Equalities Impact Assessment
Mental Health Services – Stress
Management Standards
Date: March 2007
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Record of Equality Impact Assessment
1. Department/Service Area
Adult Social Care Services - Mental Health
2. Equality Areas Assessed
Race, disability, age, gender
3. Timescale of the assessment
a) What is the start date?
January 2007
b) What is the finish date?
March 2007
4. Who is involved in the EIA? (There should be a minimum of at least 3 officers)
a) Please list name and areas of
responsibility
b) Are any service users or stake
holders/partners involved in
the assessment? Please list if
possible.
Planning Officer, Adult Mental Health
Services
Implementation Co-ordinator, HSE Stress
Management Standards
5. Policy, procedure, service assessed
Implementation of HSE Stress Management Standards in workplaces in Leicestershire.
This is one of the targets within the Local Area Agreement Healthier Communities
Block, and the work has been planned as a two-stage process. The first stage target is
to implement the standards in 15 public sector workplaces, and the second stage is to
engage 15 commercial sector workplaces to implement the standards.
The target was chosen to provide a whole population approach to improve people’s
mental health and well-being, and was endorsed by the Leicestershire Together
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partnership which includes representation from public sector, commercial and not-forprofit organisations.
This report focuses on the data collected from the public sector organisations (the Year
1 target for implementation) to highlight potential equalities issues arising from
implementation of the standards within those organisations. The assessment will be
repeated with the commercial sector organisations that sign up to implement the
standards in Year 2 of the Local Area Agreement.
a) What is its purpose?
The Stress Management Standards aim to prevent stress in the workplace to improve
the health and wellbeing of employees with consequent benefits to employers of
reduced sickness absence, better staff retention, enhancing the organisation’s
reputation as an employer and employment cost reductions.
b) Who is it for?
People working in organisations in Leicestershire which agree to be part of this
initiative.
This assessment focuses on employees of statutory sector organisations in
Leicestershire, namely:
Leicestershire County Council
Leicestershire Probation Service
Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service
East Midlands Ambulance Service
Blaby District Council
Oadby & Wigston Borough Council
Melton Borough Council
Hinckley & Bosworth District Council
Charnwood District Council
Harborough District Council
North West Leicestershire District Council
Leicestershire & Rutland Primary Care Trust
University Hospitals of Leicester
Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust
Leicestershire Constabulary
Vista, the organisation for visually impaired people in Leicestershire, is a voluntary
sector organisation which has also signed up as a partner in this initiative.
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6. Data Collection and consultation
A workplace questionnaire was provided to each partner organisation, which
requests information about current policies and procedures relating to equalities and
adjustments. From information received to date, it is notable that none of the partner
organisations has a Mental Wellbeing at Work policy in place. Many do have policies
relating to stress at work but these tend to focus on secondary and tertiary
interventions – i.e. dealing with stress and its consequences rather than with its
prevention. All the organisations which have completed the questionnaire have
Equalities Policies in place.
The workplace questionnaire includes a request to provide data on the organisation’s
workforce including details of ethnic origin, disability, gender, and age. (A copy of
the workplace questionnaire is attached at Appendix A)
Some partner organisations have not yet been able to complete the questionnaire
due to capacity issues and work priorities and therefore the data obtained to date
gives only a partial picture of public sector workplaces in Leicestershire.
Some organisations do not have systems in place to provide this information for the
whole workforce. Specifically, data around disability often relies upon self-disclosure
by employees, none of the organisations involved collects data about employees’
sexuality and organisations do not all use the same categories (i.e. age bands,
detailed ethnic origin information).
The data which has been submitted has been compared to local demographic data
and a comparison table is provided at Appendix B.
A desktop study has been undertaken to collect and collate the available data on the
effects of stress on different sections of the community.
Research highlights that stress factors may be different for men and women and
therefore attention needs to be paid to this when arranging focus groups, workshops
and training. It has been reported that:
Gender specific work stress factors, such as sex discrimination and balancing
work and family demands, may have an effect on women workers above and
beyond the impact of general job stressors such as job overload and skill
under-utilisation.
Discriminatory barriers to financial and career advancement have been linked
to more frequent physical and psychological symptoms and more frequent
visits to the doctor. 1
There is also evidence from national research that ethnic minority workers are 5
times more likely to experience bullying at work than their white colleagues.
Combined data from the Bristol Stress and Health at Work Study and the Cardiff
Health and Safety at work study indicate non-white workers reported high levels of
stress (28% compared to 19%). This seemed primarily to reflect excess stress levels
among Black Caribbean’s: 36% compared to 19% of Whites and 16% of South
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Asians. HSE Research Report RR308 states: “The combination of racial
discrimination with gender and ethnicity is powerfully influential in work stress. This
makes particular groups, (such as Black Caribbean women who have experienced
racial discrimination) more likely to experience work stress”.2 Additionally, research
into the incidence of schizophrenia in ethnic minorities in London showed that as the
proportion of an ethnic minority in an area decreased, the risk of schizophrenia
increased. The researchers suggest that members of ethnic minorities may be more
likely to experience discrimination and institutionalised racism when in a small
minority, leading to increased stress (which is thought to be a contributing factor in
the development of schizophrenia). 3
The Black and Ethnic Minority Citizens’ Jury in Leicestershire examined issues
around employment, and concluded that specific issues need to be addressed
