Workplace stress management – creating a healthy working space for everyone!

Stress is part of our everyday life. It can be beneficial and motivating, but when the feeling of discomfort becomes overwhelming, it can have a huge impact on a person’s mental well-being. Recognizing the signs early can prevent feelings from spiraling. Taking steps to manage workplace stress is important for employers and employees to create a healthy working environment where people feel supported.

Stress at work shouldn’t be a regular thing!

Experiencing chronic stress can lead to poor work performance, social withdrawal, impulsive reactions, loss of interest, trouble concentrating, problems with sleeping, headache, etc.

A synchronized collaboration between managers and employees can be a real success in reducing stressful situations at work and creating a healthy and safe working space where everyone can express their talent and fulfill their full potential.

Here are some coping ways to help you and your team experience fewer stressors:

1. Find the biggest sources of stress

Finding, identifying, and understanding the various sources of stress among employees is the first step to successfully resolving the negative impact of stressful situations. The most practical way to do so is by asking employees directly or conducting short surveys, encouraging them to share their voices and raise their fears, concerns, and opinions.

2. Be flexible

Long hours, late meetings, and long commutes sometimes can be very exhausting. During the COVID lockdowns, millions of workers had the opportunity to work from home or in hybrid mode and for many, it is now a preference.

3. Reduce heavy workload

Employers can go a long way to reducing stress and increasing job satisfaction by giving workers more flexibility in their schedules. Keeping the challenge, productivity and good performance is important without overwhelming the employees with too many tasks and pushing unrealistic deadlines.

4. Improve team relationships

Strong interpersonal relationships, empathy, and good communication skills at work are crucial for creating a stable and positive working environment. Stress levels are more likely to be low when the teammates get along, trust and respect each other. Improving the connection between coworkers can be done by creating social events, team-building activities, playing games, etc.

5. Give spot bonuses for exceptional performance

Managers should transparently communicate the initial compensation of an employee and the steps required to advance to the next level. But if pay becomes a problem, think about rewarding your employee’s high performance with spot bonuses. Instead of paying bonuses uniformly across the organization, this method of compensation takes into account each employee’s unique accomplishments.