By Gill McAteer | July 15, 2026
Workplace stress is a growing problem in the care sector, with 29% of long-term absences in the industry caused by mental health issues. Here, Gill McAteer, Director of Employment Law at Citation, explains the impact long-term stress can have on employees, and the steps employers can take to protect both staff and their business.
Stress often arises quietly, and detecting problems before they snowball can require robust processes to prevent employee burnout. This is crucial for employers to be aware of as mental health related absences continue to rise, with depression and anxiety accounting for 22.1 million lost working days in the last year. The care sector is particularly affected, experiencing some of the highest absence rates generally due to the unique pressures workers are under.
This can start subtly with an employee struggling with workload or conflict with a colleague but could escalate to constructive dismissal or disability discrimination under the Equality Act, meaning legal action could be pursued if their stress levels at work weren’t managed correctly. As well as reducing legal risks, supporting employee mental health is also in your best interests as it can result in a happier, more productive workforce.
How do poor mental health and work-related stress interact?
Everyone encounters stress at work, particularly in high-pressure sectors like the care industry. But there is a level where stress not only impacts operations and workplace morale but can also become a legal liability – and it’s the employer’s responsibility to do what it can to ensure that line isn’t crossed.
The pressures that come with caring for residents, working long and often unpredictable hours and dealing with difficult colleagues or managers can contribute to feelings of overwhelm and physical symptoms, such as apathy, fatigue, insomnia, headaches, irritability, heart palpitations and panic attacks. Each of these can contribute to or exacerbate conditions such as anxiety and depression.
This can spiral into long-term absence and even an increase in turnover if the root causes are left unaddressed. Retention is already a significant issue in the care sector, with an alarming turnover rate of 23.9% in March 2026, so it’s vital for employers to address mental health concerns in order to keep operations running smoothly.
Equally, employees who are already managing a mental health condition may find that even moderate workplace pressures are harder to cope with, creating a cycle where stress and ill-health feed off each other.
For employers, this overlap between mental health and stress matters. It means that what initially appears to be a performance issue or a short-term dip in timekeeping may in fact be a sign of a deeper mental health concern or relate to an underlying disability. Penalising an employee for a drop in concentration, issuing a warning for irritability, or reducing remote working adjustments could all unknowingly amount to discrimination under the Equality Act.
Is stress considered a disability?
While stress itself isn’t classified as a disability under the Equality Act 2010, a condition is considered a disability when it’s long-term and has a substantial effect on how a person carries out their day-to-day activities, and stress is unfortunately a common byproduct of several mental and physical conditions. So, employers need to keep an eye on vulnerable employees’ stress levels to ensure they’re supporting them effectively.
Employers have an obligation to make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees and if they fail to do so, this could result in a discrimination claim. Heightened stress can also be a sign that reasonable adjustments for a disabled employee aren’t working, and that these may need to be updated. For example, providing tailored training in a task they find stressful, allowing them additional time off that doesn’t impact business operations or signposting to available support.
If you miss growing signs of stress and fail to adequately support wellbeing, you could find yourself in a costly tribunal.
What is constructive dismissal?
Ongoing stress can soon reach a boiling point, and an employee may think resignation is the only option. If an employee claims that resignation is a result of your serious failings, for example, mismanagement or lack of supportive action, it could open the door to a constructive dismissal claim.
A successful constructive dismissal claim can leave employers facing compensation of up to £22,530 for the basic award, plus a compensatory award of up to £123,543 or 52 weeks’ gross pay (whichever is lower), with unlimited exposure if discrimination is involved.
Constructive dismissal legally occurs when an employer fundamentally breaches the employment contract, for example, the implied term of mutual trust and confidence, forcing an employee to resign. In the context of stress, this breach often arises when concerns are repeatedly raised but not acted upon, and you’d be seen as failing to provide a safe and supportive working environment.
Of course, there are times when stress isn’t openly voiced. It’s still your responsibility to see past the facades of polite smiles and “I’m fine” to identify someone struggling and make reasonable adjustments to prevent escalation of stressors.
How to build a resilient duty of care toolkit
Managing stress in your care facility doesn’t require bold and expensive initiatives, but instead consistent and vigilant practices embedded into everyday management.
An often-neglected tool is the return-to-work structured interview following a sickness absence. These conversations offer insight into the underlying reasons for the absence, including causes of stress. Keeping these insights documented helps you spot if something is an ongoing stressor across the team, such as a particular management style or structural issue.
These interviews take a bit of time but should not be seen as an inconvenience, they should be held after every absence, even when someone takes a single day off work. Each conversation is an opportunity to listen, build trust, consider how you can support and get to the root cause of absence. It’s vital to remember that when a team member returns to work, that doesn’t mean the stress has gone; it can reappear in a way that’s not linear.
Understanding is fundamental, and one of the most effective ways to increase awareness of the early, unspoken signs of declining mental health is to have trained mental health first aiders across different departments. Their specialist training enables them to spot concerns early and bring them to your attention weeks before they become obvious. Employee assistance programs are another way to provide real support, as well as positioning the business as being open, present, and invested in employees’ mental health.
To further strengthen visibility, it helps to have an open-door policy for employees to raise concerns and to schedule regular wellbeing check-ins. This in turn helps you to understand how each person prefers to be supported. These conversations build familiarity and trust, making it easier to spot subtle changes in behaviour that may signal a wellbeing concern worth exploring.
Where can I find support for employee wellbeing?
You don’t have to start from scratch. There are great resources to help you implement the right support, including guides on how to support employee wellbeing and templates for a robust return to work process.
Stress is not an inevitable component of working in care, and it’s your responsibility to ensure both physical and mental health are not neglected across your team. This is simplified when you have practices and procedures that help you spot the signs early. The response always requires both empathy and responsibility, which will both protect your team’s wellbeing and your business’s reputation.
For more information and to access professional support, visit: https://www.citation.co.uk/
Gill McAteer – Director of Employment Law at Citation