Pick up any newspaper or listen to any news stations. We all know that workplace stress is real, and it is negatively affecting employees and their families. There are a lot of statistics released that support the fact of stress in the workplace.
- 78% of Americans describe their jobs as stressful
- 40% of workers report their job is very or extremely stressful
- 25% view their jobs as the number one stressor in their lives
- 75% of employees believe that workers have more on-the-job stress than a generation ago
- 26% of workers said they were often or very often burned out or stress by their work
- Job stress is more strongly associates with health complaints than financial or family problems
- 80% of workers feel stress on the job
- 50% need help in learning how to manage stress
- 42% say their coworkers need help with stress
- 25% have felt like screaming or shouting because of job stress
- 10% are concerned about an individual at work they fear could become violent
- 14% had felt like striking a coworker in the past year
- 9% are aware of an assault or violent act in their workplace
- 18% had experienced some sort of threat or verbal intimidation in the past year
Source: The American Institute of Stress
American workers are stressed out and work stress has significant health consequences that can range from sick days due to getting colds and flu to severe medical conditions like heart disease, diabetes, cancer, etc.
Stress can manifest itself in many different ways and can have harmful physical, mental, or even behavioral effects. According to the Mayo Clinic, stress can cause headaches, muscle aches or problems sleeping, and can also cause irritability, depression, or lead to alcohol or drug abuse. Employers can readily see the effects of stress on their employees.
Stress Management for Workplace
As an employer, there are numerous things you can do to help your employees manage their stress.
Encourage a healthy lifestyle
Encourage a healthy lifestyle to help your employees reduce stress. Develop a workplace wellness program that improves the health of your employees. This not only encourages a healthy lifestyle but also helps employees when it comes to bonding with their colleagues as well as their family. Also, try and encourage eating healthy food for lunch. Instead of having fried chicken wings for lunch, cater a healthier option for the team like grilled chicken salad. You could also stock up the office pantry with healthy snacks like granola bars and different types of fruits for them to snack on throughout the day.
Focus on positive culture
Create a healthy company culture by promoting an ‘open-door’ policy in your company and welcome employees any time during office hours. Take the time for your employees and be a listener as well. When an ‘open-door’ policy is being practiced at the workplace; other staff will get the change in company culture and will eventually cultivate that culture as well. This provides opportunities for social interaction among employees.
Other ideas to implement in your workplace
- Balanced workload
- Create Program to relieve stress
- Allow flexi-time and remote working
- Clarity of understanding of leadership and roles
- Improve communication
- Recognize and engage employees at work
- Make wellness a part of the workplace
- Help employees “move” in the office
- Have a system in the office to resolve conflict
- Involve employees in decision making
- Lead by example
- Encourage team bonding environment
- Set up and promote EAP Programs
- Give feedback regularly
An Employer should not ignore workplace stress and a company should take all the necessary steps to reduce it from the work environment.
Let Insight Wellness Works help you make a positive connection between healthy employees and company performance with a Workplace Wellness Program for your employees.
Contact
Insight Wellness Works is based in St. Petersburg, Florida, and has been serving employers in Tampa Bay and its surrounding cities since 2010. We have a large team of credentialed wellness professionals offering a variety of workplace wellness services that focus on health promotion and disease prevention. We change lives and transform the culture of health in workplaces. Contact us today at 727-742-9137 to discuss how we can help your business and employees achieve wellness goals.
