What is work-related stress?
The most widely used definition in prevention comes from the European Framework Agreement on Work-Related Stress, signed by European social partners in 2004 and incorporated in Spain through the 2005 Interconfederal Agreement for Collective Bargaining: stress is a state accompanied by physical, psychological, or social complaints or dysfunctions, resulting from an individual’s inability to meet the demands or expectations placed upon them. The same agreement clarifies that stress is not an illness, but that prolonged exposure can reduce work effectiveness and cause health problems.
Stress is therefore a consequence. Its causes are unfavorable psychosocial factors: excessive or insufficient workload, lack of autonomy, role ambiguity or conflict, lack of support, insecurity, schedules incompatible with personal life, unfair treatment, conflicts, and situations of violence or harassment. Preventing work-related stress consists of addressing these conditions, not in teaching people to endure them.
Stress is distinct from professional burnout , which is a specific consequence of unmanaged chronic stress, and from anxiety or mood disorders, which are clinical diagnoses that can only be made by a healthcare professional. Occupational risk prevention does not diagnose individuals; it assesses and corrects working conditions.
How it is generated and what effects it has
In NTP 318, the INSST describes the process of stress generation in the workplace as an interaction between environmental demands, the individual’s assessment of those demands and their own resources, and their coping response. When the assessment is one of imbalance and the situation persists, sustained physiological activation produces effects on several levels:
- Physiological. Muscle tension, sleep disturbances, digestive, cardiovascular and immune system disorders in the medium term.
- Cognitive. Difficulty concentrating and remembering, hasty decisions, increased errors.
- Emotional. Irritability, anxiety, discouragement, feeling overwhelmed.
- Behavioral. Isolation, increased consumption of tobacco, alcohol or other substances, absenteeism or presenteeism.
- Organizational factors. Increased accident rates, turnover, conflicts, deterioration of quality and work environment.
The effects are not identical for everyone or at all times, which explains why two people in the same position can respond differently. This variability does not make stress an individual problem: when a significant proportion of a team shows signs of stress, the cause lies in the working conditions.
How to assess and prevent
- Identification: collective signals (absenteeism, turnover, complaints, conflicts, errors) and results of the evaluation of psychosocial factors, carried out with a validated method and with the participation of the workers’ representatives.
- Analysis of causes: what specific conditions of load, control, support, role, working time or relationships explain the exposure in each unit.
- Organizational measures (primary prevention): redesign of tasks and workloads, clarification of roles, improvement of leadership and support, predictable planning of working time, procedures for dealing with conflicts, harassment and violence.
- Support measures (secondary prevention): information and training on stress, training in coping skills, support programs, always as a complement to the above.
- Care for affected individuals (tertiary prevention): health surveillance, support in returning to work and adaptation of the job where appropriate, with guarantees of confidentiality of health data.
- Monitoring: indicators and periodic reassessment, and always after relevant organizational changes.
Organizational application
The European Framework Agreement states that the responsibility for determining appropriate measures lies with the employer, with the participation of workers and their representatives. In practice, preventing work-related stress involves:
- Management. Decides on workloads, staffing levels, objectives, and deadlines; their commitment determines the effectiveness of any program.
- Middle managers. They are both a source of support and a source of pressure; training in leadership and team management is one of the most effective measures.
- Prevention service. Evaluates psychosocial factors, proposes measures and coordinates health surveillance with applicable protocols.
- Human resources. Designs policies on working time, disconnection, work-life balance, professional development and action against harassment.
- Workers’ representatives. They participate in the evaluation and measures and address risk situations.
The Labor Inspectorate verifies, in accordance with Technical Criterion 104/2021, that the company has assessed psychosocial risks, planned measures against those detected and acts in specific situations; the absence of assessment or measures may lead to requirements and sanctions.
Limits and common mistakes
- Attributing stress to the person’s personality or private life and not evaluating working conditions.
- Limiting the response to stress management workshops, mindfulness, or wellness activities without changing the organizational causes.
- Use individual stress questionnaires as a substitute for the assessment of psychosocial factors.
- Confusing stress with a clinical diagnosis or labeling people based on assessment results.
- Processing the health data of the affected persons without the guarantees of confidentiality required by Law 31/1995.
- Forgetting the groups with the greatest exposure: teleworking, customer service, healthcare, education, contracts and temporary staff.
Work-related stress is not included in the list of occupational diseases in Spain; damages resulting from stress can be recognized as a work accident when its relationship with work is proven, under the terms established by Social Security legislation and jurisprudence.
Practical example
Situation: A medium-sized financial institution detects an increase in sickness absences due to non-traumatic conditions and complaints in its branch network.
- Identification. Analysis of absenteeism and turnover by office and application of a psychosocial evaluation method agreed with the union representation.
- Results. Unfavorable exposure to workload, emotional demands, and role conflict in smaller offices; weekly sales targets conflict with customer service and compliance duties.
- Measures. Review of the objectives system, reinforcement of staff in the most exposed offices, protocol for action against aggressive clients, training of office managers in team management and confidential support program for affected people.
- Monitoring. Quarterly indicators of absenteeism and turnover, re-evaluation after two years and review of the objectives system with union representation.
Regulatory framework in Spain and Europe
- Law 31/1995, articles 14, 15, 16 and 22. General duty of protection, principles of preventive action, risk assessment and health surveillance with guarantees of confidentiality.
- Interconfederal Agreement for Collective Bargaining 2005. Incorporates in Spain the European Framework Agreement on work-related stress (2004) as a reference for collective bargaining.
- Technical Criterion 104/2021 of the Labour and Social Security Inspectorate . Criteria for verifying the assessment and management of psychosocial risks, including stress.
- NTP 318: Stress: generation process in the workplace (INSST) . Explanatory model of work stress and its phases.
Directive 89/391/EEC requires the assessment of all risks, including psychosocial ones. The ILO and WHO have published guidance on work-related stress and mental health at work ; in 2022, the WHO published guidelines on mental health at work that prioritize organizational interventions.
