James SpillaneIn an “always-on” digital age, stress can affect workers in every type of business. The results can be harmful, from personal turmoil to professional burnout. Business owners and managers must take a proactive approach to workplace stress by understanding its causes, working to remove workplace stressors, and compassionately supporting workers who are stressed.
When workers operate under serious strain, they pose a systemic risk to the entire businesses. Their productivity may sag and work quality can become erratic. At the same time, the likelihood these workers come into conflict with their colleagues inside the firm and partners and clients outside the firm increases dramatically. In severe cases, overstressed workers may develop serious health problems that take a financial and emotional toll on businesses.
Instead of allowing workplace stress to fester and result in these serious consequences, business owners should find a better way. They should work to adjust the structure and expectations of their workplace to create a supporting environment that encourages success instead of stress. This goes beyond simply putting in place new policies; in many cases, a shift in mindset is needed to tackle the challenge of workplace stress head on.
Signs of stress in the workplace
Stress in the workplace can manifest itself in many ways. Workplace stress is medically defined as a condition that results from an imbalance between the demands placed on someone and their ability to cope; thus, the degree of stress and the reaction to it varies dramatically from employee to employee. Examples of stress in an individual can include depression or feelings of depression, increased moodiness, difficulty concentrating or focusing, and significant deviations from normal behavior.
In addition to those signs in individuals, it is also possible for employers to see signs of stress in the workplace across all employees. Increasing numbers of disputes within the staff, high turnover, more absenteeism, and frequent complaints and grievances can all be signs of stress throughout the workplace. A savvy business owner will be attuned to these signs but, most importantly, will act proactively to prevent workplace stress from festering.
Causes of stress in the workplace
Just as stress has many symptoms, there are also many causes of stress in the workplace. Business owners should consider where changes can be effective in reducing stress in the workplace. Among the factors that can lead to stress are work structure, work environment, management structure and styles, the degree of autonomy given to workers, preparation and training, and demands at work.
Work structure : A muddled management structure, or one where people have conflicting roles, frequently causes stress. A clear hierarchy where everyone feels valued and understands their responsibilities is better.
Work environment : When team members are encouraged to be indifferent to each other, or to behave aggressively, stress often follows. Workplaces need clear expectations for appropriate staff behavior.
Management structure and styles : Connected to work structure, it’s also important all employees have a clear understanding of who they report to. As important, abusive or erratic management practices must be avoided. Where they exist, stress quickly follows.
Autonomy : Employees who are given a wider degree of autonomy are frequently happier and less stressed. Treating employees like robots, or aggressively micromanaging them, often leads to feelings of burnout and stress as workers feel like they have no control over their day-to-day work lives.
Preparation and training : Stress can often be a function of employees feeling that they are in over their heads. Workplaces that establish clear expectations and train workers for the jobs they do experience lower collective stress levels.
Demands at work : As difficult as it may be, business owners must avoid placing unreasonable demands on employees. Insisting that workers have time off and time away from work is essential to preventing stress and burnout.
Reducing stress in the workplace
With this guidance in mind, it’s incumbent on business owners to be proactive leaders who create stress-fighting workplaces. That starts by building a culture that values each and every employee and prioritizes morale and productivity.
All workplace decisions, even those that seem most tangential to workplace stress, should at least be made with consideration for how they might affect employees and increase stress. This sort of approach will prevent problems from festering in a business that can lead to serious repercussions.
Managing work related stress
Even if business owners take proactive steps to address stress in the workplace, employees may still experience work-related stress. That’s why it’s critical that business owners build a compassionate workplace that quickly helps stressed employees, addresses the root causes of their discomfort and, if necessary, connects them to appropriate support such a mental health resources.
Repercussions of work related stress
Work related stress can lead to serious personal and professional issues for workers, as well as open up businesses to declines in productivity, internal and external conflict, and, increasingly, legal liability.
Personal injury lawyers, a particularly aggressive field of attorneys with experience bringing cases against businesses, have zeroed in on workplace stress as an opportunity to sue businesses on behalf of clients that have suffered from working in stressful work environments.
