Is Professional Stress Good? Important Details You Must Know

When was the last time you didn’t wait for weekends or your shift to get over? Maybe a long time back. There is no harm in working extra hours to complete your task, not with formality but with diligence and precision. But, when your office space and work-life start taking a toll on your health, we need to worry. Workspace space can be detrimental not just for the employees but for the employers too. According to statistics, around 40% of the employees reported that their professional life was extremely hectic and stressful. The numbers are quite problematic and raise an issue of what a professional experience can do to your mental health. The media has recently thrown lights over the harmful effects stress can take. There are various reasons due to which a person may suffer from job stress, and it is never able to cope up with it. As promised we are here to listen and help you, we have curated a list of the reasons why one might be suffering from work stress and how they can cope up with it.

Why you’re feeling stressed at your workplace?

The stress triggering points may vary from industry to industries and the various roles that one plays in their workplace. However, few pointers may overlap regardless of your position and industry.

Downsizing or laying off

We all know that due to the current economic crunch, many Industries are suffering from the situation of complete closure. Due to the lousy economy, the companies are now downsizing or laying off their employees. Some workers might have their job but are not salaried on time. This has created an extremely stressful situation for people around the globe. Not just India, but every developing economy is going through this stressful situation. The people all around the world are worried about their job and particularly if anyone around them is getting their salary on time. It is a human tendency to feel bad about themselves if someone else is doing good. Hence if you are suffering from depression or any other mental issue as you are worried about losing your job or not finding a new one, then let us tell you that few industries are still hiring and are waiting for an employee just like you when one door closes many opens.

An increased workload

Since lots of industries and businesses are laying off their current employees, the remaining workers are facing the issue of heavy workload. This can be exhausting, both physically and mentally. Even the salaried employees are finding themselves putting in extra hours just to finish their work. In fact, in the current scenario of COVID-19, the workers are not even getting paid for the overtime they are doing. The early workers are forced to work harder so that they can finish their job at the same time. The scenario where your work hours are limited but the tasks are doubled causes a stressful situation.

Performance pressure

A workplace that heavily depends on your performance and continuously measures your productivity never realizes that these criteria can put their employees or workers in a stressful situation. Most of the people have reported their companies exploiting them by threatening to downsize or to make a salary cut based on their performance. Many of the industry insiders spill the beans that companies are now intentionally laying off their employees so that they can hire new talent at low prices. This creates peer pressure on the employee’s mental health & in return results to more distraction from their work.

Extended working hours

In a scenario where there is work from home all around the nation, employers have found a new way by pulling their employees into longer working hours. One thing that they don’t realize is that management is making their employees prone to many health problems. Most of them being mental health issues. People who are working for longer hours, along with various performance work stress, are at a higher propensity to suffer from chronic diseases like diabetes, weight gain, and even heart disease. Unhealthy workers are not able to combat stress tactfully. This stress causes health issues, and health issues are causing stress. It is a vicious circle that can only end if we can train our employees and employers to combat stressful situations.

Unhealthy relations with coworkers

We spent at least 9 to 10 hours with our coworkers. They become our friends and families. However, if we don’t get along with our coworkers and are facing continuous issues with them, then the workplace can be stressful. People who are facing problems with coworkers even suffer from anxiety and have very low productivity. Such people tend to lose their morale and face continuous issues to work in a group or with a team member.

But why professional stress becomes so harmful?

Well! The simple answer is stress accumulates and later on impacts on the mental health of workers. The professional stress is inevitable and may lead to different severe conditions like:

Health issues

An employee who is continuously suffering from work stress can call in for sick leave anytime. Stress can make a person unhealthy. Fear not just have mental repercussions but also the physical ones. This means that most of your workforce being on sick leaves most of the time. The absenteeism can even lead to low productivity, and there are chances that you might have to increase your budget for health insurance.

Depression and anxiety

This is a hot topic, and people are now talking about depression a lot. Before the death of a famous Bollywood celebrity, Sushant Singh Rajput depression was merely a mental condition in which a person felt sad and alone. But he is a living example of how professional stress can take a toll on your health and prey on your life. If a company is not able to come up with good stress coping strategies, then it may lead to depression.

Violence

When we talk about being violent at a workspace, it doesn’t mean hitting Each Other. However, 25% of the employees have stated that they feel like screaming at their coworkers because of stressful situations, whereas about 14% feel like hitting each other physically. Stress can put workers on edge, and it could lead to dangerous situations.

