Coping with Workplace Stress
How we recognise workplace stress and what we do about it is extremely important for healthy functioning and longevity – both personally and professionally. Our bodies are not designed to live in a chronically stressed state. They are really designed to efficiently deal with acute stressors and then to have periods of rest in between stressful events. Because chronic workplace stress often accumulates gradually over long periods of time, it can be difficult to notice and even harder to manage. It can be compounded if personal life stresses bleed into the workplace when the boundary between personal and professional life is weakly maintained.
Stress comes in many forms and manifests itself differently within individuals. What is stressful to one person may not be stressful at all to another. Also, two people may react very differently to a common stressor. For example, one person may maintain composure at work but at home experience things such as disrupted sleep patterns or disability in engaging with loved ones. Another person may unconsciously modify his or her interpersonal communications at work and be more direct or demanding with others.
When we take ourselves, our jobs and our professions seriously it is very easy to feel stress. While stress in moderation motivates and can be extremely healthy, when it becomes a chronic state it is a real problem. Hypertension is one common result of chronic stress and it can weaken or incapacitate people. We also know that it can cause heart attacks.
When we talk about our stress openly and honestly with our peers, staff, managers, colleagues, families, counsellors or others, we can break ground over the root causes of stress. Maintaining a healthy work-life balance and reserving time for ourselves is imperative. We can alleviate physical manifestations of stress by tending to our physiological needs such as sleeping adequately, eating properly and exercising appropriately. Research shows that all adults need 8 hours of sleep each day and without this the effects of sleep deprivation appear. It is a common misunderstanding that “some people” require less sleep and function normally on less than 8 hours per day. This claim is not entirely accurate and the reality is that people just get used to operating on less sleep than they really need. Eating properly means eating reasonable quantities of nutritious food, drinking enough water and consuming alcohol in moderation. Exercising appropriately means that we exercise according to our personal preferences and unique physiological needs, ie running short or long distances, attending yoga, swimming, walking for 20 minutes or other.
The following are signs that a person may exhibit when experiencing mounting or chronic workplace stress. (This list is not comprehensive and some of the signs can be associated with other phenomenon.)
-irritability
-confrontational, defensive or aggressive attitudes
-over-weight or under-weight relative to a “norm” for that person
-workplace “social” withdrawal
-negative shoptalk, communications and other passive aggressive behaviours
-excessive display of needs for control
-changes in productivity relative to a "norm" for that person
We have a common need to experience workplace stress in discreet episodes or it becomes chronic – and chronic stress leads to a burn-out or worse. If we work hard, long days for a period of time to meet a deadline then we must rest or take a break before starting a new project or resuming work on an ongoing project. If we find that we cannot adequately rest and cannot frequently experience rejuvenation then it might be helpful to seek external support.
As leaders and managers in organisations, it is in our best interest to be aware of the workloads that staff members carry and their responses to such. We possess the power to influence the ebb and flow of the execution of work to meet corporate goals. Hence, we can help staff members by distributing workloads in a way that helps them cope and maintain healthy functioning. We can also plan and review project timelines and corporate goals with staff stress levels in mind. The organisation will strategically benefit when well-nourished staff respond to acute, healthy stressors rather than chronic ones and hence produce better quality work.
Stress comes in many forms and manifests itself differently within individuals. What is stressful to one person may not be stressful at all to another. Also, two people may react very differently to a common stressor. For example, one person may maintain composure at work but at home experience things such as disrupted sleep patterns or disability in engaging with loved ones. Another person may unconsciously modify his or her interpersonal communications at work and be more direct or demanding with others.
When we take ourselves, our jobs and our professions seriously it is very easy to feel stress. While stress in moderation motivates and can be extremely healthy, when it becomes a chronic state it is a real problem. Hypertension is one common result of chronic stress and it can weaken or incapacitate people. We also know that it can cause heart attacks.
When we talk about our stress openly and honestly with our peers, staff, managers, colleagues, families, counsellors or others, we can break ground over the root causes of stress. Maintaining a healthy work-life balance and reserving time for ourselves is imperative. We can alleviate physical manifestations of stress by tending to our physiological needs such as sleeping adequately, eating properly and exercising appropriately. Research shows that all adults need 8 hours of sleep each day and without this the effects of sleep deprivation appear. It is a common misunderstanding that “some people” require less sleep and function normally on less than 8 hours per day. This claim is not entirely accurate and the reality is that people just get used to operating on less sleep than they really need. Eating properly means eating reasonable quantities of nutritious food, drinking enough water and consuming alcohol in moderation. Exercising appropriately means that we exercise according to our personal preferences and unique physiological needs, ie running short or long distances, attending yoga, swimming, walking for 20 minutes or other.
The following are signs that a person may exhibit when experiencing mounting or chronic workplace stress. (This list is not comprehensive and some of the signs can be associated with other phenomenon.)
-irritability
-confrontational, defensive or aggressive attitudes
-over-weight or under-weight relative to a “norm” for that person
-workplace “social” withdrawal
-negative shoptalk, communications and other passive aggressive behaviours
-excessive display of needs for control
-changes in productivity relative to a "norm" for that person
We have a common need to experience workplace stress in discreet episodes or it becomes chronic – and chronic stress leads to a burn-out or worse. If we work hard, long days for a period of time to meet a deadline then we must rest or take a break before starting a new project or resuming work on an ongoing project. If we find that we cannot adequately rest and cannot frequently experience rejuvenation then it might be helpful to seek external support.
As leaders and managers in organisations, it is in our best interest to be aware of the workloads that staff members carry and their responses to such. We possess the power to influence the ebb and flow of the execution of work to meet corporate goals. Hence, we can help staff members by distributing workloads in a way that helps them cope and maintain healthy functioning. We can also plan and review project timelines and corporate goals with staff stress levels in mind. The organisation will strategically benefit when well-nourished staff respond to acute, healthy stressors rather than chronic ones and hence produce better quality work.