The increasing number of workplace stress claims has its roots in a variety of federal, state, and local labor laws that protect employees from unfair and hostile work environments. When personal injury lawyers are able to prove these workplace stress claims, businesses can be forced to pay very large — even potentially crippling — damages.
Smart business owners understand the potential for workplace stress claims and work proactively to ensure that their businesses provide a supportive environment for staff that minimizes stress. Such an approach is not only compassionate; it is also essential for running a business today.
This article was written for Business 2 Community by James Spillane.
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It is fortunate that Preventatism has been developed, and is available for each individual to defend themselves against the incoming distresses of life, to ensure that they do not become stress and create the conditions for serious disorders. Employers like the idea since Preventatism is very economic, systematic and efficient. Employees also find that the benefits are magic, bringing a more comfortable personal life. Google or Facebook The Preventatists
For the most part I enjoyed the content of your article Sarah, though it does perpetuate the idea that workplace stress is a result of employees inability to cope to a large degree.
The reality is workplace stress is a direct consequence of the way a workplace is organised, managed and lead. This is not some ethereal or tenuous concept, but well researched and well understood. A business intent on reducing the workplace stressors it has created or permitted is able to eliminate or reduce these stressors and improve working conditions.
There appears to be two barriers though.
1. society continues to let businesses off the hook when it comes to workplace stress. Why aren’t we talking about the workplace health and safety obligations all employers have for its employee’s mental health and wellbeing. This is enshrined in legislation, but even our authorities are loath to act against companies who create mentally unhealthy workplaces. We must stop companies from shifting the problem to its employees and make them accountable for the stressful environment they have created. We must change the conversation and reframe the problem.
2. The international psychology fraternity have identified workplace stress as an industry growth strategy and have made this issue their domain, by including resilience and mindfulness in their curriculum and providing training, coaching and tertiary treatment services to companies. The issue here is it perpetuates the belief that workplace stress is the employees problem, and does nothing to improve the workplace situation. Worse though is the fact that the popular press upon hearing about a company adopting these services for its employees then runs an article espousing how humanistic the company is. Worse again is that the psychology industry is not served by remedying the workplace stress situation as this will diminish this strategic market for them.
The good news is that most States of Australia, thanks to our ongoing OHS&W harmonisation efforts, are targeting the second most common workers compensation claim category by “guiding” employers to intervene at the primary level and reduce the sources of stress within their organisation.
I hope this sounds the death knell for the resilience and mindfulness providers who have cornered the workplace stress management market with their secondary intervention approach and convinced too many organisations that they don’t need to address workplace stress directly and have instead just been sending their staff on a course to sort it out.
This legislative guidance shifts the burden and accountability back where it belongs, with the employer.
The bad news is we are still a long way off best practice in this space, with most of the Scandinavian countries legislating mandatory stress management processes and primary interventions a decade or more ago (it’s no small coincidence that the Danes are consistently surveyed to be the happiest people on the planet).
This formulaic but highly effective legislated approach does not seem to feature on the agenda of any Australian jurisdiction at the moment, as demonstrated by each state choosing the guidance only path, so we aren’t likely to see best practice adopted for another decade perhaps.
The other dissapointment for me is the generic risk management process advice.
There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with this model, but with over two decades of robust academic research in the field of workplace stress (again predominately lead by Scandinavian countries) there are more effective and quite specific processes, methodologies and practical tools at an employer’s disposal that should have featured in this guidance.
Employers who are unfamiliar with tackling workplace stress will find the guidance offered by their State’s authorities is too vague to be used to execute an effective workplace stress program.
My real concern is that this guidance sets a standard which organisation’s efforts, processes and results will be judged against, and the hurdle is set too low given what we know is achievable. I suspect the harm that is being caused by stress in the workplace will unfortunately continue to rise in the interim, and whilst I hope this isn’t the case, maybe it will spurr our legislators to place more stringent requirements on businesses to manage the workplace stress that they have created.