Have you found yourself or your employees experiencing workplace stress?
If you said yes to this question, don’t worry – employee workplace stress is a common occurrence in many businesses. Plus, it’s not always solely down to the job. Everyone has their own lives and tends to have a lot on their plate, some people may struggle to juggle both work and their personal lives.
That being said, as an employer you have a responsibility to actively find ways to support your employees well being as much as possible and help reduce workplace stress as much as possible.
What happens when employees are stressed at work?
When employees are stressed, it can really affect productivity and team morale. Often stress can become overwhelming and impact the level of work your employees are able to complete, meaning they may fall behind on work and become even more stressed. Along with this may come some negative feelings such as guilt, or feeling like they aren’t good enough for the job; often creating a snowball effect that can have detrimental effects on the employee, and in turn, the business.
That’s why it’s so important to make sure you’re in tune with your employees and making sure you’re reducing stress as much as possible, so read on for some top tips on reducing workplace stress, from HR professionals.
What ways can employee stress in the workplace be reduced?
- It’s important to actively recognise when your employees are doing a good job. Giving praise to your team lets them know that you’re noticing their hard work and efforts, which will motivate them, improve their morale and encourage them to continue working hard.
- From time to time employees will go through hard times, both at work and in their personal lives. Especially if they’re struggling personally, this may begin to reflect in the workplace and in the work they produce. Make sure they’re aware of your open-door policy and that you’re there to listen and support where you can. Try to be as accommodating as possible, even if it means changing around their hours temporarily.
- Make sure that everyone within your business is treated fairly by each other. If certain employees are being treated differently or unfairly, this can cause a lot of stress on them and others, resulting in reduced morale, productivity, and quality of work.
- Be sure to set realistic, achievable, and clear goals for your employees. Setting unrealistic and impossible goals or expectations is going to put a lot of pressure and stress on your employees when they can’t meet these expectations. So sit down them, make sure they’re aware of what is expected and that goals are actually achievable. It’s also important to make sure you’re holding your employees accountable too.
- Lead by example. Whether it’s you, managers, or supervisors, or anyone within the business – make sure people are leading by example. If management are staying late every night or coming to work very early everyday, employees may start to think this is expected of them too which will cause a lot of stress. If it’s not, then make this clear. Always lead in the way you want your employees to act.
- Offer flexible working where you can. Especially after the pandemic, many employers are offering flexible working or hybrid working (a mix of from the office and from home), so it’s becoming more and more common and has helped many employees reduce stress. It could be as little as letting an employee work and leave an hour earlier and leave an hour earlier to accommodate their commute.
- Encourage mindfulness in the workplace. Mindfulness is super important, particularly when at work. You could look at arranging mindfulness classes or workshops to make sure your employees are feeling good in the workplace. Think about ways you can allow your employees to get away from their desks and take a break from the office too with some fresh air.
Do you need support managing employee stress in the workplace?
If so, speak to one of our experienced HR professionals. We can arrange a meeting with you and recommend ways you can help reduce employee stress for your employees. Call us on 01733 793660 today.
