Managing Stress in the workplace is increasingly becoming an issue in today’s business environment.
With the demands of ever-increasing workloads, tight deadlines, and tough competition, there is rarely enough time to take a breather and relax.
Workplace stress can lead to the following:
- Reduced productivity because the staff does not perform at their highest capacity hurts its financial performance.
- Employees feel tired and exhausted at the end of each day – this leads to less time for family life, rest, and relaxation, which only adds to the problem.
- Bad for staff morale – low-stress levels in a workplace can be good for morale, but too much can lead to employees feeling helpless and discouraged.
- Staff members feel stressed, worried, and anxious – this hurts their personal lives and can impact their health if left unchecked.
People in all kinds of work environments can suffer from stress, but in most cases, it is manageable and does not cause any long-term damage in most cases.
So what can managers and company owners do to help reduce stress levels in the workplace?
5 Ways to Manage Stress in The Workplace
Here are 5 Ways to Manage Stress in the workplace :
1. Encourage Breaks
As a manager, you have a duty of care towards your employees, including making arrangements to take regular breaks throughout the day.
Although there is no single solution that works for every business, company owners must satisfy themselves so that their staff can relax and refresh themselves during the working day.
Breaks do not necessarily need to entail time off work. Short periods of lunchtime relaxation can often help energize staff when flagging in the middle of the day.
Even if your employees are not being specifically encouraged to take breaks during an eight or 9-hour shift, they must have the opportunity to do so.
2. Offer Paid Time Off
Another option for managing stress in the workplace is allowing staff members to take paid time off regularly.
Not all stressed-out employees need an extended holiday from their jobs, but many benefit from some time away from the office environment.
If you have any variable working pattern, it can be helpful to allow people to swap shifts with each other. If you have a large enough pool of staff, employees can book specific days off in advance if they wish to do so.
3. Work out why the stress is happening
If you notice that one of your employees appears to be under too much pressure from their job, it is worth talking to them to see if they will open up and talk about the issue.
Although this might seem like a risky move, it is essential to remember that most stressed people do not need managerial intervention to discuss their problems with you.
If your staff feels comfortable talking to you about what is happening in their work, they should be open with you rather than suffer in silence and become depressed or sick.
4. Consider Flexible Work Schedules
It is common for managers and company owners to believe that productivity will dip if they reduce the time their employees work each week, whether through lowering hours or allowing people to take time off. Staff members will end up doing a worse job than they were initially capable of producing.
However, research has shown that productivity levels can significantly improve when companies try out flexible work schedules.
It is important to remember that this does not necessarily mean reducing the number of working hours each week. Still, it can also benefit employees who work additional hours for alternative time off during the year.
5. Set an Example
Finally, as a manager and company owner, it is essential that you set an example for your staff.
So if you offer flexible work schedules and have regular lunchtime breaks, your employees are likely to follow suit.
In addition, it can be helpful to try and find ways of reducing stress levels in the workplace that will not impact your business.
For example, this might involve allowing employees time each morning to take care of personal phone calls or giving people the opportunity to work remotely from home instead of having them sit behind their desks all day long.
