How HR Teams Can Help Reduce Stress At Work
HR strategies to cut workplace stress, prevent burnout, and improve culture.
Workplace stress leads to burnout, high turnover, and reduced productivity. Without clear HR strategies, stress can spiral, creating a toxic work culture and low morale.
HR teams can be effective at driving change through initiatives like flexible policies, mental health support, and workload management to create a healthier, more engaged workforce. In this guide, we break down how HR and company leaders can help reduce workplace stress.
Identifying Workplace Stressors
Before HR teams can effectively reduce workplace stress, they need to identify its root causes. A data-driven approach ensures that initiatives are tailored to actual employee concerns rather than assumptions. HR must pinpoint stress triggers to implement effective solutions.
Gather Employee Feedback
Use anonymous surveys, focus groups, and pulse surveys to track stress trends.
Monitor Key HR Metrics
Watch for rising absenteeism, turnover, EAP usage, and declining productivity as stress indicators.
Identify High-Risk Roles & Departments
Assess high-pressure jobs and teams with heavy workloads or frequent changes through data and exit interviews.
5 out of 10 Australians are experiencing “a lot of stress” at work
According to a poll by Gallup in 2023, 47% of australian’s feel stress regularly at work, with costly impacts related to burnout related absenteeism on the rise.
HR Strategies to Reduce Workplace Stress
1. Cultivating a Positive Work Culture
- Encourage open communication – Foster a workplace where employees feel safe voicing concerns without fear of retaliation.
- Recognise and appreciate employees – Implement rewards, shout-outs, and employee appreciation programs to boost morale.
- Address workplace toxicity – Enforce strict anti-bullying and harassment policies to maintain a respectful and inclusive environment.
2. Supporting Work-Life Balance
- Offer flexible work options – Remote, hybrid, and adjustable schedules help employees manage personal and professional commitments.
- Monitor workload fairness – Prevent burnout by ensuring employees have manageable deadlines and realistic expectations.
- Encourage time off – Promote PTO policies and ensure employees take regular breaks to recharge and stay productive. This includes making sure that employees are aware of both unpaid and paid time off like mental health leave.
3. Managing Workload and Expectations
- Train managers on workload distribution – Encourage realistic goal-setting and prioritisation to avoid overburdening employees.
- Clarify job roles – Well-defined job descriptions help reduce confusion, frustration, and unnecessary stress. Lack of job clarity is often an underestimated psychosocial hazard.
- Use automation tools – Leverage technology to streamline repetitive tasks and free up employees for high-value work.
4. Enhancing Employee Support Systems
- Strengthen EAP programs – Offer mental health support, financial counseling, and stress management resources.
- Introduce wellness initiatives – Provide access to meditation apps, fitness perks, and in-house counseling to support overall well-being.
- Create peer support networks – Encourage mentorship and employee-led discussion groups to help teams navigate workplace challenges.
5. Training Managers on Stress Management
- Recognise early signs of stress – Teach managers to identify disengagement, mood shifts, and declining performance.
- Promote empathetic leadership – Encourage regular check-ins and supportive conversations to build trust.
- Offer conflict resolution training – Equip managers with mediation skills to handle workplace disputes effectively.
By implementing these strategies, HR can create a healthier, more engaged workforce while reducing stress-related turnover and burnout.
Measuring the Effectiveness of HR Initiatives
To ensure stress-reduction strategies are working, HR teams must track key metrics and adjust initiatives based on real employee feedback.
Employee Engagement & Satisfaction Surveys
Conduct regular pulse surveys to gauge morale, job satisfaction, and workplace stress levels. Look for trends in employee well-being and productivity over time.
Monitoring Absenteeism & Turnover
High sick leave and employee churn can signal ongoing stress issues. Compare data before and after implementing stress-reduction programs to measure impact.
Gathering Qualitative Feedback
Use focus groups, stay interviews, and exit interviews to uncover underlying stressors and gauge employee sentiment on HR initiatives.
Tip: Combining quantitative data (metrics) with qualitative insights (employee feedback) provides a clearer picture of how well stress-management programs are working.
Find Out About Our Tools To Reduce Stress In The Workplace
Workplace stress affects productivity, retention, and well-being. HR plays a key role in reducing stress through better communication, workload management, and mental health support.
Effective strategies and ongoing measurement create a healthier, more engaged workforce.
If reducing workplace stress is a priority, Foremind can help. Talk to us today to build a stress-reduction strategy tailored to your business.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Louise is the Clinical Director at Foremind, with over a decade of experience in the mental health sector, contributing to well-known Australian organizations like Beyond Blue, Lifeline, Headspace, and LivingWorks.
Louise Thompson Clinical Director
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We partner with counsellors who work in private practice so they are also free to work for other organisations if they see fit. The all have their own private practices however, they’re still all handpicked by Louise… Never had an issue with any of our counsellors… we maintain high levels of quality control.
Foremind offers multilingual support, with professionals available in languages including Spanish, Portuguese, mandarin, vietnamese and Persian
All our counsellors are contractors. They are highly qualified and go through long interview processes to ensure they are the right fit.
All counsellors must apply to the role and are interviewed before added to the platform, must meet the criteria as per the below.- We employee counsellors, mental health social workers, mental health nurses and psychotherapists.- Qualifications in Counselling, Psychotherapy or Social Work, minimum Bachelor or Masters qualification- Minimum 3 years direct practice experience post graduation- Registration with appropriate body – PACFA Clinical registration, ACA level 2 minimum, Accredited Mental health Social worker or Clinical Social worker- Broad experience providing individual coaching, counselling and support for personal and work-related issues- How far reaching is your EAP? We have counsellors located in every major city in Australia.