Managing stress at work

Managing Stress at Work

Managing stress at work can be challenging, but still it is possible to deal with effectively. Almost every working environment has work-related stress. To cope with work stress is important for organisation to grow.

Workplace directly affects the physical, mental, economic, and social well-being of the workers and indirectly the health of their families, communities and society. And also performance of an individual, who is working in an organisation is directly correlated to the performance of that organisation.

Work-related stress can affect people in a particular working environment. It not only affects the working performance of an individual, but also affects personal life of an individual.

Stress in the workplace is unavoidable due to demands of the contemporary work environment.

‘In perkbox UK survey revealed that, 79% people experience work-related stress.  Only 1% mentioned that they never experience work stress, but 17% rarely experience work-related stress (perkbox.com).

In the same way survey carried out by American Institute of Stress finds that, 82-83% of workers feel stress on their jobs (stress.org/workplace-stress). In general, the figures about work stress more or less may similar around the globe.

A stress free work environment is that, where demands and pressures are matched to the worker’s knowledge and abilities. On the other hand, a stressful kind of work is that which values excessive demands and pressures that are not matched to the worker’s knowledge and abilities. Where there is  little opportunity for worker to exercise any control or choice and has little support from others.

Stress and Pressure

There is a difference between pressure and stress. Where, pressure can be positive and a motivating element, often essential for a job. Also, pressure perceived acceptable by an individual, it helps to keep workers focused, alert, motivated, able to learn and work, depending on the available resources and character of an individual.

A pressure becomes ‘stress’ when it is excessive or unmanageable. Stress can be damaging for a worker’s health and the performance of the business.

What is Work-related Stress?

 It is also very important to know, what is work-related stress?. Work stress can be defined as, ‘an adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other kinds of demand place on them at work ‘(hseni.gov.uk/articles/what-work-related-stress).

In other words, work stress is the stress which is caused by conflicting demands in one’s job. World Health Organisation defines work stress as , ‘this is the response people may have when presented with work demands and pressures that are not matched to their abilities and knowledge and challenging their ability to cope with’ (who.int/occupational_health/topics/stressatwp/en/).

So, work-related stress generates when an individual is confronted with different work demands and pressures, but his/her capabilities, resources, and needs don’t match them.

Effects of Stress in the Workplace

Work-related stress can be harmful and damaging for workers’ health. A little stress can be helpful to complete tasks at work, but excessive amount of stress poses risk for worker’s health and can be a serious concern to resolve. Stress is not bad, but it is the amount of stress that causes problem.

Job stress can be costly. As revealed by American Institute Of Stress (AIS) that, businesses in US lose up to $300 billion a year due to work-related stress. In the same way, depression costs $51 billion due to absenteeism and $26 billion in treatment cost. It causes 120,000 deaths annually and results in $190 billion a yearly cost for healthcare (stress.org/42-worrying-workplace-stress-statistics).

So, from above mentioned facts and figures we can imagine how important is work-related stress to be managed. If it is left unchecked and uncontrolled and an individual lives under constant state of activation, it increases the rate of wear and tear to the biological system.

It not only affects the performance and productivity of an individual, but compromises worker’s personal life as well. It can escalate the risk of injury or disease.

Work stress can cause physical as well as psychological. The problems may include, headaches, mood swing, sleep disturbances, stomach problem, and relationships with family and friends. But, it can cause also serious and chronic health problems, such as cardiovascular disease, muscles problems and psychological disorders.

Work stress is a common problem, but it has very serious consequences. Managing work-related stress can be helpful for both, workers and organisation.

On an individual the effects of work stress may be;

• Become increasingly irritable

• Become unable to concentrate

• Difficulty in thinking logically and decision making

• Less committed and passionate to work

• Feel tired, anxious, depressed

• Experience insomnia

• Physical problems; headaches, pain, blood pressure, disorder of digestive system

On organisation the effects of work stress may be;

• Increasing absenteeism

• Less commitment to work

• Low productivity and poor performance

• Increased accidents rates

• Complaints from clients and customers

• Damaging organisation's image

Causes of Stress at Work

In order to overcome or reduce stress at work, it is important to identify and understand the factors or common sources that cause work stress.

