EPR Stress Survey - Staff

7/31/2019 EPR Stress Survey - Staff

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Stress In The WorkplaceA survey carried out involving EPR staff

April May 2012


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Security marking 2

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Survey design and response rates

Survey questions based on Health Safety Executive (HSE)template

Questions designed to test experiences and perception of stress

against 6 Stress Management Standards; Demands, Control,Support, Relationship, Role and Change.

A free text comment box was also included for staff to expressviews

205 members of EPR staff completed the survey representing 23%of our staff base.

72% of respondents are office based staff

28% of respondents are street based depot staff


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Security marking 3

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Headlines from the survey

Stress arises mainly from reduced capacity within teams to meet

demands of the job

Team managers offer support and feedback for doing the job (i.e.the hard stuff) but not necessarily the support required to prevent

or cope with stress factors (i.e. the touchy, feely stuff)

Senior managers are not visible enough nor demonstrateinterest/commitment to staff and the issues that cause them stress

Suggestion of isolated bullying and harassment that should be

addressed

Staff know what their roles and responsibilities are and how that

fits into the bigger picture


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Security marking 44

Demand - issues like workload, work patterns, and the work

environment

78% say they have to neglect some tasks

61% say they have unachievable deadlines.

69% feel they suffer from unrealistic time pressures

91% say that they have to work very intensively

The main issue is lack of staffing. We have too much work to do with too few people. Thismeans we have to sacrifice quality of service

The area I work in is very busy and under resourced. I find it quite difficult to cope at these

times, but I don't expect much help from colleagues as they are often busy covering their ownresponsibilities..

There is not enough staff to do the work and this creates stress

Senior Managers do not appreciate the pressures that some staff are under with regards towork load

No mention of impact on health, it is a regular occurrence that I am often physically sick beforeleaving home for work in the morning and I consider that this is a direct result of work stress

The stress is caused by staff shortages, this is not addressed in the survey questions.


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Security marking 55

Role - Whether people understand their role within the

organisation

97% feel that they are clear what their role and responsibilities are

93% say that they understand how their role fits into the overall aim of

the organisation

95% say they are clear what is expected of them at work


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Security marking 66

Control - How much say the person has in the way they do

their work

84% feel they have a choice in deciding how they do their work

73% feel that they have a say in their work speed

48% feel pressured to work long hours

(52% say this is seldom or never the case) 70% agree they have some say over the way they work

Appraisals do not appear sympathetic when agreed targets have been partially met.

Its a thankless job and I am persuaded to refuse to take

any more work as it will count against me at appraisal time and

this 'poor performance' goes into my file when I am

shunted over to DRS partner!


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Security marking 77

Support - the encouragement, sponsorship and resources

provided by the organisation, line management and colleagues.

85% feel they can rely on their manager to help out with a work problem

62% say that they are given supportive feedback on the work they do

38% feel this is seldom or never the case

65% agreed that they receive the respect at work from their colleagues 47% agree that their line manager encourages them at work

.. the amount of work expected and time frames involved is unrealistic, leading to long hours and

often feeling ill as a result of the stressful environment.

The biggest issue at present is the capacity of Assistant Directors and Team Managers and therefore

the direction/steer on projects and resolution of technical matters can often come very late in the day

Management support is very poor and there is a lack of direction within our team.

Since all the changes taken/ taking place in Barnet the Managers are too busy trying to sell off the

services. staff are not a priority any staff related issues are ignored ..


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Security marking 88

Support

My colleagues and I have worked under a huge amount of stress since thestart of the DRS process. There has been no support from SeniorManagement in respect of this.

Management has no time to talk and deal with issues raised and priorityis not put on officer safety and wellbeing.

there have been incidents of verbal/physical abuse recently, which were not dealt with as high priority. This has caused stress

Lack of communication, uncertainty and the absence of seniormanagement interest in our day to day work all add to an already stressedenvironment.

I receive respect from my team colleagues and they are willing to listen towork-related problems. This does not always include the managers


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Security marking 99

Relationship -promoting positive working to avoid conflict

and dealing with unacceptable behaviour

48% say that they are never subject to personal harassment

in the form of unkind words or behaviour

44.6% say they are sometimes or seldom

5% say this happens to them often

2.5% say this always happens

86% say that colleagues would help them out if work gets difficult 24% feel that such help is seldom or never forthcoming

38% say that relationships are strained at work

Some staff treated better than others. One rule for some,

another rule for others


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Security marking 1010

Relationship

Encouragement and praise from a manager makes all the difference in the world. I believe

ALL people in authority need to have people skills in place especially in these times when

more is expected of us due to change.


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Change - How organisational change is managed and

communicated

74% either disagree (or are neutral) that they are always consulted

about changes at work (26% agree)

65% either disagree (or are neutral) that they have sufficient

opportunities to question managers about change at work

73% either disagree (or are neutral) that they are clear how changes at

work will work in practice (27% agree)

Staff are always informed about change at work - Not Consulted

I often feel that I am ignored or overlooked. Informal discussions take place in my absence

so I often feel that I am kept in the dark deliberately about issues that involve my area.


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Change

Currently no evidence of management being committed to upholding the 6 Stress Management

standards

Much of the current 'stress at work' is due to widespread uncertainties about DRS and other

outsourcing. quality, morale and pride in work undermined

Continual threat of redundancy


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Other cited stress factors

Technology in the workplace

Pay conditions and economic climate

Low pay, Pay rise!

No pay rise for nearly 5 years yet everything goes up in price. That equals STRESS!!!!

Pressure Is caused by council systems such as a long winded recruitment procedure, E

Recruitment takes to long to set up and is not suitable for manual some of which can not write

or use computers

The poor IT exacerbates the situation leaving staff with a complete inability to work at times when

deadlines are tight

IT / GIS / financial / policy decisions put off until 'DRS solution' impact on day-to-day work

The main issue at work is not being given the tools to be able to do your job properly. Often this is

due to restraints on time, technical issues (such as inefficient IT systems)


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What next?

Draft Action Plan to next SMB meeting based on survey findings

Staff communications to share findings and action plan

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EPR Stress Survey - Staff

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