Is Managing Stress a Leadership Function?

Stress is often treated as an individual problem. But what happens when the way work is led and managed becomes part of the problem? The latest figures from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) make uncomfortable reading for many employers.

During 2024/25, nearly one million workers in Great Britain struggled with work-related stress, anxiety or depression. These conditions kept staff away from their jobs for a combined total of 22.1 million days. Overall, workplace injuries and broader health issues forced employees to sit out an estimated 40.1 million working days over the course of the year.

Behind those numbers are people struggling to cope, teams having to absorb additional pressure, managers trying to cover gaps and businesses dealing with the consequences of absence, reduced performance and employee turnover.

Surely stress is an individual responsibility?

There is no argument that there is an individual element to managing stress. We all have different pressures outside work, different coping mechanisms and different levels of resilience. Some of the things that contribute to stress can also be influenced by our own behaviours: difficulty saying no, perfectionism, poor boundaries, procrastination, difficulty prioritising or reluctance to delegate.

Developing self-awareness and learning how to manage our own responses to pressure are important skills, but that is not the whole story. If the workplace itself is creating excessive or sustained pressure, telling people to become more resilient does not address the underlying problem. This is where leadership comes in, because leadership shapes the conditions in which people work.

What the HSE Management Standards tell us

The HSE defines work-related stress as the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other demands placed upon them. The HSE Management Standards identify six areas of work that can contribute to stress when they are not managed properly:

• Demands – workload, work patterns and the working environment.
• Control – how much influence people have over how they do their work, and how empowered they feel.
• Support – the encouragement, resources and support available.
• Relationships – how conflict, unacceptable behaviour and relationships are managed.
• Role – whether people understand their responsibilities and whether conflicting demands exist.
• Change – how organisational change is managed and communicated.

Look at these six areas and ask yourself: how many are influenced by leadership? Workload. Priorities. Communication. Autonomy. Resources. Expectations. Relationships. Organisational change. Clarity. Support. Leadership does not cause every instance of stress, but leaders have considerable influence over the environment in which work takes place. That makes stress management a leadership issue.

Management style matters

This isn’t simply a theoretical argument. The CIPD’s 2025 Health and Wellbeing at Work research found that 64% of organisations reported some stress-related absence during the previous year. Heavy workloads remained one of the most identified causes, while management style also ranked highly among the causes of stress-related absence. The CIPD’s current guidance is equally clear: managers have a role in spotting signs of stress and in managing and reducing workplace stress.

Consider the everyday behaviours of a manager:

• A manager who doesn’t listen.
• A leader who changes priorities without explaining why.
• Someone who creates a culture where mistakes are punished rather than used for learning.
• A manager who communicates poorly and leaves people guessing.
• Someone who is constantly operating in crisis because planning and prioritisation are weak.
• A leader who expects people to be permanently available.
• A manager who uses pressure, manipulation or fear to get results.

None of these behaviours necessarily appears on a job description as a “stress risk”. Nevertheless, collectively they can create an environment in which people are constantly operating under pressure. We explored this in more depth in Could your leadership be causing mental ill health?

The danger of making resilience the solution to everything

There is an increasing emphasis on resilience, mindfulness, wellbeing initiatives and helping employees manage stress. They all have a valuable place, but there is a danger when the solution becomes “Here are some tools to help you cope with the pressure” without asking the question “Why is there so much pressure in the first place?”

The HSE’s approach is particularly useful here because it encourages employers to focus on the underlying causes and prevention of work-related stress, rather than simply responding when someone becomes unwell. If someone is overwhelmed because their workload is unrealistic, teaching them another breathing technique isn’t going to solve the workload.

If someone is stressed because priorities change every few days, telling them to become more resilient doesn’t create clarity. If someone is anxious because they don’t feel psychologically safe enough to speak up, offering a wellbeing app doesn’t necessarily address the cause. And if a manager’s behaviour is contributing to the problem, giving the employee stress-management advice puts the responsibility in the wrong place.

This doesn’t mean leaders have to remove all pressure; that is unrealistic and undesirable. Healthy challenge can be part of growth and development. There will be busy periods, challenging customers, difficult conversations, organisational change, tight deadlines and occasions when everyone needs to step up. In such situations it is not unreasonable to expect employees to manage.

Healthy pressure or overload?

The leadership challenge is knowing the difference between healthy pressure that stretches people and sustained, unmanaged pressure that starts to damage them. Good leaders need to understand their people well enough to recognise when challenge is becoming overload. They also need the confidence to have difficult conversations before a problem becomes a crisis.

The HSE advises managers to look for changes in behaviour and performance that may indicate stress, and emphasises the importance of acting early. That means paying attention when:

• someone who is normally engaged becomes withdrawn
• performance suddenly changes, or someone starts making more mistakes
• sickness absence increases
• conflict within a team escalates
• people stop speaking up
• employees are physically present but mentally exhausted.

