External causes of stress

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Sometimes people may suffer from stress that isn't caused by work-related issues but instead has an external cause.

Common external causes of stress include:

• relationship difficulties or a divorce
• serious illness in the family
• caring for dependants such as children or elderly relatives
• bereavement
• moving house
• debt problems

Remember that such external causes of stress can also affect you as an owner-manager or self-employed person. See the page in this guide on dealing with your own stress.

How you can help to deal with external causes of stress

You don't have a legal responsibility to tackle external causes of stress among employees, but you should remember that issues such as these can have a significant impact on their performance, therefore affecting your company as a whole. So it's a good idea to adopt a sympathetic and understanding approach.

Offering employees paid time off, or suggesting more flexible working arrangements, can be practical ways to help them deal with their problems. Your approach should be consistently applied, and specified in a written policy if appropriate. See the page on time off for personal commitments and emergencies in our guide on allowing time off work or use our interactive tool to investigate what kind of flexible working will best suit your employees and you.

You may want to suggest that an employee seeks professional help from their doctor or point them in the direction of support groups such as Relate or Alcohol Concern.

However, there's a risk you could be seen to be interfering, so it's important to use your judgement to decide whether this is appropriate.

Always respect employees' confidentiality if they tell you about personal problems they are facing.

Stress - whatever its origins - can lead to mental ill health, including anxiety and depression. See the page in this guide on supporting employees with mental ill health.

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