It’s hard work being an employer, with no shortage of responsibilities. From day-to-day task management and payroll to overseeing workplace safety, there’s a lot on your shoulders.
One such responsibility is to keep employees safe. This doesn’t only mean having working smoke detectors and ensuring there’s no asbestos in the roof.
It also means helping employees to stay healthy, with the job not causing any detriment to their wellbeing.
One significant area to focus on is stress, and reducing it as much as possible. Stress can’t be completely eradicated, and in the right circumstances can be positive, so the focus is on reducing unnecessary or prolonged periods of stress that can result in devastating to both mental and physical health.
Why managing workplace stress is important
Over 50% of workers have reported that their work is a significant source of stress. The cause can vary from one job to another, but commonly includes travel (particularly to different timezones), too much work, a lack of support, pressure to work longer hours, and unrealistic demands.
One of the problems with stress is that we can have a tendency to downplay it. “It’s just stress” is a common statement these days. That’s okay if the stress is infrequent or mild, but if it’s not then it is a significant risk factor for numerous conditions, including:
- Arterial plaque
- High blood pressure/hypertension
- Direct and indirect contribution to heart disease
The indirect contribution is that stress often encourages people to seek comfort, often through food, alcohol, or avoiding exercise.
From a business perspective, managing workplace stress is important because stress can have a negative impact on the business health just as much as it has on an individual’s health.
First, there’s the obvious fact that a happy employee is a more productive employee – nobody can produce their best work if they’re feeling too much stress, burnt out, or even fearful. This has a negative impact on business revenue as a result of reduced output or quality.
Second, if illness does occur, the business can incur a variety of costs: sick leave, medical costs, and hiring temporary cover to cover prolonged absence.
By putting some focus into improving the workplace environment, it can make for happier, healthier and more productive employees, while also boosting staff retention.
The main causes of workplace stress and how to combat them
To manage workplace stress, you need to first be aware of the current sources. Here are some of the most common ones, but it may be different in your business. If in doubt, get feedback directly from your workforce.
1. An imbalance of work and personal life
“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” is a lesson to us all: balance is key. If you want staff to turn up and bring their best, it’s your duty to give them the space to do that. One way to do this is offering remote working and/or flexible hours, if your industry can tolerate it. This empowers staff to structure their day according to when they work best, and take care of their personal responsibilities without feeling stressed for it.
2. Heavy workload
Some companies have a habit of throwing as much work as possible at staff, with no consideration for how realistic it is. This isn’t to say that employees shouldn’t be busy, but it’s about finding the balance between enough and too much – and being mindful of how that balance can be different for each person. To combat this, try to ensure there’s a sufficient spread of work across team members, set realistic deadlines, and implement a culture that listens to staff so if they feel there’s a problem, they can raise the point without fear of losing their job.
3. Lack of control, or not feeling listened to
A significant source of stress is from feeling helpless. This can tie into point 2 above, with staff not feeling able to raise problems to their superiors. It can also come from unsupportive teammates or management making decisions despite knowing it will cause disharmony. While there are legitimate occasions for unpopular decisions to be made, this cause of stress can be handled with effective internal communication and good management policies.
4. Burnout
This is a major one, and can be a culmination of all of the above. When staff feel under pressure with work and it’s compounded by a feeling that there’s no support and no work/life balance, it can quickly result in burnout. This is where productivity can nosedive and it can also lead to prolonged time off work to recover. The best way to avoid this is by building a supportive culture, setting realistic expectations, and ultimately by realizing that better work is produced when people are both happy and rested.
Other ways employers can reduce workplace stress
To reduce workplace stress, everything can be distilled into one main point: consider employee wellbeing when making decisions.
In addition to setting realistic workloads and creating a positive culture, employers can also support staff by helping them to get healthier. There have been positive steps made in this direction in recent years, with healthier snacks added to offices, free or subsidized gym memberships and rewards for cycling to work, and the next step is to help with education.
By empowering your staff to become truly healthy, and not just slimmer, they’ll notice improved blood pressure, higher levels of energy, better concentration, and, crucially, reduced levels of stress.
Business health coaching makes this process a breeze, as it delivers the right information to the entire team. Here’s what one recent client had to say:
“Dr. Ovadia crafted a custom program to fit the needs of my office and team. In our case it was 6 bi-weekly seminars and Q&As with Dr. Ovadia. I love that Dr. Ovadia took great care in ensuring that my team was engaged and able to ask him unplanned questions. From the first seminar, my team was very impressed.”
If you want to help make your employees healthier and happier, and improve your business productivity at the same time, take a look at my business coaching here.