through “ An emphasis on Information and Monitoring procedures and thoroughness,
and an awareness of stereotyping and employment practices. Direct action to include
a focus on preparatory skills (interview techniques, job applications etc), targeted
recruitment initiatives and work area awareness, and Employee Development
measures (mentoring, shadowing, fast-tracking initiatives)”4.
Whilst little evidence about links between physical disability and stress has been
found, an American study of 165 employees disabled by lower back pain indicated
that these people experience more physical pain and have higher perceived levels of
job stress than their colleagues.5 No evidence about the stress levels experienced
by people with mental ill health or a learning disability has been found, however it is
reasonable to assume that anyone with a disability may be at risk of experiencing
more stress than non-disabled colleagues.
7. Findings
Public sector workplaces in Leicestershire currently tend to focus on dealing with
stress rather than with prevention. Adoption of the HSE Stress Management
Standards will support the prevention of stress in the workplace with consequent
benefits to the workforce.
Attention needs to be paid to ensuring that stress factors specific to any group are
examined and addressed. Within district councils, where the total workforce is
smaller, the numbers of staff from ethnic minorities may be very small and issues
around isolation and support networks need to be examined carefully.
The factors which may affect specific groups are identified from research as:
-
Ethnicity
Gender
Disability
A combination of these
Isolation as a member of a minority
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There may be a demand for information to be made available:
in languages other than English
in formats other than written documents
in accessible versions of any sort6
This issue should be examined by each of the partner organisations to determine if
there is a need for specific resources.
8. Conclusions
It is considered that implementation of the HSE Stress Management Standards will
have a positive impact for employees in partner organisations.
Research indicates that there may be specific implications in relation to workers from
ethnic minorities, particularly in relation to gender (South Asian men and women, and
African-Caribbean women), and recommendations to partners will include actions to
examine these issues.
9. Actions
Workforce data capture procedures need to be addressed within some organisations.
It will be recommended to partner organisations that in future, their internal recording
systems include personal details of staff which can be appropriately accessed for
monitoring purposes.
Future plans should include procedures and structures to support detailed data
capture in order for those employers to ensure compliance with relevant legislation
and to be able to identify and support employees who may be at higher risk of
experiencing stress in their workplace.
Partner organisations will be including their own targets and monitoring procedures
into their action plans for implementation of the standards. Equally, public sector
partner organisations are required to undertake their own equality impact
assessments.
The Lead Officer will raise equalities issues as highlighted with partner organisations
and suggest that action plans specifically address issues of equality in relation to the
areas highlighted by research information. This includes the information specific to
each partner organisation produced from the workplace questionnaire.
Each organisation may need to undertake further research and consultation to
identify any stress issues specific to their workplaces. It will be recommended that
they then convene focus groups to determine how any particular group of people is
affected by those stress factors. Focus groups may include men- or women-only
groups, black workers groups, disabled workers groups or other specific groups
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which each organisation will determine for itself.
The Lead Officer will have an overview of the implementation of action plans within
all partner organisations.
The good practice from the HSE stress management standards should be
incorporated into each organisation’s existing procedures relating to equalities.
Other examples of good practice will be shared with the lead from each partner
organisation for dissemination. This should include relevant organisational policies
and procedures, e.g. policies dealing with stress in the workplace, mental health,
bullying and harassment, ‘whistle-blowing’ procedures.
The Implementation Co-ordinator will support partner organisations to source
information in different languages and formats to meet identified needs.
10. Monitoring
Each partner organisation will produce an action plan for implementation of the
Stress Management Standards. These plans will be reviewed by the Local Authority
Lead Officer and equality issues will be specifically examined, and further
recommendations may be made to partner organisations.
Actions identified will be followed up and reported to the Local Area Agreement
Board.
11. Authorisation
a) Name and position of officer
authorising the EIA (this should
be the head of service)
12. Contact
a) Contact details of officer to
discuss EIA with if different
from section 11. above
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References:
1
http://www.healthandsafety.co.uk/NIOSHWOMENWORKSTRESS.html
Accessed 21/12/2006. “Working Women and Stress”, The Journal of the
American Medical women’s Association, Spring 2000
2
HSE Research Report RR308: Ethnicity, work characteristics, stress and
health. Prepared by Cardiff University and Queen Mary, University of London
for the Health and Safety Executive 2005.
3
http://www.mentalhealthcare.org.us/research/expanded/index.php?id=10
Accessed 21/12/2006. “Stress by Numbers” – summary by Caroline Moran of
Boydell J, van Os J, McKenzie K, allardyce J, Goel R, McCreadie RG, Murray
RM 2001. Incidence of schizophrenia in ethnic minorities in London:
econological study into interactions with environment. British Medical Journal
323 pp 1336-1338.
4
Leicestershire’s Black and Minority Ethnic Citizens’ Jury Executive Summary
and Summary of Action Plan
Ecotec, C3405/March 2006
5
Feuerstein M, Beattie P: Biobehavioural factors affecting pain and disability in
low back pain, mechanisms and assessment. Phys ther. 1995; 75; 267-280
6
Citizens Jury of Disabled People Report, Equal Ability for LCC 31.08.2004.
Ethnicity in Leicestershire – Key Results from the 2001 Census,
www.leics.gov.uk/statistics.
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APPENDIX A
LCC- Local Area Agreement
Healthier Communities Block - Mental Health & Well-being Priority
Workplace Questionnaire
Please could you supply the following information about the workforce, as you
report this:
Number of employees in total
Number of bases – if appropriate
Number employees at each base broken down by:

