If left unchecked, stress can cause problems and harm employee well-being, motivation, and productivity. Reducing stress in the workplace is essential for remaining happy and efficient at work.
However, knowing how to mitigate work-related pressure is easier said than done. In this article, we’ll discuss eight methods for reducing stress levels as an employee, enabling you to continue to love your job without harming your mental health.
Stress left unchecked can have a severe impact on employee wellbeing
THE IMPACT OF STRESS IN THE WORKPLACE
Undoubtedly, stress can be one of the most daunting and destructive obstacles to employee engagement in the workplace. According to a 2017/18 Labour Force Survey (LFS), a total of 15.4 million working days have been lost due to work-related stress, depression or anxiety.
Considering that employees usually get paid for sick days, the financial loss due to stress-related issues is enormous. Moreover, it appears that such problems are on the rise, too, with approximately 1,700 people per 100,000 workers reported to be suffering from stress, depression, or anxiety in 2017/18, compared to an estimated 1,400 in 2005/06.
It has also been reported that stress, depression, and anxiety are more prevalent in public health services industries such as education, health and social care, and public administration and defense.
The main work factors cited by survey respondents as causing work-related stress were workload pressures (including tight deadlines), too much responsibility, and the absence of managerial support.
Countless statistics relating to workplace stress could be referenced, but the point is clear: Stress, in any form, can dramatically impact an employee's well-being and harm the organization's efficiency. Learning how to reduce it is vital.
8 WAYS TO REDUCE STRESS IN THE WORKPLACE
Thankfully, stress in the workplace isn’t something we’re forced to accept. Some measures can be taken to reduce work-related stress and even enhance your ability to do your job.
1. RECOGNIzE THE SIGNS OF STRESS
Before being able to reduce your stress levels, you must be aware of the critical symptoms of stress and anxiety.
Stress impacts employees in all industries and workplace environments
Thankfully, leading mental health charity Mind provides a comprehensive list of telltale signs of stress. The mind separates these symptoms into feelings, behaviors, and physical sensations.
Feeling…
irritable, aggressive, impatient, or wound up;
overburdened;
anxious, nervous, or afraid;
like your thoughts are racing, and you can’t switch them off, or
unable to enjoy yourself.
Behaviors
Finding it hard to make decisions.
Constantly worrying.
Avoid situations that are troubling you.
Snapping at people.
Biting your nails.
Picking at your skin.
Physical sensations
Shallow breathing or hyperventilating.
You might have a panic attack.
Muscle tension.
Blurred eyesight or sore eyes.
Problems getting to sleep, staying asleep, or having nightmares.
Sexual problems, such as losing interest in sex or being unable to enjoy sex.
You may exhibit workplace stress if you recognize any of the above symptoms.
2. IDENTIFY THE CAUSE OF YOUR STRESS
After recognizing the signs of stress, the next step is identifying your emotions' root cause. What exactly is causing you to feel troubled at work?
For many of us, it’s the workload we’re expected to handle. We feel that there’s too much responsibility on our shoulders and that we’re being stretched too thin to cope. For others, it might be a demanding boss or unkind colleagues making us feel like it’s all getting too much.
Source: LinkedIn
Whatever it is, could you make a mental note of it? You can become familiar with the cause of your stress. Understanding your emotions is crucial to dealing with them effectively.
3. SET BOUNDARIES
Countless employees find themselves feeling stressed and overburdened as a result of too much pressure at work. In an attempt to appease the demands of your superiors and advance your career, it can be tempting to bite off more than you can chew – especially in a busy, understaffed environment.
A simple yet effective solution is to set boundaries. What exactly is a boundary, though?
Personal boundaries are guidelines, rules, or limits that a person creates to identify reasonable, safe, and permissible ways for others to behave toward them and how they will respond when someone passes those limits.
In the workplace, a boundary lets your employers know what they can and can’t expect from you. If you tell them categorically that you can’t work weekends, a firm boundary will ensure they don’t ask you to. It’s important to set boundaries to ensure that, whatever the demands of the company you work for, they know that you have needs to be met, too.
Spend some time considering what kind of boundaries would suit your working life. Which boundaries could you establish to reduce your stress levels? Which ones, if established, would improve your mental well-being?
Once you’ve decided, discuss implementing those boundaries with your management team. Be honest, friendly, and open about it. They should understand your concerns and take measures to make things easier for you.
4. CONSIDER HOW YOU SPEND YOUR TIME OUTSIDE OF WORK
Work shouldn’t be your life. It’s a part of it, but there’s more to life than simply working all the time. That being said, it’s a good idea to consider how you spend your time when you’re not at work.
Your morning routine, for instance, will profoundly affect your emotional health throughout the rest of your day. If you sleep late, eat an unhealthy breakfast, and have to rush to work with no time, you’re likely to feel stressed before you even make it to work.
