How do I prove that I'm not the only stressed out employee?

November 12, 2007 10:43 AM

UK employment law filter: I'm trying to force my employer (a large publicly traded company) to conduct a formal assessment of the risk of stress related ill health, as recommended by the HSE. The company refuses. What can I do to convince them that there is a problem? (warning, long!)

I have made a formal complaint to the company about the stress levels. The resolution I requested was that the company conduct a formal stress assessment. The government HSE website has free assessment tools--a multiple choice survey, and an Excel spreadsheet that takes all the answers and spits out charts showing what areas are in need of improvement.

The Health and Safety Manager says that I am the only person who has complained about stress, and therefore it is not a problem. He says he will not accept me saying 'I'm not the only one' or 'everyone feels the same.' So anecdotal evidence is no good, and he refuses to collect any formal evidence. So I've decided to collect it myself.

What tends to happen is that everyone is pushed to their limits, day in and day out, and then someone cracks and goes off sick for stress. When they come back, they are treated with kid gloves and given any special treatment they ask for. Management is very sympathetic and 'Oh you can come to us any time you have issues' and 'Just tell us how we can help' but at the same time, letting them believe that they are the only person who is struggling with the toxic environment. However, these individual interventions do nothing to address the organizational issues that are the source of the stress. As soon as they believe that the person is recovered, the stress starts building up again.

I'm not the only one who has gone off sick for stress. But apparently I'm the only one who has actually made a formal complaint. I want to prove to the company that I'm not the only one who believes there is a problem. I'm considering a few different strategies and would like the hive mind's thoughts.

1. Go person to person in my department (about 40 people), explain that the company does not believe stress is a problem, and ask if they'd be willing to answer a few yes or no questions about their own experiences (Do you think the stress has gotten worse in the past year, have you gone off sick, etc).

2. Instead of going with the short informal survey, ask them to fill out the longer HSE survey here.

3. Try and organize a meeting among employees.

4. Forward the email I've gotten from the HSE manager to everyone and invite them to let him know if they believe there is an issue with stress in the workplace.

5. Circulate a petition.

6. Something else??

However I get the results, I intend to have another meeting with Health and Safety and HR to try and prove my point. If they still refuse, then I could make a complaint to the HSE with data to back it up. Currently I'm leaning towards methods 1 or 2, as I could assure people that I would not disclose their names, which I think would garner more participation.

Some caveats: 1. Accept for the purposes of this question that this really is a toxic environment and not just me being fragile. It would make this question even longer for me to present all the evidence, and if it is just me, then any data collecting exercise should prove it. 2. Yes, I know I should just leave, and I will. I'm just stubborn enough to want to do this before I go. 3. Yes, I know I am highly unlikely to cause any sort of change.

posted by happyturtle to Work & Money (14 answers total)

You should have been given the company's grievance procedure with your contract or handbook. Follow it. If not follow the standard one. If it fails to resolve things to your satisfaction, take it to a tribunal.

The very best way is to raise these things informally with your H&S manager. As he is (disappointingly) failing to deal with this you are left with little alternative than to kick off about it on a more formal basis.

Any decent H&S officer should be well aware of stress in the workplace and have not only written risk assessments to tackle potential problems but also actively listen and deal with your issue. Sounds like the problem here is this guy and if his bosses (who should be involved in the grievance procedure) realise this is a problem that will be costing them money through absenteeism or potential claims you'll soon get something done about it.

(FYI I'm the H&S rep for my employer)
posted by brautigan at 11:14 AM on November 12, 2007

Try calling the ACAS Helpline . They are set up to give advice on issues like this. They can inform you of your legal rights and also give some general suggestions.
posted by cushie at 11:30 AM on November 12, 2007

Response by poster: brautigan, the complaint that I raised was through the grievance procedure. They have had the first meeting with me last Friday and are supposed to provide a written summary of the meeting within five days. Then I can appeal.

For the meeting, I was given no notice, and one of the managers tried to stop me from bringing a coworker in with me, even after I told them that I knew I was legally entitled to be accompanied. (Luckily for them the other manager over-ruled her and let the coworker come along.)