There are many factors that can potentially cause work-related stress in organisations. Stress at work may be different for different people. For example, a situation may be very stressful for an individual, but it may be a normal situation for another.

Therefore, we must be aware of the factors that are most likely to lead to excessive work-related stress and pressure.

Generally speaking, there have been identified six common areas by Health and Safety Executive  (HSE) that can cause work-related stress or we can consider them as potential stressors (Health and Safety Executive):

• Demands; it is about workloads, patterns of work and the work environment.

• Control; it refers to the extent of control and freedom an individual has in the way they do their work.

• Support; it includes the encouragement, sponsorship and resources provided by the organisation, line management and co-workers.

• Role; the people understand their role within the organisation and whether the organisation ensures that employees do not have conflicting roles.

• Change; how organisational change is, managed and communicated within organisation.

• Relationships; it includes to promote positive culture of working, to avoid conflict and dealing with undesirable behaviour.

Further, the causes of stress can be divided into two categories. The classifications are based upon source of the cause:

Internal causes

It includes an individual’s mindset, thinking process and the his/her perspective about things.These causes are based on perception of an individual. These causes come from within the individual and lead to stress. For example, a situation may not be stressful, but the internal perspective of an individual may be making it stressful.

External causes

external causes of work-related stress are the factors within working environment, that affect an individual’s performance within organisation and his/her well being.

External causes of work stress can be further divided into two categories, those are below:

Content of work

It includes the following sources that can cause work stress.

• Job Content; job content can be stressful if there is lack of variety, difficult and complex tasks which don’t match the capabilities of the worker.

• Work Loads; too much or too little work loads both can be stressful. Too much work load increases the level of pressure, on the other hand too little work load can lead to fulfilment of an individual.

• Working Hours; working hours can create a stressful situation. Badly designed shifts system, strict or flexible, long work hours, and unsocial work shifts can be sources of stress.

• Low Pay; it can also lead to stress, if the pay level is too low to cover his/her expenses.

• Poor Physical Work Conditions; these can lead to stress such as poor light at workplace, lack of proper space and temperatures.

• Participation and Control; participation and control can be a potential source of stress in an organisation. Lack of participation in decision making and control over work processes can be a stressful situation for employees.

• Conflicting Roles and Boundaries; unclear roles and work boundaries could be misleading for worker. It can cause stress among them.

• Lack of Skills and Training; if people don’t have skills and training for a job and they asked to do can be stressful.

• Job Insecurity; when an employee is insecure and  fear of losing his/her job leads to high level of stress and causes reduced work quality.

Organisational Culture and Work Relationships

 

Organisational Culture

Organisational culture can play an important role for managing and reducing stress within organisation. A culture of involving people in decision making, effective communication, communicating changes to employees, promotions, performance analysis, managerial style can lead to reduced stress. Also creating work-life balance for employees is a positive step towards reducing stress.

On the other hand, strict managerial style which gives less control in decision making, non-supportive management, inadequate communication, lack of promotions, over supervision, and unpaid overtime can lead to stress.

Work Relationships

Relationships at work can increase or decrease the level of work-related stress. Positive interpersonal relationship with colleagues, managers and supervisors can reduce stress.

On the other hand, if the supervision is inadequate or non-supportive, poor relationship with colleagues, and solitary work can increase stress level.

Signs or Symptoms of Work Stress

It quite important to know the signs or symptoms of work-related stress at initial stages to cope with effectively. If not identified earlier it can become a chronic problem for an employee as well as employer.

