Productivity is important for any self-respecting business, but how much can you realistically expect from your employees? For many, their level of output and productivity will vary, in large part due to stress, and when stress is involved, you can bet there will be more tension than you’d like around the office. Let’s go over some strategies you can use to keep cool when your job gets to be a bit too much.
Workplace Stress Can Be Business-Killing
Stress makes it very difficult to perform at your highest level, no matter who you are or how well you think you can manage it. When you’re stressed, you’re not focused on the job or task at hand; rather, you’re reacting to the stressors in your environment. Here are some of the biggest reasons why employees might experience stress in the workplace:
- Too much work
- No available upward mobility
- Unclear instructions
- Unreasonable demands
- Frustrating work environment
- Financial or personal problems
The stressor itself doesn’t matter so much as the realization that it will impact your work performance. Thankfully, if you know the stressors, you can take steps to reduce them and implement other measures to protect your mental health during the workday.
Manage Your Stressors Effectively
There are countless stressors in the workplace, ranging from an untidy coworker to not getting enough sleep at night. Regardless of what they are, you’ll need to know what triggers you so you can make sense of why you are experiencing so much stress. We recommend keeping a stressor work journal and recording your thoughts or feelings so you can track how you feel, when you feel it, and reason out what steps you can take to build a better relationship with your stressors.
Create Boundaries and Stick to Them
With remote and hybrid work more popular than ever, it’s difficult for some people to stick to their boundaries between work and home life. Creating rules for how you associate with work will go a long way toward removing stressors from your life. For example, if you’re constantly checking work notifications while at home trying to talk to your family, well, that’s an example of a bad boundary that needs to be addressed.
Communicate More Effectively
This one is for all the employees out there who might get the wrong impression from their bosses or direct supervisors. The boss’ role is not to push an employee to work as hard as possible; rather, it is to maintain productivity. To this end, if you go to your boss or supervisor with concerns, they will, more likely than not, try to do something to help you out. Starting a conversation and communicating your needs can go a long way toward limiting your work-related stress.
Work is called work for a reason, and it’s not going to be easy all the time, but you can take action to limit the stressors in your workplace now so you can have a better relationship with it. SRS Networks can make technology a non-issue for your business’ employees by providing comprehensive IT management and solutions deployment for your team. To learn more, reach out to us at (831) 758-3636.