Less productivity

When a person is feeling stressed out, then they might not be productive at peak hours. Also, they tend to miss deadlines and main underwork. Their productivity is hampered, and this indirectly causes loss to the company.

Personal life gets affected

Office stress doesn’t mean it will stay with the employee only during office hours. When your work life is stressful, then it paves its way to the employee’s personal life too. This means that they will take back this professional stress to home and will come back with more issues. It is a brutal cycle that brings employees to a crumbling cessation.

Retention issues

If your business is facing a retention problem, then you might need to think of the work environment you are providing them. 19% of the employees quit their job nearly because of the stress they feel at work. If a person’s situation is too stressful, then they will start losing interest in it and return, the employer will lose their best employees. The best employees can inadvertently leave because they have now been saddled with responsibilities and significant workload. They will get their work done, but the stress may be burning them. Hence a business should think of its employees too. If your good and productive employees have suddenly stopped working, then you might need to re-think the policies you have been imposing on them.

How can you manage stressful situations at work?

As we already discussed, job stress can take a toll on your career and overall Lifestyle. Here are a few tips that we have curated so that you can deal with your professional stress:

Know how to address a conflict

It is a pervasive notion that conflicts will happen. It is a widespread practice between coworkers and event managers. It is an inevitable situation. But there are specific ways in which you can address this conflict. If there is a fight going in between the employees as an employer, you can solve the situation there and then. One can use different conflict Management Solutions, which are usually outlined in every handbook. Ignoring small conflicts can add fuel to it, which letter on becomes a very massive concern. Also, while addressing any kind of conflict, don’t add punitive responses. Always keep a positive approach towards the situation and make sure that none of the employees is punished. Punishment can Trigger a stress hormone that leads to a negative situation.

Try to create a sense of loyalty

48% of the workers suggested that they might not be loyal to their employer as they are dissatisfied with the policies at the workplace and the job stress they have been reading. Instead, only 26% of people are happy with their employees. In a culture where loyalty and trust are essential for a business, it also reduces unnecessary stress.

Try avoiding irregular work schedules

If you work every year, then regular works schedules can be very stressful. However, celery workers are less prone to this kind of situation. It is stated that almost 30% of workers have irregular schedules and are facing severe family as well as work conflicts. The random shift changes or the calling work schedules can often lead to stressful scenarios. It is a trigger because the workers are in a continuous Limbo when it comes to juggling between professional and personal life. They are not able to handle both of them in a balanced way. Some of their plans made in advance also get canceled out because they have been continually facing random ship changes. To deal with this scenario, the employee should create a precise schedule for their employees, which taken “bank” on. Try making sudden changes in rare situations. If possible, try talking out with the work so that both can come on a specified timeline. This will not just help the employee to return to work refreshed but also to the profit of the employer.

Wellness should be a must part of the workplace

If an employer wants to know if their employee is suffering from any physical illness or any disability, but are we interested in knowing their mental health? Don’t you think that mental health is the main criteria that can lead to absolute productivity? There are several ways through which the employees can be kept healthy, and their psychological well-being can be encouraged.

• Try including some kind of gym memberships or at least motivate your employees to wear devices like Fitbit.

• A regular competition for the most active employee can help to encourage them for an inactive lifestyle.

• Instead of providing junk foods or sugary sodas, try keeping healthy snacks in the pantry.

•  Also, regular health checkups should be introduced, and every month the employee must submit his health checkup.

• The company can arrange a monthly free health checkup by partnering up with any local clinic.

• Instead of stopping your employee from going on break, you should encourage a positive and timely break so that they can have some time off before taking the work ahead.

• A healthy employee means better productivity. It is a Win-Win situation for both.

Take Away:

A stressful situation is good to avoid, but one must not confuse good stress with the bad one.

Good stress can motivate you and help in meeting deadlines and overcoming tests. There are some errors in which you might feel stressed, but coping up with them can help in sharpening up your brain. Good stress is short term and helps in enhancing your brain functions. However, bad stress is chronic and may harm your health. One must know when they are in harmful stress. Bad stress might even slow you down and can inhibit your thinking. A stressful situation usually uses a fight or flight response, and sound pressure gives you time to recover from the reaction you give, but the lousy stress will put you in a guilt situation and completely wear you down.