Summary: Left unchecked, unmanaged stress becomes a performance concern, then an absence pattern, then a legal claim. The most effective prevention isn’t expensive, just consistent.
What might begin as an employee struggling with workload or an unresolved conflict that eats into the quality of their work could quickly grow into allegations of constructive dismissal or even disability discrimination under the Equality Act.
This means your team members could pursue legal action if you don’t properly address how their stress levels are managed at work. Further, supporting employees with mental health issues can help your workforce be at their best and most productive.
How do poor mental health and work-related stress interact?
Everyone encounters stress at work. But there is a level where stress not only impacts operations and workplace morale but can also become a legal liability. It’s the employer’s responsibility to do what it can to ensure that line isn’t crossed.
The pressures that come with too tight a deadline or a difficult manager can be the underlying cause of fatigue, insomnia, headaches and panic attacks. Each of these can contribute to or exacerbate conditions such as anxiety and depression.
For employers, the overlap between mental health and stress matters. It means that what initially appears to be a performance issue or a short-term dip in timekeeping may in fact be a sign of a deeper mental health concern or relate to an underlying disability.
Penalising an employee for a drop in concentration, issuing a warning for irritability or reducing remote working adjustments could all unknowingly amount to discrimination under the Equality Act.
What initially appears to be a performance issue or a short-term dip in timekeeping may in fact be a sign of a deeper mental health concern or relate to an underlying disability
Is stress considered a disability?
Stress itself isn’t classified as a disability under the Equality Act 2010. A condition is considered a disability when it’s long-term and has a substantial effect on how a person carries out their day-to-day activities. Stress is unfortunately a common byproduct of several mental and physical conditions.
So, employers need to keep an eye on vulnerable employees’ stress levels to ensure they’re supporting them effectively.
Employers have an obligation to make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees. If they fail to do so, this could result in a discrimination claim.
Heightened stress can also be a sign that reasonable adjustments for a disabled employee aren’t working. They may need to be updated. For example, providing tailored training in a task they find stressful, allowing them to take time off or signposting to available support.
If you miss growing signs of stress and fail to adequately support wellbeing, you could find yourself in a costly tribunal.
What is constructive dismissal?
Ongoing stress can soon reach a boiling point, and an employee may think resignation is the only option. If a resignation is a result of your serious failings, for example, mismanagement or lack of supportive action, it could open the door to a constructive dismissal claim.
A successful constructive dismissal claim can leave employers facing compensation of up to £22,530 for the basic award. Plus a compensatory award of up to £123,543 or 52 weeks’ gross pay (whichever is lower), with unlimited exposure if discrimination is involved.
Constructive dismissal legally occurs when an employer fundamentally breaches the employment contract. For example, the implied term of mutual trust and confidence, forcing an employee to resign. In the context of stress, this breach often arises when concerns are repeatedly raised but not acted upon. You’d be seen as failing to provide a safe and supportive working environment.
Of course, there are times when stress isn’t openly voiced. It’s still your responsibility to see past the facades of polite smiles and “I’m fine” to identify someone struggling and make reasonable adjustments to prevent escalation of stressors.
A successful constructive dismissal claim can leave employers facing compensation of up to £22,530 for the basic award
How to build a resilient duty of care toolkit
Managing stress in your workplace doesn’t require bold and expensive initiatives. It instead calls for consistent and vigilant practices embedded into everyday management.
An often-neglected tool is the return-to-work structured interview following a sickness absence. These conversations offer insight into the underlying reasons for the absence, including causes of stress.
Keeping these insights documented helps you spot if something is an ongoing stressor across the team. For example, a particular management style or structural issue.
These interviews take a bit of time but are not an inconvenience. They should be held after every absence, even when someone takes a single day off work.
Each conversation is an opportunity to listen, build trust and consider how you can support and get to the root cause of absence. It’s vital to remember that when a team member returns to work, that doesn’t mean the stress has gone. It can reappear in a way that’s not linear.
Understanding and visibility
Understanding is fundamental. One of the most effective ways to increase awareness of the early, unspoken signs of declining mental health is to have trained mental health first aiders across different departments.
Their specialist training enables them to spot concerns early and bring them to your attention weeks before they become obvious. Employee assistance programs are another way to provide real support, As well as positioning the business as being open, present and invested in employees’ mental health.
To further strengthen visibility, it helps to have an open-door policy for employees to raise concerns and to schedule regular wellbeing check-ins.
This in turn helps you to understand how each person prefers to be supported. These conversations build familiarity and trust. This makes it easier to spot subtle changes in behaviour that may signal a wellbeing concern worth exploring.
Stress is not a necessary component of work. It’s your responsibility to ensure both physical and mental health are not neglected across your team.
This is simplified when you have practices and procedures that help you spot the signs early.
The response always requires both empathy and responsibility, which will both protect your team’s wellbeing and your business’s reputation.
It’s your responsibility to ensure both physical and mental health are not neglected across your team
Actionable insights
- Hold a return-to-work interview after every absence, even a single day: Document what you hear. Patterns across the team often point to a structural problem, not an individual one.
- Don’t wait for an employee to raise concerns twice: Repeated, unaddressed stress is where constructive dismissal claims are built. Log what’s raised, what action you took and when.
- If a disabled employee’s stress is rising, revisit their reasonable adjustments: Escalating stress is often a signal the current adjustments aren’t working. Act before they have to ask again.
- Put mental health first aiders across departments, not just in HR: Early signs surface weeks before a manager notices. Coverage across the business makes the difference.
- Schedule wellbeing check-ins: Regular, low-stakes wellbeing check-ins reach everyone.
If you found this article useful, read: Check your blind spot: Financial stress, mental health and suicide risk at work