Signs or symptoms of work-related stress for a team and an employee:

Signs or Symptoms of Work Stress in a Team;

• Too much arguments among them

• Decreased performance as a team

• Increased in stress reports

• More absenteeism

• Increase in staff turnover

• More complaints and grievances

Signs or Symptoms of Work Stress in an Employee

The signs and symptoms of work-related stress can be divided into three categories. Those are below:

Physical Symptoms include;

•  Headaches

• Fatigues

• Body pains

• Insomnia (lack of sleep)

• Digestive system disorder

• Muscle tension

Psychological Symptoms include;

• Feeling anxious

• Depressed

• Irritable

• Loss of motivation, and commitment

• Low confidence

• Cognitive disorder, such as decreased ability to concentrate or make decisions

Behavioural Symptoms include;

• Aggression

• Decreased work performance

• Increased absenteeism due to sickness

• Interpersonal relationship problems

• Mood swings

• Lower tolerance

• Too much frustration and impatience

• Social withdrawal

Strategies for Managing Stress in the Workplace

Managing and reducing stress in the workplace is possible with interventions of both employees and employers. There is responsibility on the part of the employees to work for reducing and overcoming stress at work, which is also associated with his/her personal life and well being.

How can employees reduce stress in the workplace?

An individual can cope with work stress by following these powerful strategies;

Identify Your Stressors (factors that cause stress is a stressor)

An employee must able to identify the stressor, the factor(s) that cause stress. Be aware of the signs or symptoms of stress.

Once, the stressors have been identified, the solution to them will be quite easy at personal basis or consulting with management.

Form Positive Relationships

The people around us in the workplace, are the people whom with we spend most of our time at work. Forming a positive relationship with the work colleagues can help in reducing and overcoming work-related stress.

Always be an effective member of a team, support and help other team members to complete tasks. There are very little chances to be stressed when you form positive relationship with other colleagues.

Positive relationship can help in avoiding conflicts among individuals. Because they know each other, rather than blaming they learn from mistakes.

Get Enough Sleep

In order to avoid stress at work, always get enough sleep. Continue stress is linked to the insomnia. Inability to sleep is a sign of stress and poor sleep can lead to other chronic disease. Getting enough sleep makes you energetic, and its easy to concentrate on work.

Avoid Work-related Politics

Work-related politics is very common in almost all organisations and offices. It is one of the potential stresses. It can affect the whole environment, productivity and performance of the employees.

By not indulging and becoming part of work-related politics can help to work without stress and you can produce a quality work.

In a survey by perkbox UK, identified top 10 causes of work-related stress, in which they revealed that work-related office politics is number one cause of stress in UK. 37% people complained about office politics. It is not only restricted to UK, it may be similar around the world.

Establish Boundaries

To reduce stress at work you can establish boundaries between work and life. Don’t bring your work stress to home, it can affect your personal life as well as your family. You can avoid irregular schedules as much as possible.

In this way you can avoid conflicts with your family. Very frequent changes in shifts and specially on-call work schedule can lead to stress. So, in these kind of situations it becomes difficult ot manage and establish work-life balance.

Keep Positive Perspective

Always keep a positive perspective about your colleagues, managers, supervisors and people connected to your in the workplace.

Jumping into negative conclusions with no or little evidence and just assuming something about someone can lead to a stressful situation.

You must put mental filters to filter and interpret the situation in a positive way. Also, be aware about your internal perspective about things. A situation may not be stressful or so bad, but your mind may be making it stressful.

Learn How to Relax

In the workplace, as a short-term strategy you can take breaks that can help to reduce stress and relax your muscles and give you energy.

But, as long-term strategy you can use the techniques such as yoga, meditation, deep breathing exercises, and mindfulness.

Mindfulness, is the ability in which you pay attention to the present moment, observe experiences and thoughts. It can help to melt your stress and gives an energy to fight challenges.

How can employers reduce stress in the workplace?

Stress management is not only the subject of employees, but major responsibility falls on the shoulders of employers or organisations.

Employers must take measures and initiatives to overcome and reduce stress at work. To deal with work-related stress it needs organisational level intervention, because it is the organisation that creates stress.

Here, are the strategies the employers can use to deal with work stress:

Workplace Stress Audit

The best initiative an organisation can take will be a Workplace Stress Audit. It is now a considered and accepted opinion that stress in the workplace impacts both on the individual and on the organisation.

