into four categories: environment, social stressors, physiological and psychological (thoughts). Environmental conditions such as undesirable weather, crime insecurity, pollution, and noise. These conditions can cause discomfort especially where the business premises are located in busy modern centers. Social pressures can have a negative impact on the harmonious stability of an employee if they are not controlled. Social pressures include financial instabilities, deadlines, marital break-ups, and loss of close relatives or relationship partners. Physiological sources relate to pressures caused by biological problems of oneself. Although physiological factors account for a minimal percentage of the overall sources of occupational stress, they negatively influence an employee’s state of stability. Physiological causes include ill health, old age, exercise inactivity, poor nutrition, and abnormal sleep patterns. Psychological causes relate to personal biased attitudes towards the working environment. Arguments and disputes between the working staff or between working staff and employers can also cause psychological stress in the work places. Ornelas and Kleiner (2003) state that there are two types of stress that people (social workers in our case) experience. Positive stress creates energy, motivates, and improves the performance of an employee. However, positive stress is usually short-term (Ornelas and Kleiner, 2003). On the other hand, negative stress is characterized by unpleasant feelings, decreases performance, promotes negative attitude, and can cause psychological problems. Sources of stress are not limited to positive and negative types; internal events such as addictive behaviors are also classified as sources of stress. Feelings and thoughts can affect the employee’s attitude towards work in a negative manner. Common internal causes of stress include worrying too much about future events, unrealistic expectations, and internal fears of loss of job. Stress in the workplace is related to a number of events that may or may not be directly related to the working environment. According to Blaug, Kenyon and Lekhi (2007), the development and increase of stress can be linked to historical events and economic factors, with little meaningful significance but much rhetorical power (p.3). An employee is most likely to relate an emergence of ill health to stress due to awareness of a stress incidence that has occurred recently. This suggests that pressure can be reflected to historical instance or current political ideology. According to Manzoor, Awan, and Mariam (2012, p.21) work overload has been cited as a source of work stress. When the amount of work exceeds the individual’s capacity level, an employee is often inclined to feel pressure if he/she does not deliver the set expectations. Their findings also indicated that workers feel alone and disserted when colleagues and supervisors lack to give them support, this in turn reduces their pace of work due to stress. Stress is created where the employee lacks information regarding his authorities, responsibilities to be undertaken, duties, and powers (Manzoor, Awan and Mariam, 2012, p.21). Role conflict can also be a cause occupation stress where an employee is exposed to contradictory demands by his supervisors. The conflicts can be a source of discomfort since the worker is unable to have good work relations. Effects of Work Stress On Job Performance In North Lanarkshire Council Housing and Social Work Services Absenteeism cases, which were caused by work stress in North Lanarkshire Council Housing and Social Work Services, had a negative impact on the services offered by the Council Housing and Social Work Services. For efficient work output and delivery of high quality services in any business sector or social organization, the number of employees should always remain constant at any given time. A shift in the number of employees can either cause depletion of the available resources or cause a downward shift in the work productivity. The North Lanarkshire Council Housing and Social Work Services faced a high-quality service obstacle since few employees reported to work. The number of clients was high thus there were constrained efforts by the employees present thus troubles increased. The work productivity of North Lanarkshire Council Housing and Social Work Services was negatively affected. The impact of work stress on other business sectors has also revealed effects similar to those of the North Lanarkshire Council Housing and Social Work Services. A research study by Manzoor, Awan and Mariam (2012) indicated that occupational pressure can decrease output, amplify errors, and accidents in workplaces, it encourages absenteeism, reduces motivation, causes internal conflict, and cause physical and emotional problems. Their research findings also indicated that occupational stress might lead to poor life satisfaction. Manzoor, Awan, and Mariam assert that work stress has been used as the most important predictor of job satisfaction. A low level of job pressure increases the chances of an employee being satisfied with his job whereas high levels of pressure are associated with job dissatisfaction. In a research study by Park (2007) on effects of work stress, a longitudinal analysis was found to be effective for work stress since it revealed prolonged cumulative effects of stress and an evident casual relationship between stress and job performance. The research study indicated that low status workers were more likely to be affected by work stress due to the massive hard labor that they were subjected to. Similarly, the results indicated that low personal incomes and low levels of education were linked to high levels of stress (Park, 2007, p.15). Work stress determinants depict a noteworthy close association with job performance. For instance, physically pressuring jobs were associated with high cases of absenteeism compared to less demanding jobs. Workers who are subjected to demanding expectations perform lowly in their job performance. Work pressure causes workers to develop psychological complications hence they are more likely to underperform in their work duties. Too many expectations limit the employees’ ability to function effectively since they do not have enough resources at their disposal to cope up with increasing demands. In the end, the workers end up developing emotional instability due to under-achieving. Results from research studies by Ablanedo-Rosas et al reveal that occupational stress has a direct impact on the attention and memory of an employee. Work demands that exceed the employee’s ability have a long-term effect on the employee’s concentration. Findings reveal that work stress causes an