Social partners work on initiatives to reduce work-related stress

In recent months, articles on work-related stress have been appearing almost every day in the press. The articles are often based on recent research findings revealing that a large group of Danish workers suffer from high stress levels caused by heavy workloads and high work pressure. The social partners and research institutions have been trying to respond to the problems caused by work-related stress by funding research projects and instigating new initiatives and programmes to target stress at work, as well as regulating work-related stress through collective agreements.

Work-related stress on the increase

Work-related stress has recently been the subject of much debate in Denmark. A series of Danish studies and newspaper articles suggest a close link between stress at work and employeesaeuroTM working life. However, the relationship is not always straightforward and different research findings tend to reach contradictory conclusions. Some studies reveal that a large group of employees in the private and public sector suffer from high stress levels due to increased work pressure. A recent trade union study (in Danish), carried out in November 2006 by the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions (Landsorganisationen i Danmark, LO), reveals that 43% of public sector employees and 30% of private sector employees feel more stressed at work now than they did a year ago. Moreover, the study finds that a large group of employees have also left or have considered leaving their job due to stress.

Other studies on reconciling work and family life have revealed that more than 40% of Danish families with or without children find it difficult to combine work and family life, primarily due to increased demands from paid work. This is the finding of both a study (in Danish, 1.06Mb PDF) published in October 2006 by the Confederation of Salaried Employees and Civil Servants in Denmark (FunktionA|rernes og TjenestemA|ndenes FA|llesrA¥d, FTF) and a [study (in Danish, 553Kb PDF)](http://www.sfi.dk/graphics/SFI/Pdf/Rapporter/2006/0632 Børnefamiliernes balance mellem familie- og arbejdsliv.pdf) published in December 2006 by the Danish National Institute of Social Research (Socialforskningsinstituttet, SFI). These different studies suggest a close link between Danish employeesaeuroTM experience of work-related stress and their working life.

However, the National Research Centre for the Working Environment (Det Nationale Forskningscenter for ArbejdsmiljA¸, NFA) has published a research report on the work place (in Danish, 661Kb PDF) in November 2006, which comes to a slightly different conclusion with respect to Danish familiesaeuroTM experience of workaeuro"life balance. Based on 9,000 interviews with Danish employees in 2000 and 2005, the study concludes that slightly more people reported experiencing a better workaeuro"life balance in 2005 than in 2000. Moreover, 9% of employees were more positive about future work prospects in 2005 than in 2000 and they also felt that they now receive more support from their line manager compared with previous years. As a result, this study indicates that work-related stress has in fact decreased over the last five years despite the greater awareness about work-related stress and its effect on the individual employee.

Although recent research findings and newspaper articles on work-related stress often reach different conclusions, it is clear that it is an ongoing problem in the workplace.

Initiatives to prevent work-related stress

In an attempt to reduce work-related stress among Danish employees, the social partners have initiated a range of new initiatives. Such initiatives include funding various research projects, setting-up working groups, organising workshops and seminars as well as circulating information brochures and developing workplace policies on how to prevent and deal with work-related stress.

Social partners within the public sector at state level, and regional and local government levels have also regulated work-related stress through collective agreements since the spring of 2005 when implementing the European social partner framework agreement on work-related stress (77Kb PDF) (EU0410206F). As a result, the cooperation committees at workplaces at all levels within the public sector have to consider work-related stress and develop guidelines to measure the incidence of work-related stress at the workplace.

Negotiations on how to implement the European social partner agreement on work-related stress are currently ongoing among social partners in the private sector. At sectoral level, some Danish employer organisations want to regulate work-related stress through good practice guidelines while trade unions call for implementing the European agreement through collective agreements. As a result, it is still uncertain how social partners in the private sector will implement the European agreement and thereby regulate work-related stress.

Commentary

The outcome of the different Danish initiatives to help prevent or reduce work-related stress is still uncertain. However, Denmark is not the only country trying to address the problems associated with work-related stress. Across Europe, social partners are currently implementing the European social partner framework agreement through legislation, collective agreements and guidelines for good practice. In Germany, Norway and Sweden, the social partners have, like their Danish counterparts, published information brochures and hosted seminars on work-related stress.

Trine P. Larsen, FAOS