Early years managers cannot afford to ignore the growing problem of stress in the workplace - for the sake of their own health, the wellbeing of their staff and the viability of the setting.
Stress is the biggest health problem facing UK workplaces (see box below) including the childcare sector. But there are a range of techniques and strategies that managers can learn to prevent the normal pressures of work becoming stress.
'Stress is necessary, yet when excessive and unresolved it is destructive,'
says Paul Stanton, founder of Direction Training and Management. 'We all need to learn to cope with stress more effectively so we can experience better health, greater efficiency and improved self-esteem.'
He says courses that can help managers cope with the problem include stress awareness and management workshops, personal development training and assertiveness, as well as training in techniques such as time management and how to delegate.
The National Day Nurseries Assoication recently launched a stress awareness course as part of its programme for continuous professional development.
'Stress is a bit of a grey area for employers generally, not just in the childcare sector,' says Stella Ziolkowski, head of workforce development at the NDNA. 'We felt this would help our members recognise an occupational illness and their duties as employers. The course gives them a basic understanding of what occupational stress is so they can respond, because it has the potential to become a bigger issue. If staff are stressed at work, there is more risk of them having accidents at work.'
The one-day course explains the definition of stress and employers' duties towards their staff regarding stress as an occupational health hazard. It also identifies basic workplace stressors in the nursery and shows how to develop controls to prevent these taking hold.
'In early years work, people can feel under pressure because they are continually ruled by factors like ratios, under-staffing and under-funding,' says Anna Hanks, childcare director of Acorn Childcare Training.
'All these can contribute to a very stressful environment, especially in the stand-alone nurseries where there is a not a head office to back you up. In this situation there is the added stress that if something goes wrong it is your livelihood, and sometimes even your home, that is at stake.'
Acorn's stress management course is aimed at mangers to show them how to recognise the signs of stress within their job and also in their team.
'People come on our course and can then go back to their setting and "cascade" it down,' says Ms Hanks.
According to Shelly Newstead, managing director of Common Threads, lack of assertiveness skills is a key cause of stress in the sector. Assertiveness courses are an important part of the training it offers.
She says, 'We find this a recurrent theme in our management skills training, whether it is dealing with difficult staff or working with parents or carers. Managers complain that they have to go round after staff doing their work for them, and then they get more worried and stressed about picking the person up for not doing their job properly. There is an emotional side to stress. Managers worry that if they correct someone, they won't like them or they might leave.
'People often think assertiveness means being bolshy and always getting your own way. It is not; it is about being able to communicate clearly and confidently.'
Managers who have attended Common Threads courses report a marked reduction in stress because they feel much more in control of the situation at work.
'Lack of control, or the feeling of lack of control, is one of the most significant causes of stress,' says Ms Newstead.
Stress triggers
Paul Stanton identifies four key stress areas experienced by early years workers and the warnings signs for managers:
* Environmental factors - sustained noise levels, overcrowding, isolation, poorly designed workspace, inadequate facilities in which to work
* Job design factors - unclear, inflexible job descriptions; role conflict; monotonous, repetitive work; not developing skills; lack of supervision; lack of involvement in decision making; lack of breaks
* Control factors - poor pay; unsocial hours; job security; poorly thought out or unfair promotion procedures; lack of recognition
* Relationship factors - poor relationships with colleagues; impersonal treatment from parents, colleagues and managers; sexism or racism; poor communication and lack of feedback; lack of sharing or sufficient information to do the job effectively.
How to combat stress
Michele Lazarus, an associate trainer with The Centre, which offers a range of management training courses including 'Managing stress at work - looking after yourself and others,' outlines proposals for organisational changes to combat stress:
* Institute a regular and frequent supervision and appraisal scheme.
* Ensure that staff take breaks.
* Institute family-friendly working conditions if possible.
* Think creatively about how to keep staff motivated and interested - for example, shadowing and buddying systems to enable staff to learn other skills/roles.
* Pay attention to staff training and development needs.
* Write a stress management policy.
* Monitor particular times when the setting is stressed and make sure there are enough staff to cope with the workload.
* Reward and acknowledge people for any additional work they do - do not set up a culture where it is expected that everyone works extra.
* Have work-based mentors or confidential counsellors.
Further information
* ACAS publishes an advisory booklet on stress at work which is available as a free download from www.acas.org.
* The Health and Safety Executive stress at work website is at www.hse.
gov.uk/stress
For details on courses see:
* NDNA's Certificate in Stress Awareness, accredited by the Chartered Institute of Environment Health, see www.ndna.org.uk
* Direction Training & Management, e-mail paul.stanton@training-management.co.uk
* Acorn Childcare Training, see www.childcaretraining.co.uk
* The Centre, see www.the-centre.co.uk
* Common Threads, see www.commonthreads.org.uk
Stress and what it costs
'Pressure is part and parcel of all work and helps to keep us motivated,'
says Chris Rowe, head of the stress policy team at the Health and Safety Exectuive. 'But excessive pressure can lead to stress, which undermines performance, is costly to employers and can make people ill.'
Stress is the single largest cause of occupational ill health, accounting for around half of all days lost to work-related ill health.
Each case of stress-related ill health leads to an average of 30.9 working days lost. A total of 12.8 million working days were lost to stress, depression and anxiety in 2004-05.
The estimated cost of sickness absence to the UK is around 12bn a year.
'If organisations can reduce stress they can reduce these costs,' says Mr Rowe. 'Effective management is the best way of doing this. Recent research links effective people management to good performance and productivity.'