How to Reduce Chronic Stress in the Workplace: A Guide for Employers
Everyone will experience some level of stress in their lives, particularly in the workplace. None of us are immune to the effects of a tight deadline or a larger than normal workload, the typical workplace stressors that everyone will likely face during the course of their career.
But the biggest issues come when these stressors are long term, rather than a temporary bump in the road, and lead to chronic stress. This is both a physiological and psychological response that happens when the demands we face in life outweigh the resources we have to deal with them.
Chronic stress can be difficult to manage as an employer, but there are steps you can take to reduce workplace stress that your team feels each day and make their work life a more positive, fulfilling experience.
What causes chronic workplace stress?
The causes of stress in the workplace vary from person to person, but nearly 40% of employees report experiencing chronic stress everyday. Employers have a duty of care towards their staff, including supporting their mental health in the same way as you would the physical wellbeing and safety of your team.
The Health and Safety Executive outlines the six core areas of work design that can impact stress as being:
- Demands
- Control
- Support
- Relationships
- Role
- Change
While stress in and of itself isn’t an illness, the impact that ongoing stress can have on individuals can quickly translate into physical and mental changes.
For some, one of these causes could be manageable, while for someone else, they may struggle to cope. As employers, it’s important to be able to recognise these possible stress areas and work with employees to ensure that they have one-on-one support if they need this to address their concerns.
10 ways to reduce stress at work
There are numerous ways to reduce the effects of stress in the workplace, from short term measures and one-off initiatives to longer, more intensive programs that are fully integrated into your company culture.
And with 74% of employees actively seeking wellbeing solutions to help manage their stress at work, now is the best time to start implementing a company-wide plan to identify and address the possible causes of workplace stress.
1. Understand the signs of stress
The effects of stress aren’t only felt by the employee experiencing it - their whole team can be impacted by the changes in behaviour that result from ongoing high levels of stress. For employers, it’s vital that you understand what to look for that could be an early sign of a larger problem.
Employees may begin to exhibit behavioural signs that could point to larger issues. Persistent lateness where they had never struggled with this before, missing deadlines, becoming increasingly isolated at work, exhibiting cynical behaviour, or taking more sick days are all possible areas for concern.
Intellectual and emotional changes may also come up for these individuals, such as lack of concentration or motivation, irritability, anxiety, poor decision making, memory loss, low morale, poor productivity and declining performance at work. These may also contribute to some of the behavioural changes that come with chronic stress.
Although they may be more difficult for employers to spot, physical changes can also be a sign of stress. Rapid weight loss, lack of sleep, headaches and increased blood pressure can all be symptoms of a stressed employee.
2. Measure employee stress levels
Both the physiological and psychological impacts of stress can and should be measured by employers to better understand how these individuals need to be supported. Although the response to stress is unique and personal, ongoing monitoring across the company means that employers can take action before employee burnout becomes a significant issue.
Thanks to technological advances such as the prevalence of wearable devices, it’s now more possible than ever before to track stress, along with the efficacy of implemented solutions once these have been rolled out. Heart rate, sleep quality, and even oxygen levels can all be routinely tracked through these devices, providing insight into our physiological response to stressors throughout the day.
There are ethical considerations to this, though, and there’s a fine line between supporting your team and implementing surveillance tactics throughout their work day. With tools like the Walking on Earth WONE Index, employers can gather anonymised and aggregated data across the team, providing the privacy individuals need while still giving employers the opportunity to see an overall stress score for the company.
The WONE Index is a proprietary model that blends biometric data from wearable technology like Apple Health, FitBit, Garmin, Google Fit, Oura, Polar and Withings with self-reported psychological assessment information to measure employee stress levels throughout the day.
A single score is generated across the three pillars of energy, resilience and activity to provide employees with a personalised, individual look at their own stress levels. This data is visible from a single dashboard for employees to track and manage their own stress levels, better understand their stress triggers, and address what needs to be changed to lower their stress.
For employers, the aggregated data means that employee information remains completely private but still gives insights that allow leadership to objectively track and take quick, effective action against burnout on a company-wide scale.
3. Reduce demands on the team
Workload is typically the most common reason for ongoing work-related stress. This could be an ongoing problem, particularly if someone leaves the team and the remaining employees are responsible for their workload until a new hire is made.
While an excessive workload can sometimes be outside of the employer’s control, such as during busy seasons, efforts should always be made to limit the time employees are made to work more than usual.
If the demands of the team are higher than usual and appear to have no imminent end, consider hiring additional staff to support those already at the company. While investment will need to be made to train them, this can significantly help lower the overall workload that each employee is responsible for and reduce their stress levels.