These can all be signals that something needs attention.

Whose responsibility is stress, then?

The answer is both individual and organisational. Employees have a responsibility to develop self-awareness, look after themselves, communicate when they are struggling and seek appropriate support. But organisations have responsibilities too. Leaders and managers influence the working environment. HR provides systems, policies and specialist support. Senior leaders determine priorities, resources and culture. Employers have a legal duty to assess and manage the risks associated with work-related stress.

The World Health Organization goes further, recommending action at both organisational and individual levels. Its guidelines include organisational interventions and manager and worker training, recognising that mental health at work cannot be addressed through individual interventions alone. This is an important distinction. Employees need the skills to manage themselves. Leaders need the skills to manage the environment in which people work.

Leadership development is part of the solution

This is why leadership development should not be separated from workplace wellbeing. Developing leaders isn’t simply about improving strategic thinking, delegation or commercial performance. It is also about developing the interpersonal skills required to lead people well. Can your managers:

• have an honest conversation when someone is struggling?
• recognise the early signs of stress and overwhelm?
• set realistic expectations?
• prioritise effectively?
• communicate clearly during change?
• create clarity when there is uncertainty?
• delegate without abdicating responsibility?
• challenge people without creating unnecessary pressure?
• listen properly?
• deal with conflict constructively?
• create an environment where people feel safe to raise concerns?
• recognise when their own behaviour may be contributing to pressure?

Together, these leadership skills have a direct connection with workplace wellbeing.

Don’t wait for the sick note

One of the biggest opportunities for leaders is to move upstream, from reaction to prevention. The question shouldn’t simply be “How do we support people when they become stressed?” It should also be “What are we, or am I, doing that may be creating unnecessary stress in the first place?”

That means looking at workloads, expectations, communication, management behaviours, team relationships, organisational change and the degree of control people have over their work. In the mix, we must sometimes take into consideration the personal circumstances of an individual: sickness in the family, bereavement, financial stress and family issues that no one ordered up, but life created.

It means giving managers the confidence to have early conversations rather than waiting until someone reaches breaking point. And it means recognising that wellbeing isn’t an initiative that sits separately from leadership. It is part of how an organisation is led.

So, is managing stress a leadership function?

Yes, but not exclusively. Individuals need the knowledge and skills to recognise and manage their own stress. Leaders and organisations, on the other hand, have a responsibility to create working conditions that don’t generate excessive and sustained pressure. The most effective approach is therefore not “employee versus employer”. It is individual responsibility + good management + responsible leadership + organisational action.

Perhaps the more useful question for leaders is not “How resilient are my employees?” but “What is it about the way we work, communicate and lead that might be making resilience harder than it needs to be?” That is a very different question, and it could lead to very different conversations about leadership, performance and workplace wellbeing.

How Green Key can help

Green Key works with organisations to develop managers who can spot the early signs of stress, have honest conversations and lead in a way that supports performance and wellbeing. Explore our management development training and resilience and stress management training, delivered across Oxfordshire, the Thames Valley and London, or online across the UK. Book an exploratory call to talk about what your managers need.

Frequently asked questions

Is managing stress a leadership responsibility?

Partly. Individuals need to recognise and manage their own stress, but leaders shape the conditions people work in: workload, priorities, communication, autonomy, support and how change is handled. Employers also have a legal duty to assess and manage the risks of work-related stress. The most effective approach combines individual responsibility, good management, responsible leadership and organisational action.

What are the HSE Management Standards for work-related stress?

The HSE Management Standards cover six areas of work that can cause stress if they aren’t managed properly: demands, control, support, relationships, role and change. Most of them are strongly influenced by how people are led and managed.

What are the early signs of stress in a team member?

Look for changes in behaviour and performance: someone who is normally engaged becoming withdrawn, a sudden drop in performance or more mistakes, rising sickness absence, escalating conflict, people no longer speaking up, or employees who are present but mentally exhausted. The HSE stresses the importance of acting early.

Is resilience training enough to reduce workplace stress?

Resilience training is valuable, but on its own it can put the responsibility in the wrong place. If pressure comes from unrealistic workloads, constantly changing priorities or a manager’s behaviour, the cause needs to be addressed too. Resilience works best alongside leadership development that tackles the conditions creating the pressure.

References

• Personnel Today: Nearly a million workers affected by stress in the last year
• Health and Safety Executive: Health and safety at work statistics overview
• Health and Safety Executive: Work-related stress and how to manage it
• Health and Safety Executive: Management Standards
• CIPD: Health and wellbeing at work 2025
• World Health Organization: Guidelines on mental health at work, 2022
• World Health Organization and International Labour Organization: Mental health at work policy brief, 2022