Workplace stress audit refers to a formal organisation approach to risk management and assessment, that identifies the locations, causes and effects of stress within an organisation.

Stress audit can help employees to identify stress, its causes and effects and then strategies to overcome it. It may involve talking to the employees informally to know their concerns and problems related to work, while ensuring confidentiality of information about employees.

A questionnaire can be used to to gather information from employees. The organisation must include the key areas in stress audit;

• Relationships with colleagues at work

• About communication and reporting

• Physical work environment

• Work schedule

• Expectations of employees about their work

Employees Assistance Program (EAP)

An Employees Assistance Program can help to assist employees within organisation. This can be initiated to listen to the grievances, concerns, problems and other issues related to work.

Assisting in this way the organisation can reduce the stress level of employees, because it will be easy to know what exactly the problem is with an individual.

Matters related to promotions, benefits, and compensations can be discussed in this program. Also the organisation should provide training for stress management.

Communication

Communication within an organisation is a core element. Effective communication with employees can help in reducing the work-related stress.

Most of the time the employees want to know what is going on in the organisation, and particularly about changes. Lack of communication can create a stressful situation.

Things constantly changed by management and not communicated to the employees is a sign of bad and ineffective communication on the part of organisation, it causes confusion, mistakes and stress.

Perkbox UK survey revealed that, lack of interdepartmental communication is the second largest cause of work-related stress in UK (perkbok.com/2020/survey).

So, effective communication with employees and among team members is an essential factor for overcoming stress.

Physical Work Environment

This is the responsibility of the employer to ensure physical health of the employee. The more healthy an employee the more productive and energetic his/her is.

A clean, safe and hazard-less working environment is necessary for stress free work. If the working environment is not clean, unsafe, lack of lighting, too dark, too hot or too cold, all these factors can increase the level of stress.

Physical working conditions are important and must be addressed by employers. The employees must report these kinds of working conditions to the management in order to resolve them.

Work-Life Balance

The management of an organisation must spare some time to discuss work-life balance with employees. The reason is that, if there is no balance between these two it can create stress for an employee.

We spend most of time either at work or with family. These two are inter-correlated. The organisation should help employees to maintain the balance.

They should avoid forming policies and schedules which are in contrast with the family life of employees. They must create family-friendly policies to support work-life balance.

To reorganise duties and schedules of the employees, it must be communicated to them in advance, in order not to disturb their family life.

Decision and Policy Making

In order to make employees feel good and important, the management must ensure the employees have say in decisions and policies making of the organisation. It gives them confidence that they are participating in decision making process.

When employees think that, they are not a part of decision and policies making process, it can make them feel they are not important and lose confidence. In this situation it can cause stress and affect the performance level.

Deadlines and Expectations

A realistic approach to deadlines and expectations can help in resolving the work-related stress problems. When there is mismatch between what is possible and what is expected can be a high stressful situation.

Setting unrealistic deadlines and expectations can cause high stress level. The management must ensure the workloads are in line with a worker’s capabilities, resources and knowledge.

If the organisation wants less stressful environment it must set realistic deadlines and expectations, and also train employees properly and improve their skills which are needed for work.

Conflicts

The organisations must discourage conflicts within organisation at all levels. Conflicts among people affect performance and productivity of the organisation.

The management should form a mechanism to avoid conflicts. They must listen the employees’ concerns to decrease the level of stress.

Conflicts among employees can be a source of work-related stress. Conflicts arise when people make mistakes and they blame each other to avoid punishment, rather than learning from mistakes. In this situation, it breeds hostility.

In culture of blame and hostility, a normal situation can be extremely stressful. The HR intervention can be helpful to embed culture of appreciation rather than culture of blame.

Conclusion; In this digital age, work related stress is common in the workplace. The organisations should consider and recognise work stress is a problem. It affects performance and productivity at all stages.

The employees and employers both should intervene to overcome and reduce stress in the workplace. It is not only the responsibility of the management, but employees also should take steps to cope with stressful situations.

I believe the strategies I suggested will help in coping with stress at work.