- Employers can offer support by normalising mental health conversations and embedding stress awareness into their culture.
- Benefits such as employee assistance programmes and online GP services can help.
- Employers should regularly check in with employees regarding support, and adapt this where needed.
April is Stress Awareness Month; as one of the main causes of working days lost to ill health, employers have a role to play in helping to recognise, support and manage the mental wellbeing of their workforce.
Data from the Health and Safety Executive’s Labour force survey, published in February 2025, found that in 2023/24 16.4 million days were lost due to work-related stress, depression or anxiety.
Stress can manifest through anxiety, depression and worries. Increased confrontational behaviour, such as short, snappy responses, and absenteeism are signs, as well as physical symptoms of poor sleep, muscle tension and constant exhaustion.
As many employees today operate in remote or deskless settings, such as retail or in-the-field environments, these can be a barrier to regular interaction with colleagues and managers, potentially resulting in initial signs of stress, absenteeism and lack of engagement going unaddressed. To combat this, there needs to be adequate support measures in place.
Ciaran Sheehy, head of customer success at platform provider Rippl, says: “There is direct correlation between heightened stress, burnout and ill mental health and drops in productivity, increased presenteeism and absence rates. Effective stress management support is a crucial pillar of a wellbeing strategy that empowers employees to thrive and to remain at the organisation.”
Karen Taylor, founding director at wellbeing provider Wellness Cloud, adds: “Stress costs UK businesses millions every year in lost productivity, but the impact on workplace culture is just as important. When stress isn’t managed properly, it leads to disengagement, high turnover, and a workforce that feels unsupported.”
As many as 69% of senior HR leaders will be prioritising employee wellbeing, mental health and stress management over the next three to five years, according to January 2025 research by HR software firm Aconso. This suggests that while it is a prevalent issue that some are tackling, an effective stress management proposition can be beneficial.
Designing stress management
An initial starting point for employers to address stress is to ask employees about the possible cause of stress and what they need to manage it. Employers’ approaches to creating an effective stress management proposition need to address initial signs head on, whether employees are in a traditional office environment or harder-to-reach locations.
“Stress management support needs to be visible and accessible for every employee to use,” says Sheehy. ”Particularly for deskless and decentralised workforces, reliance on access to networks and devices presents a crucial barrier to universal uptake of support, and for a proposition to be truly effective, it must reach and engage everyone. Once a strategy is implemented, regular feedback should ensure the offer remains agile in evolving with workforce needs to maximise engagement and adoption, and demonstrate measurable return on investment.”
Employers need to understand the reasons behind presenteeism and absences to know how they can support staff. They should know the problem they are trying to fix before providing assistance, to avoid wellbeing washing.
It is important for employers to build a workplace where people feel psychologically safe, where regular check-ins are an opportunity for open conversations about workloads, conflict and issues. They should have a strategy to receive and analyse anonymised feedback and data to spot patterns early and formulate targeted interventions.
Karl Bennett, wellbeing adviser at Perkbox Vivup, says: “Managers should receive coaching on how to have conversations about stress with employees without fear of consequences, to fight stigma. They should be educated on how to conduct one-to-one and return-to-work meetings, as well as reporting and following up on absences. They should also be equipped with practical tools to recognise and address stress.”
Creating a culture where employees feel safe enough to say they are struggling without any judgment is key. Employers can help by actively role modelling healthy behaviours, normalising mental health conversations, and embedding stress awareness into day-to-day management. They should also regularly check in with employees to see what works and adapt where needed.
Nina Stephenson-Camps, founder and chief executive officer at Thrive, says: “Nothing will send talent out the door faster than a disingenuous wellbeing programme. Ensuring that policies are woven into the fabric of the culture will determine whether employers retain talent. Making sure leadership support wellbeing programmes is important, as well as ensuring what’s on offer reflects needs.”
Mental wellbeing support
Employers should introduce support for employees from the point of worry and before the point of need. While reactive support to stress is helpful, actively preventing it through proactive support, such as mental health resources and digital wellbeing tools, can make a difference.
“Key schemes including stress management workshops, mindfulness sessions, on-site yoga, or simply encouraging real breaks, can all contribute to a healthier work environment,” says Taylor. “Employers can offer mental wellbeing platform subscriptions, virtual therapy or train staff to become mental health first aiders to spot early signs of stress and burnout.”
Signposting to available resources through a wellbeing platform can help drive engagement and ensure staff avoid missing useful support. Naturally weaving mindset fitness tools into working days to prevent burnout and feeling overwhelmed, says Stephenson-Camps.
“Employee assistance programmes can help staff remain in or return to work, reduce anxiety and increase productivity,” adds Bennett. ”Counselling sessions, coaching services and online GPs that are easy to access are also key.”
Financial worry can also be a huge contributing factor to stress; employers can offer a broader range of benefits that can also help to support employees’ mental wellbeing and ease, such as voluntary benefits schemes or salary sacrifice arrangements.
Chris Ronald, VP EMEA of Blackhawk Network, says: “Employers can offer subsidised gift cards for food shopping or salary sacrifice schemes for purchasing higher-value products. Giving access to financial planning workshops and external counselling can help salaries go further.”
Team or individual exercise activities, along with offering flexible and hybrid working if needed, can positively impact stress, adds Ronald.
Employers that treat wellbeing as a strategic priority, and not an afterthought, are best placed to support with stress. To be effective, they should explain their resources, why these are helpful and how they can be used.
