Managing stress at work : how to conduct a stress audit

Stress is primarily caused by the fundamentals of change, lack of control and high workload.

More than ever before big business is aware of the enormous costs of stress in the workplace, from sick leave and poor productivity to stress-related illness and litigation. Because of these bottom-line costs, many leaders are attempting to do something about stress in their organisations.

Here, Steve Williams and Cary Cooper provide a step-by-step, practical guide to the measurement of occupational stress.

They present tools for creating a "stress audit" process, such as OSI/PMI, which will enable HR professionals and managers alike to evaluate their organisations.

They offer appropriate interventions to combat stress-related problems and details of how to monitor the progress of the audit programmes so that the manager can get the maximum benefit from such a scheme.

Each issue raised is illustrated with case studies from both the public and private sector.