How to reduce and manage work related stress
One in five Australians take time off work because they feel stressed, anxious, depressed or mentally unhealthy
When you consider what the general working environment is – bringing a group of strangers together, giving them a task to be responsible for, assigning a hierarchy, and keeping them unified toward a common goal over the course of nine hours a day, five days a week – it really is the ultimate experiment in human behaviour and sure to cause work related stress!
With a melting pot of backgrounds, experiences, thought processes, learning styles and communication traits, it’s natural for conflicts to arise in the workplace between colleagues, management, suppliers and customers. However, stressful working conditions and hard-to-manage colleagues should never get in the way of your health and happiness.
Are you suffering from work-related stress?
When a bad day at the office turns into a series of bad days, weeks and months, it’s important to assess whether you are suffering from work-related stress and anxiety.
Are you experiencing any of the below?
- Low motivation to work – lost enthusiasm to do the job
- Poor concentration on work tasks
- Poor work relationships with colleagues and supervisors
- Feelings of inadequacy and resentment
- Excessive tardiness and absenteeism
- Depression or general unhappiness
- Moodiness and irritability
- Low self esteem
Work stress can take a toll on your health and well-being, with numerous physical problems including fatigue, muscular tension, headaches, stomach aches, heart palpitations, insomnia, short temper, difficulty concentrating and not enjoying life some common consequences. In addition, with one in five Aussies taking time off work due to stress, anxiety, depression or illness, it can affect your income and performance as well.
As a further by-product of work related stress, individuals can often resort to unhealthy measures to cope with the pressure, such as overeating, eating unhealthy foods, smoking, or using drugs and alcohol, and these only compound the problem.
What causes work related stress?
Stress in the workplace can come on from any number of areas, but commonly, work stress can be provoked through:
- Relationships – inability to get on with people, being bullied, misuse of power
- Imposed restraints – noise, glare, unrealistic work targets, work overload, unchosen teams, restricted movement
- Organisational factors – lack of communication, no positive feedback on performance, no acceptance of new ideas, job insecurity, not enough staff to do the work required
- Role in organisation – lack of defined role specification, no availability for promotion, conflict with supervisors and/or colleagues, difficulty with delegation
Whatever it is at work that is causing you stress or anxiety, the steps below can help you manage the situation until it is resolved.
How to cope with work related stress
While we can’t always control where we work or who we work with, we do have the power to make our own decisions on how we react to a problem. Here are some steps you can implement to help reduce the severity of your work related stress.
Write it down: Keep a journal to identify which situations create the most stress and how you respond to them. Write down your thoughts, feelings, the people involved and how you reacted. Taking notes can help you find patterns among your stressors and your reactions to them.
Develop healthy responses: Instead of attempting to fight stress with fast food or alcohol, try to make healthy choices. Exercise is beneficial so if you can fit in some walking time to or from work or during a lunch break, the fresh air and movement will do wonders for your soul and mindset.
Getting a good night’s sleep is also important. Limit your caffeine and alcohol intake at night and put down your phone and computer a couple of hours before you go to bed. Have a regular time you go to bed and try to sleep in a cool, dark room.
Establish work/life boundaries: Learn to switch off! Establish some work/life boundaries for yourself. Try not to check work emails from home in the evening and don’t answer the phone. Use your travel time home to go through the day in your mind but once you get home and walk through the front door, that’s YOUR time to enjoy as you please.
Take time to recharge and replenish yourself: Make sure you take your annual leave. Take time off to relax and unwind, either during leave or on weekends, so you come back to work feeling better able to deal with things. A fresh perspective can do wonders.
Learn to relax: Deep breathing exercises, meditation and mindfulness can all help with stress. Start by taking a few minutes each day to focus on a simple activity like breathing, walking or enjoying a meal. It is difficult to begin with, but it will get easier with practice.
Seek support: Talk to your family and friends about the problems you are having and try to learn from the experience of others. Or seek some counselling. In a few short appointments, you can walk away with a host of strategies that will help you manage your stress, change unhealthy behaviours or solve the cause of the stress.