Why Work-Related Stress Matters for Manager Training
Work-related stress is a health and safety issue as well as a wellbeing concern. A policy or employee assistance programme can be helpful, but neither removes the need to assess and manage risks arising from work.
One compliance-sector analysis reports increased attention to psychosocial risks, including work-related stress and excessive workload. Separately, HSE's own guidance explains the existing duty to assess the risk of work-related stress and act on the findings.
For L&D and HR leaders, this is a compliance story, and the training design implications are substantial.
The Legal Duty Already Exists
The obligation to manage work-related stress is not new. Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 has always required employers to ensure the health, safety and welfare of employees, and "health" includes mental health. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require employers to undertake suitable and sufficient risk assessments of all health and safety hazards, implement preventive and protective measures, and provide employees with health and safety information, instruction and training.
The British Safety Council's analysis discusses recent enforcement examples and the importance of putting controls into practice. A documented policy should be supported by a suitable risk assessment, action and review.
The Six Management Standards: One Approach to Risk Assessment
HSE's Management Standards offer one approach to assessing and managing work-related stress. They identify six key risk areas: Demands (workload, work patterns and environment), Control (autonomy), Support (resources and management encouragement), Relationships (conflict and behaviour), Role (clarity of expectations) and Change (how organisational change is managed and communicated).
The Management Standards are not themselves law, and employers do not have to use that particular approach. HSE says that following it correctly can provide a suitable and sufficient approach; an alternative approach may also be suitable if it meets the underlying legal duties.
HSE's approach encourages employee involvement, the use of relevant information such as surveys, practical action and review of whether controls are effective.
Enforcement Is Already Happening
Two recent cases illustrate exactly what HSE scrutiny looks like in practice.
In December 2025, HSE issued a formal Notice of Contravention to the University of Birmingham following an investigation into work-related stress. Key findings included inadequate and overly generic stress risk assessments, ineffective control measures, a lack of monitoring and review systems, and a failure to involve employees in risk assessment processes. Critically, the organisation did have policies in place. The failure was in operational execution.
Earlier, in April 2025, HSE issued a Notice of Contravention to East of England Ambulance Service after staff interviews identified material breaches relating to failure to conduct a suitable and sufficient risk assessment, failure to implement preventive and protective measures, and failure to have adequate arrangements for planning, monitoring and review.
The direction of travel is unmistakable. Having a policy is not the same as managing the risk.
Where Manager Training Can Help
A policy document or one-off awareness session may be useful, but neither alone demonstrates that an organisation has assessed and controlled its work-related stress risks.
Awareness training alone may not give managers enough opportunity to practise recognising concerns, holding a risk conversation or escalating issues. Training records can show participation and assessment results, but they do not by themselves show that managers took effective action in the workplace.
HSE provides resources and useful links, including tools to help managers consider behaviours relevant to preventing and reducing work-related stress. These can inform practical support alongside the organisation's risk assessment and controls.
What Effective HSE Psychosocial Risk Training Looks Like
Training can be designed around the organisation's risk assessment, managers' responsibilities and opportunities to practise. The following are design options rather than HSE-prescribed formats.
Scenario-based design places managers inside realistic situations: a team member showing signs of withdrawal, a workload conversation that is going badly, a restructure announcement that has created anxiety. Learners make decisions and see consequences, giving them an opportunity to practise relevant behaviours rather than only read about them.
Role-specific content matters because the Management Standards apply differently across roles. A frontline team leader managing shift patterns faces different Demands and Control risks than a project manager overseeing a change programme.
SCORM or xAPI delivery via an LMS can help record enrolments, completion and, depending on the implementation, assessment or interaction data. These records can support a training audit, but they do not prove workplace competence or legal compliance on their own. HSE does not prescribe SCORM or xAPI as the required format for this purpose.
Structured assessment within the course tests whether managers can apply the six Management Standards to a real situation, not just recall definitions. Assessment results can inform a view of learning, alongside observation and evidence of practice at work.
Applying the Guidance Across Sectors
One sector analysis highlights healthcare, social care, education, emergency services, financial services, construction and logistics as areas to consider. The two published examples above concern education and emergency services. Employers in any sector should assess the risks relevant to their own work.
The findings of your own risk assessment should inform any decisions about training and other controls.
Alistair's Take
The two enforcement cases from 2025 illustrate an important point for L&D and HR leaders: a policy needs to be implemented and supported by effective risk controls. The reported findings concerned risk assessment, implementation, employee involvement and review.
From Neon's perspective as a digital learning provider, thoughtful training design can help managers understand their responsibilities and practise appropriate responses. It is one part of a wider approach that also needs worker consultation, practical controls and review. A completion certificate alone does not establish that workplace risks have been managed.
Scenario-based digital learning can give managers a safe opportunity to practise recognising concerns and deciding what to do next. Where useful, LMS reporting can show participation and assessment outcomes, while workplace records capture risk assessments, actions and review.
The question for L&D leaders is how manager learning can support the organisation's actual risk assessment and controls, rather than being treated as a substitute for them.
Build practical manager training
Neon Learning designs scenario-based manager eLearning and can provide LMS-ready reporting to support your organisation's wider approach to managing work-related stress.