Work-related stress has a direct and negative impact on your employee’s productivity. Did you know, lack of support and workload are two major causes of stress at workplace?
As per statistics shared by HSE UK, “12.5 million working days were lost owing to work-related stress, depression and anxiety in the United Kingdom alone in 2016-17.” The study further reveals that healthcare, social work, public administration, education and information technology are the industries with the highest rate of stress and depression at workplace.
The Causes of incredible stress
A research, done by HRD Connect re-ascertains that because of unrealistic workload, unimaginable support and poor work-life balance, a large number of employees face hardships keeping up with their motivation, dedication and productivity at work.
However, for most organizations, work-life balance is an alien thing that barely exists on earth. They just want their work done no matter what an employee is going through.
Do you really want your employees to live and work with stress?
A forward-looking business would never want their workers stressed. Why? Because, for them, their employees are their biggest asset. Stress has a close relation with productivity. Higher the stress level, lower the productivity of your hires.An article on Inc.com explains this trend beautifully and suggests tips on how to care for your employees.
It is the wit, knowledge and hard work of your employees that enables you to overtake the competition and achieve even those goals that seem impracticable.If your people aren’t happy and are stressed due to the workplace environment you offer, there is no chance they will work with dedication and capacity.
How do you make sure if your hirelings are stressed?
There are many signs you can go after to recognize an employee in stress. Such as –
- Quality of work has been below par in recent
- Change in behavior
- Frequent sickness leaves
- Increased tea, coffee and cigarette breaks
- Lack of confidence
- Dull voice
- Not taking any initiative
- Skipping lunch
- Mostly spending time away from the workstation
Best Practices for you to help your employees manage stress and level up their performance –
It is really a noble deed to help someone come out of stress. Especially, if they are your employees, you should take a serious action in this direction. Here are 5 best practices for employers that will help their employees deal with stress and focus on work –
#1.Stress-free environment –
Make a rule that nobody sits on their seat for one straight hour without taking a break. Allow your employees to have breaks as many times as they want. Working constantly could be counterproductive and distressing.
Small packets of relief and refreshment can restore their focus and productivity. Meeting people over coffee and light chitchat also decreases stress a great deal. That’s the reason why a large number of new-age businesses have spacious break room.
Workload loads upload stress on your employees! Therefore, work should never be assigned on “just finish it by evening” basis. There should be a realistic deadline for every task.
These are all great tips to create a stress-free environment in your office. And these are good for mental health too.
#2. Flexibility –
Rules regarding office timing should be flexible. Suppose if your company works 9 to 5 on weekdays, and if an individual reaches at 9:30 AM one fine day, then instead of penalizing him, they should be given a chance to cover the time by staying till 5:30 evening.
There’s no point in deducting a portion of their salary for that. You have no idea why someone came late and how much this deduction would demotivate someone.
If someone wants to work from home, the HR and admin depart should cooperate with them. Interestingly, allowing an employee to work from home could be a great cost cutting for an organization. You know, coffee, lunch, and power cost a fortune, if you sum up the annual spending on these aspects.
And, when an employee works from home, he works from his comfort zone. So you can expect quality work from them.
#3. Important updates –
The greatest irk for an employee is when he is not given important updates regarding work. I have been in such a situation at one of my past workplaces.
I was asked to write an ad copy for a client by my team leader, who herself wasn’t aware that we (our company) have cancelled the work agreement with that client.
That assignment should have been canceled if we were notified about this development at the right time. So, the result of my efforts was zero, in addition to increased workload, which, as I have mentioned earlier, is among top reasons for work-related stress.
#4.Team spirit –
There should be workshops and sessions that encourage team spirit in the staff. Success (of a company) is an outcome of teamwork. A self-confident team can write countless success stories.
The focus of the HR department and leaders in a company should be on developing an environment of team building.
Instead of speaking to an individual, it is always better to have a face-to-face meeting with the team and listen to their ideas, requirements and suggestions.
Organize gaming events and employee engagement activities that require teams to participate. Have provisions for team lunch, dinner and movie outing – so that they spend some time together apart from work.
Distribute gifts with custom printed labels such as water bottles with customized labels displaying the name of the individuals and the team.
These are some of the cool ways to promote team culture in your company.
#5.Yoga and meditation session
It is hard to find “me time” in the ever busy lifestyle of today. You hardly get any time to do something for yourself.
But, taking some time out for yoga and meditation can help lower the stress and higher the productivity in an individual.
The benefits of yoga and meditation are widely accepted and well documented.
Why not organize a daily yoga or meditation session at your workplace?
You should actively participate in those sessions along with your employees. This way, you will get to learn more about them. And, gradually you will see that you and your people have mastered the art of stress management.
Yoga increases your immunity also. That way, you and your team will be able to keep away from seasonal infections.
To sum up, identifying the stress and its causes in your employees is of paramount importance. This is significant, not because they are responsible for your company’s overall gains, but because they are gradually losing their productivity because of prolonged spells of stress.
Hope this post helps you take your employees out from the influence of stress and anxiety.
If you have got another useful tip that could help in stress management, please drop it in the comments section.
Guest post courtesy of Smith Willas
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