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Recommendations to Reduce Workplace Stress

Expert AuthorHow to manage stress in today’s organization. That is a challenge with which many business owners wrestle. Regardless of company size or work performed within the company, everyone wants recommendations to reduce workplace stress.

What is workplace stress?

“Job stress can be defined as the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources, or needs of the worker. Job stress can lead to poor health and even injury.”

[Stress at work, (United States National Institute

of Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, 1999.]

Who Experiences Workplace Stress?

All of us experience workplace stress at one time or another. We do not have to be “going to work” in the business world to experience it. It is present in every situation where we are responsible for jobs. If a mother is responsible to manage the household budget, and has never learned to manage money, she will encounter workplace stress. If a father takes on the responsibility of coaching the local soccer team, but lacks the capabilities to do a proper job, he will likely experience workplace stress. This is why each individual needs to enhance its immune system with proper diet and lots of exercise. It is also important to denote that a tumescent liposuction procedure, smart liposuction, ultrasonic liposuction and many others must not be done as a substitute for diet or exercise.

Recommendations

The following five recommendations to reduce workplace stress are offered as a beginning step.

1. Clarify: Be sure each employee has a job description, and fully understands everything on it. If you are the employee, request a job description. Know WHO is responsible for a task, and WHAT the task is, and you will reduce workplace stress.

2. Control: Give employees as much control as possible, since control directly impacts reactions to high stress situations. An employee who is allowed, within reason, to control his or her workflow will be much more able to handle workplace stress.

3. Communicate: Make communication easy among workers. Employees and employers alike should be comfortable with conversations about positive and negative situations. Comfortable communication on small matters can lead to communication on workplace stress, thereby reducing the problem.

4. Condition: Physical exercise is an essential recommendation to reduce workplace stress. If you are an employee, recommend this to your boss. If you are the boss, recommend it to employees. Then take action to be sure there is a TIME and a PLACE where exercise can take place. Research shows that stress can also lead to weight gain. But this does not necessarily mean there is a need for a lipo procedure and expensive lipo cost. Exercise is good enough to do the trick to attain good physical condition.

5. Counsel: Every employee, at whatever level in a company, should be counseled regarding the WHY of recommendations to reduce workplace stress. If everyone recognizes the impact of stress-related illness and injury on the bottom line, and realizes the impact of that on individual salaries, greater adherence can be expected to the first four recommendations to reduce workplace stress.

Research studies have shown that workplace stress impairs a worker’s ability to function intellectually, emotionally, and in his or her interactions with others. He or she is rendered incapable of meeting the requirements of the job.

A wise employer will reduce workplace stress. A wise employee will do everything possible to communicate his or her to the employer, and work together to reduce workplace stress.

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Comments

4 Responses to “Recommendations to Reduce Workplace Stress”
  1. Jack Pallet says:

    Elaborating on the “physical exercise” suggestion, I think a great employee benefit is to either offer to pay part of a health club membership or, at the very least, try to negotiate group rates at a fitness club. Or…at the very, VERY least, encourage employees to get away from their computers or work stations during lunch and take a walk!

  2. I think this is a very important issue.What i believe is that when people feel overwhelmed they lose confidence and become irritable or withdrawn, making them less productive and effective and their work less rewarding. If the warning signs of work stress go unattended, they can lead to bigger problems. Beyond interfering with job performance and satisfaction, chronic or intense stress can also lead to physical and emotional health problems.

  3. Nicole@Life Coaching Courses says:

    The use of soft music/nature sounds played in the background can also help to reduce stress in the office.

  4. Brian Dear says:

    One idea that doesn’t seem to get much play is providing some stress relief training to employees within organizations. Most of us know what stress is, but few people seem to recognize when stress is creating a problem. It’s like the boiling frog: a frog in warm water won’t jump out when the water slowly begins to boil, yet if you tossed a frog into water already boiling, he’ll jump right out. The workplace is a slowly heating pot of water — increasing stress relief training (along with promoting exercise, team building and organizational agility) would result in some profound gains in productivity.

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