Age - ranges

Gender

Disability

Ethnicity

Full time /part time
1. Are you implementing the Health & Safety Executive Stress?
management standards?
Not heard of them
No
Yes
Considering
Would like more information
2. Human Resource Policy- Please tick the support your organisation offers
employees
Intervention
Stress policy
No
Yes
Considering Anything further you can add
Supervision policy
(including professional
supervision)
Grievance procedure
Occupational Health
Service
Management training
in stress
Staff Satisfaction
surveys
Employment of staff
with existing mental
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health (recruitment,
training & support)
Equalities Policy
3. Primary Interventions- Please tick the support your organisation
offers employees
Intervention
Staff stress audits
No
Yes
Considering Anything further you can add
Risk Assessments
Relexation classes
Other activities such
as massage etc
Physical health
activities – health
walks, gym
membership or gym
onsite
Team meetings
Employee support
network (sports, social,
staff support, peer
support)
Mental Health wellbeing policy
Stress Awareness
training
Health promotion
(leaflets, information,
multi-media), internal
website
Flexible working hours
Policy for adjustments
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at work
Good practice
guidance for
recruitment & selection
Supervision
Personal Development
Reviews.
4. Secondary Interventions- Please tick the support your organisation
offers employees
Intervention
Stress management
No
Yes
Considering Anything further you can add
Positive health
promotion
Process for Incident
debriefing
5. Tertiary Interventions- Please tick the support your organisation offers employees
Intervention
No
Referral to NHS / other
provider
Yes
Considering Anything further you can add
Counselling services
Return to work policy
Reasonable
adjustment at work
(DDA 1995)
Incident debriefing
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6. Do you monitor/ undertake the following?
Monitoring
Sickness absence
management
No
Yes
Considering If, yes How often?
Reasons for absence
Return to work
interviews
Use of occupational
health
Use of counselling
service
Employee surveys
Exit interviews
Undertake regular
policy reviews
7. How is this information used and who uses it?
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