World Mental Health Day: Listen, identify and act on work-related stress
- HSE urges employers to listen to workers, identify stress risks and take action this World Mental Health Day.
- An estimated 964,000 workers are suffering from work-related stress, depression or anxiety, resulting in 22.1 million working days lost.
- HSE’s Working Minds campaign offers free tools, including the Stress Talking Toolkit, to help employers turn conversations into practical action.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is urging employers to listen to workers, identify stress risks and take action this World Mental Health Day.
An estimated 964,000 workers in Great Britain are suffering from work-related stress, depression or anxiety, resulting in 22.1 million working days lost. These conditions account for 52% of all work-related ill health and 62% of all working days lost due to work-related ill health.
This year’s World Mental Health Day theme, “Lived experiences heard: real voices, real change,” highlights the importance of listening to people’s experiences. In the workplace, talking to workers about the pressures they face can help employers identify potential causes of work-related stress and where changes may be needed.
But listening is only the first step. Employers have a legal duty to assess the risk of stress-related ill health arising from work activities and take measures to control that risk.
Work-related stress can arise when the demands of work, and the way it is organised and managed, place excessive or difficult-to-manage pressures on people.
Kayleigh Roberts, Work-Related Stress Policy Lead at HSE, said:
“This World Mental Health Day, we’re encouraging employers to listen to their workers and take action on what they hear.
“Having an open conversation can help employers understand the pressures people are experiencing at work and identify where stress risks may exist. Our Stress Talking Toolkit provides structured questions and prompts to help employers start those conversations.
“But listening is only the first step. Preventing work-related stress means acting on what you hear, whether that’s reviewing workloads, improving communication, giving people more control over their work or providing better support. Employers should identify the risks, take action and review whether those actions are working.”
HSE’s Working Minds campaign sets out five simple steps employers can take:
- Reach out – start conversations with your team using the Stress Talking Toolkit for helpful conversation starters.
- Recognise – identify the causes of stress, including workloads, working patterns and how work is organised.
- Respond – use HSE’s risk assessment tools to record the actions you’ll take to address the risks you’ve identified.
- Reflect – review what you already have in place, consider whether it’s working and refresh your knowledge with HSE’s quick quiz.
- Make it Routine – regularly check in with workers and keep work-related stress risks under review.
HSE’s Working Minds campaign helps employers prevent work-related stress by taking a risk-management approach, using free tools, guidance and online learning built around HSE’s Management Standards for work design and management.
Visit the Working Minds website to find out more, access free online learning and use HSE’s stress risk assessment tools.
Listening matters. But preventing work-related stress means turning what you hear into action.
Further information:
- Figures are from HSE’s Labour Force Survey estimates, 2024/25. An estimated 964,000 workers in Great Britain are suffering from work-related stress, depression or anxiety, resulting in 22.1 million working days lost. These conditions account for 52% of all work-related ill health and 62% of all working days lost due to work-related ill health.
- World Mental Health Day takes place on 10 October each year. The 2026 theme is “Lived experiences heard: real voices, real change.”
- HSE’s Working Minds campaign helps employers prevent work-related stress by taking a risk-management approach, using free tools, guidance and online learning. Visit https://workright.campaign.gov.uk/working-minds/ for more information.
- Employers have legal duties to assess and manage risks to their employees’ health arising from work activities, including the risk of stress-related ill health. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require employers to assess risks to employees’ health and safety arising from their work activities and put appropriate arrangements in place to control those risks.
- HSE’s Stress Talking Toolkit provides structured questions and prompts to help managers talk with workers as part of their overall approach to preventing and managing work-related stress. The toolkit should not be used in isolation. Risks identified through conversations should still be managed.
- For interview requests, case studies or further information, contact the HSE Press Office at [email protected].