individual to portray poor attention and concentration skills. Due to psychological instability caused by pressure, a sales representative is unable to concentrate on his work and resolve to sleep during office hours. In the end, the job productivity of a social worker is set to decline. Strategies to resolve work stress in North Lanarkshire Council Housing and Social Work Services The Health and Survey Executive (2014) report that managers in the Housing and Social work were trained on how to deal with stress. HSE also state that the Services Human Resources Team (SHRT) in partnership provided new training materials for managers with Occupational Health provider (Health and Survey Executive, 2014). The materials are implemented through half-day meetings to organized groups to promote and improve discussions. The council services developed a supervision scheme that is available for all workers, which ensures that the workers submit their complaints to the supervisors. In case of disputes, there are discussions and agreements are reached. According to Health and Survey Executive (2014), the Council service launched its Employee Well-being Strategy, which entails all details of a worker’s welfare that relate to his/her well-being. The service operated under EASI (Employee Assistance Support and Information). The Employee Assistance Support and Information, deals with discussing topics with the workers to improve engagement and generate useful agendas. The strategy proved to be successful in residential care centers where operational pressures restricted workers from being present (Health and Survey Executive, 2014.) The Council service has implemented the self-assessment technique to solve incidences arising due to work-stress issues. The supervisors and the workers can exercise this method, when occupational pressure seems persistent (Health and Survey Executive, 2014.) The employees also use Line management assessment forms, which entail all the six Management Standard stressors (Health and Survey Executive, 2014.) Communication is an important aspect when dealing with work-stress. In North Lanarkshire Council Housing and Social work services, employees communicate with other staff members through emails. Emails containing updates, enhancing support, and encouraging involvement in EASI (Employee Assistance Support and Information) discussions are sent to the employees. There also exist online materials such as counseling materials, which help the workers in coping up with work-stress. The council has also launched an online chat room where workers submit their grievances and feedback is provided. This strategy has proved to be successful in reducing work-stress cases among employees. The forum has also developed a newsletter, which addresses support for employees who do not have accessibility to computers. The newsletter provides updates and other employee support forms such as gym membership (Health and Survey Executive, 2014). Challenges In Implementing The Strategies. The Health and Survey (2014) report that, there were challenges in implementing the new strategies, which aimed at reducing work-stress in North Lanarkshire Council Housing and Social work services. The engagement with focus groups turned out to be poor since there was co-ordination was not intensive. The Council service developed a form that included positive statements about the working environment, and the employees gave their views whether the statements were similar to their current area. In case the answers were negative, a further questioning was involved. The strategy helped in determining the exact sources of the work stress problem. The Health and Survey Executive (2014) also indicate that the program experienced internal and external resistance. The resistance was caused by the project being operated only by the Housing and Social Work Services. Other departments of the council complained that they were being left out but the Council reassured that future implementations in other departments would be considered. Benefits of the Strategy In North Lanarkshire Council Housing and Social Work Services. After the introduction of the new strategies, the rate of sickness absence level has reduced in North Lanarkshire Council Housing and Social work services from 12% to 6% (Health and Survey Executive, 2014). Managers also have full knowledge of what their job description entails unlike previous times where they were unaware. The-self assessment forms help the workers differentiate between work and non-work related stress. References .Ablanedo-Rosas, J., Blevins, R., Gao, H., Teng, W. and White, J., 2011. The impact of occupational stress on academic and administrative staff, and on students: an empirical case analysis. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 33(5), pp.553--564. Blaug, R., Kenyon, A. and Lekhi, R., 2007. Stress at work. 1st ed. London: Work Foundation. Christo, B. and Piernaar, J., 2006. South Africa Correctional Official Occupational Stress: The Role of Psychological Strengths. Journal of Criminal Justice, 34(1), pp.73-84. Community Care, 2014. Social workers more likely to turn to food than to managers as way of coping with stress. [online] Available at: [Accessed 07 July 2014]. Health and Safety Executive , 2014. Stress-related and Psychological disorders in Great Britain (GB). [online] Available at: < http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/causdis/stress/> [Accessed 07 July 2014]. Health and Safety Executive, 2014. North Lanarkshire Council – Housing and social Work Services- Social Workers. [online] Available at: [Accessed 07 July 2014]. Manzoor, A., Awan, H. and Mariam, S., 2012. Investigating The Impact Of Work Stress On Job Performaace: A Study on Textile Sector of Faisalabad. Asian Journal of Business and Management Sciences., 2(1). P.20-28. Matthews, G. and Desmond, P. A. (2002). Task-induced fatigue states and simulated driving performance. quarterly Journal of experimental Psychology:Human Experimental Psychology, 55, p.659-686. Motowidlo, S., Packard, J. and Manning, M., 1986. Occupational stress: its causes and consequences for job performance. Journal of applied psychology, 71(4), pp.618. Northlanarkshire, 2014. Social Work Inspection Agency (SWIA) report. [online] Available at < http://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=5407&p=0> [Accessed 07 July 2014]. Ornelas, S. and Kleiner, B. H. (2003). New Development in Managing Job Related Stress. Journal of Equal Opportunities International, 2(5), pp. 64-70.  Park, J., 2007. Work stress and job performance. 1st ed. [Ottawa?]: Statistics Canada. Workstress, 2014. Work-Stress Annual Conference 2014 announcement. [online] Available at: [Accessed 07 July 2014]. Read More