The workplace is full of stress, making it hard for employees to remain engaged. Learn how to reduce stress for yourself and others.
There are many general ideas to help reduce stress at work. However, make sure you tailor them to your staff. Remember that the best strategies start with leadership’s example. Therefore, use these ideas…but follow them yourself.
Stress costs U.S. businesses an estimated $300 billion a year. In addition, the workplace has been found to be the number one source of stress for American workers.
As a manager, you simply cannot afford to ignore this issue. It’s important to look at our employees and the environments we create for them. Make sure your office isn’t too stressful for your employees. However, this means looking at the workplace as a whole, not just from one perspective.
1. Make sure your workplace is healthy.
Exercise and healthy living are two of the best things to fight stress at work. Exercise helps employees forget about the stress of their jobs. They focus on the task at hand and do not think about the stress. When the brain releases endorphins, it makes you happier.
During their lunch breaks, encourage people to go for a walk. Offer discounted gym memberships to employees. In addition, have a yoga teacher come into the office and teach people how to do yoga.
Have people who use fitness trackers compete in a steps race. Do this in teams. Similarly, offer healthy snacks at work. All of these things help reduce stress and bring a greater sense of well-being into the office.
Employees feel important when they think you care about their health.
Sixty-six percent of employees said they were very or extremely happy when their employers kept the fridge and cupboards stocked. In addition, eighty-three percent said having healthy and fresh snacks was a big perk. A simple thing like having fresh fruit or cartons of yogurt in the fridge goes a long way toward helping your employees reduce stress.
2. Change the environment to reduce stress.
A lot of stress comes from the way we live. Take a look at everything in your office. In addition, think about how it affects the well-being of your team.
Some simple things, like how good the coffee is, affect employees. In addition, the height of cubicle walls has the potential to make employees more or less happy at their jobs.
Update the office with a bright color scheme, more plants, or new silverware to make it more lively. Make sure you have enough room to add a break table. Create a place where employees have the chance to take their minds off of their work for a while. Any positive changes that make employees happier also make them less stressed.
3. Allow for flexible hours and working from home.
You hired your employees because you believed in their ability to do their jobs well and on time. Therefore, let them show you. Don’t let your office feel like a cell.
Rather, let it feel like a place where people get things done. Let your employees know that their job is defined by how well and quickly they do their work. It is not, however, defined by how many times they clock in.
Allow your employees to work from home. In addition, let them set their own start and end times. This is good for morale in the office. Additionally, the policy shows that you trust your employees enough not to babysit them. This also boosts morale.
4. To reduce stress, make sure people have fun together.
Employees spend a lot of time together. It stands to reason that the better they know each other and get along, the less stress they are likely to feel on any given day.
Therefore, as coworkers get to know each other, expectations and communication barriers are broken down. This makes it easier for them to work together in the future.
5. Make time to be alone. This is a great way to reduce stress.
It’s not possible to avoid all stress. However, try to make it less pronounced when it does happen. Make sure your employees have a place where they can get away from work for a while.
Research shows that more than 80% of employees who were disengaged and hostile wanted to be able to take stress-relief breaks. They looked for options like taking a nap, getting a massage, or a scheduled break. Even a bench outside is a good place to get away from the chaos of the daily grind.
In addition, think about longer, retreat-style vacations. These are powerful ways to reduce stress.
If your company can afford to do so, set aside “No Meeting Mondays” or something similar. Let employees work on their own projects. In addition, let it be a day where they do not get bogged down in meetings or overwhelmed by a lot of work.
6. Offer on-site or online counseling.
Counseling is another way that many companies are helping workers deal with stress.
In a recent study, almost half of workers said they needed help learning how to deal with the stress of their jobs. It doesn’t matter if employees use this strategy in the office in groups or alone. It helps them prepare for what stress comes their way.
7. Thank your employees.
Employees love praise for a job well done. In addition, praising them leads to a big rise in their level of engagement.
Each employee has a different personality. Therefore, be careful when you think about how and when to recognize them. Some employees like to be called out in a meeting or praised in a company-wide email. Others, on the other hand, prefer a card on their desk or a thank you in person. Be aware that not everyone likes to be called out publicly.
It doesn’t matter how you show your employees that you care about their success and want to share it with other people. They will appreciate that. After that, stress levels go down. Employees are happier and more comfortable. That always makes them feel better.
