Stress at Work

Working for almost ten hours a day everyday for five days (sometimes even more) can be truly stressful. Each day, you wake up in the morning, getting a bit harried since you're going to be late. You eat a bit of breakfast, drink lots of coffee, and quickly do errands on the way to work. Once you get to the office, the world seems to be different. A whole new scenario away from your comfort zone, the workplace would be your “home” for the whole day.

In the office, there is nothing more to do but work. Of course, work can be fun, if you want it to be. More often than not, work means business. And with this comes stress and anxiety. It is fairly common for people to experience such stress and anxiety when at work, since they are bound by projects, deadlines, reports, and other work related issues for the rest of the day. Stressing about deadlines for example, can give the person a feeling of worry and fear. It means that stress is usually accompanied by anxiety as well. Unfortunately, they go side by side in giving the person more headaches and thus having poor input on their work productivity.

Stress management is critical for people who work tirelessly, also known as workaholics. They are more vulnerable to stress and anxiety, since they are really into their work. These people really give all their best in committing to the best work performance and productivity. Such feelings of heaviness and being tired and worrisome can result in sickness absences in work. By practicing stress management, one can reduce such absences, increase on employee's commitment to work, increase staff performance and productivity, staff recruitment and retention, staff turnover or leave intentions, good customer satisfaction, and overall organizational reputation and image.

Stress and anxiety cannot be avoided, especially in the workplace. Employees suffering from these feelings are apt to smoke or drink excessively, doing several jobs all at once, missing breaks, rushing, hurrying, being available to everyone, eating on the run, taking work home, and having no time for exercise or relaxation.

Stress management can be easy if all the employees in the workplace support and contribute to the prevention of stress in the office. A simple stress policy, for example, can help in reducing such stress during office hours. The company implements a stress policy by identifying all the workplace stressors and give out risk assessments to stop stress, providing training in good management skills for all supervisory staff, giving confidential counseling for staff affected by stress and anxiety, among many others. This kind of policy can decrease stress in the workplace, if properly executed.

Supervisory personnel could also help an employee suffering from stress and anxiety in the workplace. By understanding his/ her current situation, giving support, and developing a plan to deal with the pressure and stress, they can ensure good employee performance by working together in omitting stress and anxiety at work. Remember, a happy worker is a productive worker.