The H&S manager that has emailed me since the meeting is the top H&S guy for the corporation. I don't know who he answers to, but it's probably a VP or the CEO.

cushie, thanks for that. I'll call them tomorrow.
posted by happyturtle at 12:07 PM on November 12, 2007

If you do end up going the formal grievance route, I would suggest trying to make it a collective grievance if at all possible.

It almost sounds like you are proposing to do the work of your staff rep. If you don't have one (and you don't have a union rep, of course), then maybe first becoming the staff/section rep would give your stance more weight.

Public Concern at Work may advise on whether you have possibly made a "protected disclosure", and so have some measure of extra protection against comeback from your complaint.
posted by wilko at 12:09 PM on November 12, 2007

Oops, cross-posted, you've already begun the grievance, good luck on resolving it.

A further suggestion: the ACAS helpline are very hit-and-miss in my experience, maybe try them a couple of times to get the opinion of different staff, if you can't afford to get a proper legal opinion.
posted by wilko at 12:16 PM on November 12, 2007

I'd try and keep up an informal dialogue while all this is going on. Many company's go through a pretty steep learning curve when it comes to this stuff and I'm sure in the end something positive will come from it from everyone's point of view.

I'd second cushie AND wilkos' statements. ACAS can be invaluable but sometimes can be hit and miss depending who is manning the phones.

Start keeping notes about everything you've done regarding the situation wih particualr reference to management response. Failure to follow the grievance procedure, even if it's denying you accompaniment to the meetings, can result in an instant decision against your employers at a tribunal with an automatic mark up of any award by up to 25%.

I don't know what industry you work in but a union rep in this situation is invaluable and will get your case taken VERY seriously. Perhaps call USDAW for info.

Get support from colleagues and continue chat to those dealing with this on an informal basis but ensure everyone concerned knows you know your rights and are prepared to pursue this formally if your concerns are not given the weight they deserve. Like I said, most companies have ingrained cultures that can be pretty hard to change unless they are made to sit up and take notice. Your H&S guys should be seeing this as an opportunity to do their job well and if they aren't then something is far wrong and asses ned to be kicked.

Good luck.
posted by brautigan at 12:56 PM on November 12, 2007

Response by poster: The industry is financial services. Sadly, no union. I've started keeping a notebook and also a file of all printed out emails. I don't expect any type of overt retaliation from the company--I had an excellent review last year, and even they can't be dumb enough to fire someone with an excellent record who has just made a complaint... (I think... I really shouldn't underestimate their capacity to make bad decisions....)

So does anyone have any advice on how to go about getting other employees to speak up?
posted by happyturtle at 1:16 PM on November 12, 2007

happyturtle, no company wants a rabble-rouser like you in its employ. The changes you're asking about clearly cost more than it would take to replace you if you quit, so the company doesn't care if you quit. After your conversation with HR, they're probably already looking for a lawful excuse to get rid of you. You've decided to leave already, and apparently you don't care if you burn your bridges, so making this kind of stink is fine for you.

Other employees may not feel the same. They may be committed to retaining their jobs. Even if it's illegal or unjust to retaliate for participating in this kind of whistleblowing, companies do it all the time and your co-workers know it. Your co-workers probably don't want to torpedo their careers. So if you really want to do this, you're going to have to identify which of your co-workers are planning to leave or on the way out anyway and enlist their aid.

What are your goals? Settlement money? Hush money? Generous severance? Justice for all? Revenge on your company by exposing them in the media, depressing their share price and forcing them to implement costly reforms and a restorative PR campaign? If we don't know what your motives are it's harder to advise you.

I had an excellent review last year, and even they can't be dumb enough to fire someone with an excellent record who has just made a complaint...

On preview, I read the above. I see that you are very young and inexperienced. Lotsa luck.
posted by ikkyu2 at 2:23 PM on November 12, 2007 [1 favorite]

Awful advice there from ikkyu2.

It's not rabble-rousing, it's employees working with employers to create better working environments.

Any large publically traded company knows EXACTLY what kind of financial shit this sort of shortcoming can cause and if anyone is going to get the sack here it's the H&S manager who is employed by her company precisely to avoid this kind of incident.

