The importance of managing stress in the workplace
Published on April 13th, 2022 | by Sophie West
The whole of April is dedicated to Stress Management. According to Perkbox 79% of British adults in employment commonly experience work-related stress. This is 20% higher than 2018’s findings. These findings indicate that work-related stress is on the rise and is probably affecting the majority in your place of work.
What is stress?
Stress is a physical response dating back to our fight or flight response which can release a mix of hormones and chemicals such as adrenaline, cortisol, and norepinephrine. This would have given the cave person in us the response they needed to survive. In the modern world, this can still help us survive dangerous situations. However, it’s the same response with work-related stress and is triggered when our bodies feel overloaded by the pressure being placed on them and may make you feel upset, worried, or unable to cope. Stress is not a weakness and should never be construed so.
In these stressful situations, the blood flow only goes to the important muscles needed to fight or flee, so brain function is minimised, leading to the inability to think straight. Being stressed for long periods of time can have some serious side effects on our general health.
Managing and coping with stress in the workplace
As a company, it is important to recognise stress and the causes early on and take steps to look after the staff involved. You can do this by:
Consequences of stress in the workplace
If stress reaches high levels for individuals within the workplace it can have undesirable results for a business, such as a decline in productivity, high employee turnover rates, frequent absenteeism, legal costs, increased training, and recruitment costs plus more. Employees who are more stressed can commit more mistakes and their quality of work can become compromised.
High employee turnover rates
High rates of employee turnover within a business are one of the direct effects of work-related stress. This is mainly due to the fact that employees are less likely to be satisfied with their jobs and their working environment. They will simply leave the company, especially if they see that the business will not help them address the concerns they have.
Frequent absenteeism
Employees who experience massive stress levels are likely to get sick, which means they will have more time off from work. It may also be caused by employees who feel that they cannot cope with the stress levels of their work environment.
What’s worse, a lot of companies will dismiss the above as irresponsibility from the employee as they are unaware of the stressful work environment that is affecting performance.
Legal costs
If an employee feels that the business failed to provide a safe and healthy working environment whilst at the organisation, they have the option to settle matters by seeking legal assistance. A safe working environment includes a harassment and bully-free workplace, satisfactory safety and guidelines, and proper training.
Can some stress be a good thing?
Stress can help us push ourselves and work better. This short-lived stress can actually help your mental performance and keep you more alert. Good stress is when we feel excited about stuff in our life. However, as the stress response is triggered either way it can easily flip from one to the other.
What can your business do and how can Agility help?
Managing and highlighting stress in the workplace can really help employee morale and in turn increase productivity and longevity at a company. At Agility we offer an abundance of training and workshops to help your business manage stress from Stress Awareness Training, Mental Health awareness and Employee wellbeing. Get in touch with the team on 01527 571 611 or email info@agiltyrac.com.
