Stress Awareness Month April 2026: How Onefile can help manage stress levels

April is Stress Awareness Month, an annual campaign which aims to raise awareness of stress, its causes, its impact and the best ways of tackling it.

According to The Stress Management Society, workplace stress is reaching record levels with as many as one in four employees worldwide reporting feeling stressed and anxious at work.

And, apprentices, too, are highly likely to experience stress during their training programmes – especially in the latter stages as they approach end point assessment (EPA). A study published in Onefile’s own whitepaper, Maximising Apprenticeship Success: The Case for Learner Engagement, bears this out, with more than 50% of learners reporting being stressed or anxious, mainly because of workload, EPA and financial pressures.

Allowing more time to complete OTJT

Juggling work commitments with studying can be extremely stress-inducing for apprentices, with many respondents to our survey citing too little time to complete Off the Job Training (OTJT) as the main stumbling block.

Apprentices have the legal right to protected study as a mandatory part of their apprenticeship agreement but more than half (51%) said they would like more time to finish their OTJT. Off the job training should make up at least 20% of an apprentice’s working hours over the duration of their course. It can be flexible and can include training done at college, online and in their workplace training facility but does not include tasks undertaken as part of an apprentice’s day to day job role.

Improving access to mentoring

Often workplace stress results from poor communication, with employees not knowing who to turn to for additional support. This is especially true of young apprentices fresh out of school or college who may be reluctant to admit they’d like some help. If the world of work is new to them, they might, for example, need advice on how best to manage their time and when to take breaks.

Many apprentices feel happier having a mentor – someone they can relate to and confide in about any work-related matters. More than half of learners (53%) in the Onefile study told us they would benefit from a mentor who had been through the same process as them.

How Onefile supports learner wellbeing

It’s in everyone’s interests, apprentice, provider and employer, that learners manage their stress levels and go on to successfully complete their programmes. Apprentices who feel stressed, anxious and unsupported are more likely to drop out of their course early or fail their EPA.

Encouraging latest statistics show that more apprentices are passing EPA and successfully achieving their apprenticeships. Provisional government data on apprenticeships in England for the first two quarters of the 2025/26 academic year (covers August 2025 to January 2026) shows achievement numbers up by 16.2% to 91,750.

That’s good news, but to ensure a continued upward trend in achievements it’s important trainers, tutors and employers come together to support apprentices’ mental health and wellbeing.

And that’s where Onefile comes in. As the leading learner management platform, we have a raft of tools that can help you flag issues or small concerns before they become bigger problems.

For example, Onefile Engage uses AI to analyse apprenticeship data and predict outcomes so you can step in if an apprentice appears to be struggling to keep up. Personalised engagement recognises that every learner is unique and has different learning styles and habits. Apprentices are much less likely to experience stress and anxiety if they feel seen, understood and supported.

To learn more about how Onefile can support your apprentices, book a discovery call.