4. Help employees build stress resilience
Like any habit, it takes time and practice to build up resilience as a natural reaction to stress. There are numerous ways for employees to do this, like practising mindfulness, meditating, exercising regularly, and developing problem-solving skills.
Hosting events like in-office yoga or meditation practices can be a great way to incorporate anti-stress activities into the workplace. Tools like the Walking on Earth platform can also help employees find ways to practise stress resilience often. They can participate in live sessions throughout the workday, or watch content on-demand and catch up in their own time.
Consider planning activities and speakers that coincide with mental health awareness days. These are a good opportunity to get your employees involved and let them know about wellbeing initiatives you offer as a company. This is particularly important when rolling out new policies or wellbeing programs that the team could benefit from.
5. Creative a positive and supportive environment
A positive work environment has two key aspects—people and place. Encourage your team to build community with their coworkers through out-of-hours social events and team bonding activities. This helps people get to know each other outside the workplace and find support for when they need it most.
It’s also important to encourage your team to take breaks frequently. Our brains can only focus on work for 90 minutes to 2 hours at a time before rest is needed. Employees should feel that they’re able to step away from their desk, even for a few minutes, multiple times a day. During this time, incorporating live or on-demand sessions in the Walking on Earth app can provide micro moments of recovery throughout the day.
Creating and enforcing boundaries around communication is also key for establishing a supportive and positive work environment. With work and personal lives becoming blurred due to emails, texts and phone calls, it’s essential as an employer to clearly outline what type of communication is urgent and when employees can and should be contacted outside of standard work hours. Putting these boundaries into place can help employees feel that their personal time is respected.
6. Train managers and leaders
Ensuring that your team leaders and managers are sufficiently trained and supported is vital for passing that support down the chain to the rest of your team. Those who don’t receive the right kind of help or guidance from their managers often note higher levels of stress than those who feel well supported.
Management should be trained both in leadership skills and their essential job role. This allows them to more easily identify the signs of stress and burnout in their employees before chronic stress can develop. Suitably trained leaders also give employees someone they can turn to if their workload becomes too unmanageable or they’re struggling to complete their tasks.
7. Provide greater flexibility and control
The optimal work environment and schedule will differ for every individual, so allowing your employees flexibility and greater control over their own situation can significantly reduce workplace stress.
Offering the flexibility of in-office or work from home can help your team better manage their work and personal obligations, while having unlimited time off or a condensed schedule may be a good solution for allowing your team the rest time they need to function at their best during work hours.
Flexible policies are one of the top considerations that job candidates look for when searching for a new position. For those already at your company, retention rates may be higher when employees can build a better work life balance in a way that works best for them.
8. Build a culture of psychological safety
In the workplace, psychological safety means that individuals feel safe and comfortable taking risks as part of the group. This could mean sharing new ideas freely and openly, or feeling able to discuss problems with a manager. With this culture in place, individuals will feel more able to deal with stressors as they come up.
Building a culture of psychological safety often starts with leadership, clearly demonstrating that any issues are taken seriously and that every employee is valued and respected. Addressing any negativity as soon as possible demonstrates that this attitude isn’t tolerated and that everyone must work together as a team to progress.
9. Create a culture of growth and recognition
Promoting your team members may not be possible every year, but you should always look for ways to affirm your team and help individuals grow professionally.
Publicly recognising good work motivates everyone on the team, not only the employee involved, along with helping that individual feel a sense of pride over the work they’ve done. This level of recognition can increase productivity and loyalty to the company, leading to higher retention rates.
There are several ways that you could recognise team members beyond public acknowledge, including:
- Private congratulations from senior leadership
- An increase in responsibility or scope of work to show trust, if a promotion isn’t possible
- A monetary reward like a bonus, prize, or pay increase
10. Provide accessible wellbeing resources
Any wellbeing policies or initiatives should be long term measures, rather than one-off events, if you want to ensure that work stress levels are managed moving forward. Creating a corporate employee wellbeing program is an ideal way to highlight that overall health and wellbeing is a core value of your organisation.
Be sure to include a variety of policies, initiatives and activities for employees to choose what works best for them when it comes to addressing their own stress triggers. Re-prioritise health and wellbeing for your team with a dedicated program that takes stress seriously.
Refocus on workplace stress management and prevent burnout in your team
Global stress levels are undoubtedly rising, but we can turn the tide with a preventative approach to workplace stress and burnout. Through a proprietary methodology using biometric data and artificial intelligence (AI), the WONE Method provides data-informed micro moments of recovery, led by experts from health, science and beyond.
Schedule a demo of the WONE app today and invest in your employees long term health and wellbeing today.