Practising yoga can help relieve stress after a long day at work
Instead of maintaining unhealthy habits, consider incorporating stress-reducing activities into your time at home. Yoga, for instance, is an excellent way to de-stress after a long day’s work while also improving joint health and preventing the spinal damage associated with desk jobs.
5. PRACTICE MINDFULNESS
Mindfulness has been scientifically proven to provide many benefits, from stress reduction to neural recomposition. Incorporating it into your work can help bring peace, clarity, and enjoyment into your daily routine.
Although most of us have heard of mindfulness, only some know exactly what it is. Mindfulness, simply put, is the act of being present. Instead of losing yourself in your thoughts or worrying about your deadlines, mindfulness is about focusing on one thing and one thing right now.
Work-related stress is often chained to fears about the past or the future. We might worry that yesterday we didn’t meet the demands of our manager and that tomorrow we have a twelve-hour shift to complete.
Mindfulness can reduce stress and increase clarity of thought.
Do you happen to be familiar with aromatherapy? Aromatherapy is a holistic healing treatment that uses natural plant extracts to promote health and well-being. Have you heard of terpenes? Terpenes are the aromatic compounds that give plants their aroma. Here is a terpenes 101 resource for you to learn more about.
When those worries arise, just be aware of them. Notice that they’re pulling your focus away from the present moment and then reconnecting to the things happening around you. Soon, your anxious mind will quieten, and your stress levels will lessen.
6. CONNECT WITH OTHER PEOPLE
As Professor Cary Cooper, an occupational health expert at the University of Lancaster, puts it:
If you don’t connect with people, you won’t have support to turn to when you need help.
A strong support network of colleagues, friends, and family members will enable you to rest assured, knowing that you always have others to lean on when the weight becomes too heavy. Of course, it doesn’t need to get to that point, but being a lone ranger will only make you feel more stressed in the long run.
Talking things through with a friend will also help you find solutions to your problems.
Engaging in activities with friends can help us relax. Whether going for a meal, catching up over a coffee, or doing something active, simply spending quality time with loved ones can help reduce stress exponentially.
7. AVOID UNHEALTHY HABITS
Caffeine is a stimulant that can impact stress levels negatively.
Unhealthy habits such as excessive alcohol consumption, smoking, eating junk food, and not exercising will all negatively impact your stress levels. Even caffeine is a stimulant that can magnify underlying stress, so make that catch-up coffee a decaf. While these things might appear to help in the short term, they’ll only create more stress for you in the future by harming your physical health.
Instead of relying on such habits as coping mechanisms, seek to replace them with healthy activities like exercise or meditation. Doing so will arm you with far more effective methods than those listed above and improve your overall health, well-being, and peace of mind.
8. WORK SMARTER, NOT HARDER
At work, we often feel pressure to work harder to be as productive as possible within our given time constraints. Ironically, the harder we work, the less productive we become.
It’s far more effective to focus on working smarter rather than harder. That is, to find ways to get more done without increasing our working hours beyond what we can bear.
Take single-tasking, for instance. Single-tasking involves directing all of your energy into one task at a time rather than bouncing between functions in an attempt to complete them all at once. Multitasking might sound like a good idea, but attempting to juggle too many balls will increase our chances of dropping them.
Instead, focusing on one task at a time and giving it our all will ensure that we work to our maximum potential without stressing ourselves out.
Working smart is about prioritizing your work in importance and navigating one task at a time before moving on to the next. Doing so will allow you to work more efficiently and serenely.
Source: Syntax IT Support
WHY EMPLOYERS SHOULD TRY TO REDUCE STRESS IN THEIR WORKPLACES
Reducing stress in the workplace isn’t just essential to the mental health and efficiency of employees, but it’s critical to the company's functioning as a whole. Taking measures to mitigate workplace tension will ensure staff members remain happy, motivated, and pleased to work for their company.
Placing rigid requirements on employees and expecting them to work long hours at unsociable times is only likely to cause them unnecessary stress. Striking a balance between meeting your organization’s demands and your staff's capabilities is one of many ways employers can protect their employees' mental well-being.
If your company model enables employees to have more flexibility, like the choice to work from home, give them the option. Even if it’s only for a couple of days each month, that opportunity could work wonders on their stress levels and overall happiness at work.
Source: Public Health England
No workplace should feel like a prison cell. Understanding your employees' needs and working to accommodate them while moving your company in the right direction will ensure that your staff remains happy, healthy, and productive.
In addition, employers can boost morale and improve mental health among staff members by hosting social events outside of work, expressing sincere appreciation to their employees, and investing time and money into reducing stress in the workplace.
SUMMARY
There’s no doubt that stress is an unwelcome guest in the workplace. Whether from the perspective of the employee or employer, excess pressure isn’t good for anything and will only detract from staff members' happiness, healthiness, and overall efficiency.
Reducing workplace stress is within everyone’s capabilities. Let’s start by learning how to recognize the symptoms of anxiety, then move on to identifying the root cause of the problem before finally taking action to address it. If this approach is embraced by all employees and supported by their employers, it could stamp out work-related stress.