In the UK we are Health and Safetey'd up the ass and industrial tribunals commonplace enough to make any sensible business take this sort of grievance seriously. Serious enough to pay hefty salaries to people to make sure the company is meeting the requirements set down by government legislation anyway.

happyturtle's motives are pretty clear here. If she follows the grievance procedures with a level head and works positively with the H&S team and senior management she'll see the results she's seeking, working within a company that takes work-related stress and the loss of earnings to the company this entails, seriously.
posted by brautigan at 3:05 PM on November 12, 2007 [1 favorite]

What do you mean 'no union'? You have a legal right to join (or not) a union. Try Amicus or whatever they're calling themselves now.
posted by ComfySofa at 3:18 PM on November 12, 2007

Nthing the union. This is why they exist. Going to work without a union is like going to court without a lawyer.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 4:49 PM on November 12, 2007

You have an absolute right to join a union, but if none of your co-workers do so, and none complain about the general working conditions that you are complaining of, then it won't get you much traction (union legal representation is very useful down the line though, if you can get it).

I should say btw, the Public Interest Disclosure angle I suggested earlier is a long shot (not knowing the details of your actual complaints), but PIAW may have some advice anyway.

Failure to follow the grievance procedure, even if it's denying you accompaniment to the meetings, can result in an instant decision against your employers at a tribunal with an automatic mark up of any award by up to 25%.

It's between 10-50% AFAIK, but it sounds like the employer has followed the procedure thus far. And if the *employee* defaults, eg by you not attending an appeal meeting but applying straight to the tribunal, then their award can be similarly decreased.

Anyway, this doesn't seem like a complaint that is going to reach tribunal (based on the limited evidence given here, natch). ikkyu2 has a point (I guess from a US perspective?), in that even large companies operating under onerous UK law do quite routinely unfairly treat or dismiss employees. The OP may be asking for a restructuring that, regardless of its actual cost, is "impossible" in the face of current company policy - at least impossible for the functionaries who are currently tasked with addressing it (and vs a grievance/unfair dismissal claim which the employee is likely to drop out of).

Certainly, if I were happyturtle and had less than 12 months service (the limit for being able to claim unfair dismissal) I would be *very* circumspect in my complaints.

So does anyone have any advice on how to go about getting other employees to speak up?

If you can't get them to agree to sign up to your complaint, can you get them to assent to you being the staff rep, and bring points up on their behalf? A secret ballot ("do the staff agree that X is a problem") is a possibility, but not a great one. You really need some great people- and leadership- skills, and be able to get key staff members behind you, because overturning management whether by discourse, arbitration or by tribunal, is a long rocky road.
posted by wilko at 5:23 PM on November 12, 2007

Ikkyu2's advice is actually more applicable to the US situation than the UK.
You cannot be sacked for no reason, they must have a reason (assuming you have passed your probation, which it sounds like you have). Also, they cannot now try to make you so miserable that you leave, as that may be constructive dismissal, which is illegal.

You are right to document everything and insist on your right to be accompanied. As well as calling ACAS (maybe more than once) I would also contact Unite-Amicus, and see if they can help you.
posted by cushie at 7:49 PM on November 12, 2007 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: What are your goals? Settlement money? Hush money? Generous severance? Justice for all? Revenge on your company by exposing them in the media, depressing their share price and forcing them to implement costly reforms and a restorative PR campaign? If we don't know what your motives are it's harder to advise you.

As I said in the original question: "The resolution I requested was that the company conduct a formal stress assessment. The government HSE website has free assessment tools--a multiple choice survey, and an Excel spreadsheet that takes all the answers and spits out charts showing what areas are in need of improvement."

I haven't asked for compensation, nor do I see any reason to. What I want is for the company to take the actions recommended by the HSE to monitor and reduce stress. If it reduced time off due to sickness, then it could pay for itself. If we worked with a hazardous chemical, it might be expensive for the company to monitor our health and take necessary safeguards, but it would not be less their moral and legal responsibility.

I did admit that my efforts are likely to fail. But it might make it easier for the next person to complain, and it would provide evidence in the future should someone suffer a serious health breakdown need to sue for compensation.
posted by happyturtle at 12:45 AM on November 13, 2007