Several regions in Canada now cover workers' compensation claims for chronic mental stress. This goes beyond covering traumatic stress alone. It’s likely more regions may follow.
Understanding how to prevent chronic mental stress at work can protect both employer and employees.
Understanding chronic mental stress
Chronic mental stress is a recognized hazard. It can deplete the individual’s capacity for resilience. As the stress continues, the individual’s ability to cope can erode. It can become increasingly difficult to deal with the normal stresses of life. This can result in emotional or relational problems, depression, anxiety, or performance issues.
Chronic mental stress occurs when an individual's exposed to ongoing stressors without relief. It doesn’t matter whether all the stress is work-related – the overall stress load is what matters.
Employers should understand chronic mental stress and why it can be so hazardous. Then they can recognize the early signs. This allows them to take appropriate action before the stress causes disability.
What follows is adapted from Elizabeth Rankin-Horvath's step-by-step action guide for preventing and managing chronic mental stress claims.
Rankin-Horvath emphasizes the importance of preventing chronic mental stress. Her professional roles have included:
- Psychological health and safety advisor
- Occupational health and safety specialist
- Integration coach and speaker
- Project manager for the technical committee
Identify and prevent
Identifying sources of work-related chronic mental stress is important. For example:
- Listen to what employees say and how they say it. Are they expressing concerns about their stress load? Are they upset, angry, irritable or apathetic? Are they complaining about burn-out? Are they chronically fatigued?
- Has there been a noticeable change in an employee’s attitude or behaviour?
- Are there signs of chronic mental stress showing up in recent employee surveys?
- Are any employees experiencing unexplained increases in:
- Sick time
- Performance issues
- Accidents
- Is there unresolved conflict between workers?
- Are there signs or reports of harassment or bullying?
Listen to what employees say and how they say it to help you identify sources of stress in your organization. This could be done formally through focus groups, or casually by members of the staff.
- Are employees expressing concerns about their stress load?
- Are they upset, angry, irritable, or apathetic?
- Are they complaining about burnout?
- Are they chronically fatigued?
- Has there been a noticeable change in an employee’s attitude or behaviour?
- Are there signs of chronic mental stress showing up in recent employee surveys?
- Is any employee experiencing an unexplained increase in sick time, performance issues or accidents?
- Is there unresolved conflict between workers?
- Is the organization experiencing any significant changes that could impact the employees’ job security?
- Are there signs or reports of harassment or bullying?
You may also want to complete the brief assessment, Is your organization at risk for burnout? | PDF to consider your organization’s response to work-related stress.
Reduce the risk
Considering the following questions can help reduce the risk of chronic mental stress and improve the overall well-being and productivity of your workforce.
- Are there any workers in your organization who may be suffering from chronic stress?
- What's considered a substantial work-related (SWR) stressor in your jurisdiction's workers’ compensation legislation?
- Are any workers exposed to a SWR stressor as defined?
- What are the most significant actions towards preventing or reducing the risk of a SWR stressor?
- Who should we involve to determine solutions for identified SWR(s)? How can we involve them without causing more stress?
- How can we ensure our disability and claims management approach can effectively address a chronic mental stress claim?
- Do our job demands analyses include cognitive and mental requirements?
- Have we trained employees on their rights and responsibilities with chronic mental stress claims?
Answering these questions provides a better understanding of your organization’s risk for chronic mental stress. Some free resources to assist you in addressing risks are provided below.
Responding to, preventing, and addressing stress
Stress is inevitable, but with the right tools and strategies we can support our employees to manage most work stress and prevent it from becoming chronic.
- Workload management is an effective way to help leaders understand where employees may be feeling overwhelmed. Delivering this workshop to your employees engages them in a conversation focused on finding low-cost or no-cost solutions that support their productivity and their mental health.
- Managing stress provides activities and resources to help employees manage common stressors and embed strategies to deal with the symptoms of stress. Some examples include information on financial or caregiver stress, and stress reduction videos.
- Plan for resilience can be facilitated by a leader to their employees to help them manage current stressors they’re dealing with. It provides employees with healthy strategies to prevent chronic stress, and practical strategies they can leverage to address stressors they’re experiencing.
- Name, claim and reframe is a resource leaders can facilitate to employees to help them recognize when they’re having a stress response, question the power they’ve given the stressor, and consider ways they can manage the situation to support their well-being.
- Helping employees to manage change can help leaders support employees deal with organizational changes that may have an unsettling impact. Through thoughtful planning, effective communication, and engaging employees you can improve psychological safety through times of change.
- Guarding Minds at Work is a free assessment leaders can use to help them understand and take effective action on psychological health and safety in the workplace. Addressing areas of concern can help address potential chronic stressors employees are facing at work.
Share this page with anyone who is a leader that’s trying to support employees who are managing consistent stress, or who are looking for best-practice tools and strategies to prevent chronic mental stress.
Additional resources
- Chronic Mental Stress. Ontario's Workplace Safety and Insurance Board has introduced coverage for chronic mental stress. This resource explains why and how chronic mental health claims get paid.
- Is your organization at risk for burnout? | PDF. This tool helps you assess your organization’s response to work-related stress.
- Psychological health and safety policy recommendations.. This framework provides policy recommendations for potential impacts on psychological health and safety. It covers policy, planning, implementation, evaluation and review.
- Managing stress. Use these strategies to help manage stress and protect well-being.