When Work Becomes Too Much: Managing Stress & Burnout
How should HR respond when an employee says they are struggling?
Work-related stress is something HR professionals are increasingly likely to encounter, but managing it effectively requires more than offering an Employee Assistance Programme or telling someone to take a break.
Consider the following scenario.
The case:
An employee approaches their manager and says they are struggling.
Over the past few months, their workload has increased following a colleague leaving the organisation. They have taken on additional responsibilities, regularly work beyond their contracted hours and have started checking emails outside of work. They are increasingly tired, finding it difficult to concentrate and have become less confident in their work. They tell their manager that they feel like they are "burning out". The manager is concerned and refers the situation to HR.
What should happen next?
1. Start with a conversation
The first step should be to listen.
A manager should arrange a private conversation and give the employee an opportunity to explain what they are experiencing. This should be approached with empathy rather than judgement.
Open questions can help establish what is happening:
What aspects of work are you finding difficult at the moment?
Has anything changed recently?
How is your workload affecting you?
Is there anything you feel would help?
Are there particular situations or tasks causing additional pressure?
The aim isn't to diagnose the employee or immediately find a solution. It is to understand the situation.
Acas recommends that managers listen, identify the potential causes of stress and work collaboratively with the employee to explore solutions.
2. Don't assume the problem is the employee
This is where I think HR has an important role to play.
It can be tempting to focus on what the employee needs to do differently:
"Have you tried taking your lunch break?"
"Could you use the EAP?"
"Perhaps you need to manage your time better."
Those things may have a place, but they shouldn't be the starting point.
If an employee is overwhelmed because one person has effectively been doing the work of two people for several months, telling them to practise better self-care doesn't address the underlying problem.
HSE identifies six key areas that can contribute to work-related stress: Demands, control, support, relationships, role and change.
In our case, demands may be the obvious issue — but HR should consider the bigger picture.
Has the employee's workload become unrealistic?
Do they have enough control over how their work is organised?
Are they receiving sufficient management support?
Are their responsibilities clear?
Has the organisation properly managed the change created by the colleague leaving?
3. Complete a stress risk assessment
If an employee has raised concerns about work-related stress, an individual stress risk assessment should be considered.
This isn't about putting a label on the employee. It is about identifying the workplace factors that may be contributing to the problem and agreeing practical steps to reduce them.
Acas states that employers have a legal duty to assess and take steps to prevent or reduce work-related stress, and recommends an individual risk assessment when an employee reports experiencing work-related stress.
The assessment should be collaborative.
Ask:
What is causing the stress?
What can realistically be changed?
What support does the employee need?
Who is responsible for making the changes?
When will we review whether they have worked?
Importantly, the assessment shouldn't simply become a document that is completed and filed away.
It should lead to action.
4. Look at practical interventions
There isn't a universal solution to work-related stress.
For our employee, potential interventions could include:
Reviewing and reprioritising their workload
Removing or postponing non-essential tasks
Redistributing work across the team
Reviewing their working hours
Increasing management support and regular check-ins
Clarifying responsibilities and priorities
Providing additional training or mentoring
Temporarily changing responsibilities
Considering reasonable adjustments where appropriate
Acas also identifies options such as flexible working hours, additional rest breaks, different responsibilities and support with prioritising workloads.
The important thing is that the intervention should respond to the cause, rather than simply treating the symptoms.
5. Don't rely solely on wellbeing initiatives
Employee Assistance Programmes, counselling, mental health training and wellbeing resources can all be valuable.
But they shouldn't become a substitute for good organisational practice.
If the problem is an unmanageable workload, the answer cannot simply be:
"Here's the EAP number."
If the problem is poor management, sending someone a mindfulness app isn't going to fix it.
If the problem is organisational change, a fruit bowl and wellbeing webinar probably aren't going to solve it either.
HSE specifically recommends focusing on organisational-level issues and addressing the root causes of work-related stress, rather than repeatedly treating individual cases while leaving the underlying stressor in place.
6. Follow up
One of the easiest things to get wrong is what happens after the initial intervention.
The employee shouldn't be expected to come back when they are struggling again.
Agree a review date.
Ask whether the changes have helped.
Has their workload improved?
Are they coping better?
Have new pressures emerged?
Does anything need to change?
This turns the process into an ongoing conversation rather than a one-off HR intervention.
7. What if the employee needs time away?
Sometimes remaining at work isn't appropriate.
If an employee needs sickness absence because stress is affecting their health, that should be managed through the organisation's normal absence procedures, while maintaining appropriate and agreed contact during their absence. A return-to-work conversation can then be used to discuss support, adjustments and whether the stress risk assessment needs reviewing.
A return to work shouldn't mean:
"Welcome back — here's everything you missed."
If the workplace factors that contributed to the stress haven't changed, there is a risk that the employee simply returns to the same situation that caused the problem.
So, what does good ER practice look like?
For me, the biggest lesson from this case is that managing work-related stress isn't just about helping an employee cope with pressure. It's about asking why the pressure exists in the first place.
Good ER practice should involve:
Listen → Understand → Assess → Act → Review
Not:
Employee struggles → EAP referral → Case closed.
Employees have responsibility for looking after their own wellbeing, but organisations also have a responsibility to create working environments where excessive and sustained pressure is identified and addressed.
The best intervention might be an adjustment for one employee.
For another, it might mean changing a manager's approach.
And sometimes the answer is much bigger — a staffing issue, unrealistic workload, poor communication or organisational change that needs to be addressed at source.
The question HR should be asking isn't simply "How can we help this employee cope?"
It should also be "What can we change so they don't have to keep coping with this?"
What do you think?
Have you seen effective approaches to managing work-related stress in the workplace?
And where do you think organisations most often get it wrong?