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Stress - what can you do as a member of staff?

Here you’ll find help and inspiration on steps you can take to prevent, detect and tackle unhealthy stress – both for yourself and your colleagues. Get help if you feel so stressed out that it’s making you ill.

Stress prevention and management are a shared responsibility. As staff members, we all share responsibility to be attentive to symptoms of stress and, together with our colleagues and management, to contribute to a healthy work environment – which means working together to promote well-being and taking steps to tackle unhealthy stress. It’s helpful to think about stress in terms of three zones: the well-being zone, the risk zone and the danger zone.

THE WELL-BEING ZONE

Balance and well-being

Temporary short periods of stress

What can I do to promote my own well-being and prevent stress?

  • be aware of your own stress reactions and react promptly to changes in your own behaviour that can be signs of stress
  • take co-responsibility for your own well-being by focusing on motivation, a healthy balance between your work and the time available to do it in, and a culture that encourages breaks
  • contribute to creating a workplace culture in which people discuss stress openly and take shared responsibility in relation to their tasks and well-being

Tools

THE RISK ZONE

Imbalance over a longer period of time

Physical and psychological symptoms with negative consequences for productivity and well-being

How should I react to symptoms of stress?

  • respond to persistent symptoms by discussing workload and prioritisation of tasks with your manager
  • work with your manager to figure out sources of pressure and make a plan to lighten the load
  • consult with your own general practitioner and contact AU’s psychological counselling service
  • ask for help from your network, colleagues, occupational health and safety rep, union representative

Tools

THE DANGER ZONE

Intense, chronic overload

Increasingly severe symptoms and acute risk to health and work capacity

What steps can I take to deal with serious stress?

Tools

Further information and inspiration:

Revised 03.07.2024
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AU HR, Development and Work Environment, Michael Martini