Stress Management at the Workplace

Categories: Employment Health Stress Management Workplace

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Introduction

Statistical Analysis of current problem in stress management at workplace
Problem identification from statistical analysis
Risk assessments of stress at workplace
Solutions of stress at workplace 126 Benefits of stress preventing in the workplace '
Conclusion
References

CHAPTER NO.1: INTRODUCTION

Stress

Stress is defined response of a human body under a different set of demanding and pressure conditions which not in line with employee's expertise and knowledge and because of which they face stress feeling at a workplace. Individual feels stress in happy or sad situations.

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When we are experiencing stress, our body releases some chemicals in our blood. These chemicals generate energy and power, sometimes this is great But, in some cases these chemicals generate some emotional disturbance which can produce harm and threat to life and health especially if there is no way to release these negative energies.

Pressure vs Stress

Pressure is often classified as unavoidable due to dynamic changes and high demand. Employee accept pressure as it keeps employee productive, alert and motivated.

Pressure handling is art which can developed by years of practice to produce a high output.In contrast when the pressure goes beyond bearing capacity, hard to manage then pressure transform into stress. Stress comes into picture in serious mismatch situation between available talent and demand. One of bad face of stress under which employee becomes helpless Employees under stress will acts as unproductive for company. The target of a company should be to block stress occurring which causes serious overall disaster. A company require to perform constant assessment of stress situation and develop supporting operating procedures and arrange stress management training in an organization which will benefit each employee.

CHAPTER NO.2: STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF CURRENT PROBLEM IN STRESS MANAGEMENT AT WORKPLACE

As per to "Stats & facts about work stress to consider in 2018 - Meditation at work " November 2017 58% of Americans confirm that work that is a major contributor to stress (APA, 2017)

Major sources of work stress (ComPsych, 2016)

Workload, 36%
People issues, 31%
Work-life balance, 20%
Job security, 8%
Other, 5%

8 from 10 Americans are suffered by stress, 17 percent say that they rarely experience stressed out and 4% say they never few experienced stress. 4 in 10 U.S Adults (41%) say they lack sufficient time to do all they want65% of working people said that workplace stress had caused difficulties and more than 10% described these as having major effects 14% said they work in stressed environments where machinery or equipment has been damaged62% working people end their day with work-related neck pain, 44% with stressed out eyes, 38% complained of hurting hands and 34% with difficulty in sleeping due to stressed-out condition$300 billion in lost productivity annually to employers due to stressful situationAmericans stress level, on a 10-point scale rised from 4.8 to 5.1 between August 2016 and January 2017.

CHAPTER NO.3 PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION FROM STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

The above statistics gave us information about the real problem of stress management in the workplace. The problem which I identified was real eye-opener. US employer had to bear the more than 300 billion dollars for illness and unproductiveness due to a stressful office environment in the year 2018. People of age group between 21 to 35 experiences more stress as compared to other age group people. Especially in corporate culture when an employee changes the organization employees experience four multiple stress and health-related problems. Employee consider stress as most harmful part of their day to day life which they cannot ignore or bypass it. Stress at workplace produce unwanted results incorporates like verbal abuse, yelling on coworkers, heated talks on unimportant things. Most of the people chose to quit the job due to stress environment and surrounding and reported that they need serious help to how to handle stress through one to one private consultation where they can share the concern and problem without hesitation.

Research gives following facts :

Poor decision-making ability
Increase customers product returns, complaints spoil the company's image both internally and externally
Increases wasted, repairs activity which increases manhours cost and reduces productivity increase the chance of accidents and injuries
Unsafe working practice, increase carelessness
Low commitment to work
Increase absconding and difficult in employee retention
Loss of the company's top talent potential litigation

Effect of stress on individual

Mind and Brain
Developed suicide thinking
Too much negative
A migraine Tension
Hair loss
Amnesia
Mental disorder
Panic attacks
Depression
Anxiety
Minor heart attack
Increase blood pressure
Increase cholesterol
Chest pain
Heartburn
Stomach Indigestion
Stomach cramps
Ulcer Pancreas
The potential threat of diabetes
Digestive system
Fatty liver
Diarrhea
Constipation
Skin Acne Excess oil
Premature aging disease
Red patches on the skin
Poor Posture
Upper and lower back pain
Neck pain
Slip disc
Spinal cord diseases

Origin of Stress at a workplace

Personal

Get in engaged or enter in relation with someone, getting married and handling marriage celebration events
Being the parent of a new baby born
Conflict with co-workers
Harm, destruction, injury, accidents, theft, crime loss of a loved one
Concerns over child's performance, habits, or behavior
Financial crises
Couple separation in a relationship
Emergency
Suffering, torture, discomfort
Disorder, illness
Use of Cigars, hookahs, drinks
Drug addiction
Age-related problems

Job-related

Unproductive work activity engagement
Low salary or wages
No specific procedures or guidelines for workflow
Limited opportunity for career advancement
Boring work
Strict working hours
Bad designed of shift timing
Hectic job life
Pressure to perform
Unrealistic deadline
Unsafe work condition
Demotion or Transfer
Position related Conflict of interest
No control over the work
No participation in the decision-making process
Coordination error
Low social value jobs
Over monitoring of employee activities
Lack of training
Changing team members, colleagues or boss
Not clear job roles and responsibility
Reporting to multiple person or multiple departments
Non-reporting bosses giving extra work which conflicts with core responsibility

Career development related

Want to enter in specific working field, industry or department
Handling high managerial position at an early age
Not recognizing the potential of employee
Lack of decision making power
Unhealthy and unsupportive relation with team member
Misunderstanding or conflict with reporting boss, team member, subordinates or colleague
Blaming and finger pointing
Challenges in delegating work
Challenges in getting work done form other

Working environment

Merger and acquisition
Poor leadership and management
Unsatisfactory working environment
Change of management
High Layoff rate
No participation in major business decision
Strict office rules
Politics at workplace
Bad company's financial health
Shifting to a new house, office and the new company

Surrounding

Too hot or too cold
High noise at the workplace
Not proper equipment or systems
Inappropriate illumination
Frequent accidents
Stress indicators on human health

Physical indicator for workplace stress

Muscle cramp
Sleeplessness
Unintentional weight loss or weight gain
Disturbed state

Psychological indicators for stress

Lack of confidence
Too much thinking
Uneasiness
Short temper

Behavioral indicator for Stress

Social withdrawal
Fights or heated arguments
Pessimistic
Detachment
Difficult to perform day to the day job task
Repeated mistakes
Hopelessness
Absent-mindedness
Alcoholism
Eating at irregular time
Overeating or under eating

CHAPTER NO.4: RISK ASSESSMENT FOR STRESS AT WORKPLACE

Risk assessment is unique solution to handle stress . This risk assessment results in better place to work, increase job satisfaction, high productivity, better decision making and higher work commitment for an organization.Steps in risk assessments

1)Situation analysis and classification of riskSituation analysis: Employer needs to analysis regarding situation occurrence frequency and harms its cause.A possible classification of riskPhysical: Lifting, Awkward posture, noise, dust, Mental: Harass, torture, high workload, extending working hours, unrealistic deadlines Health: Brain, Heart, and digestive related diseases

2) Identify who is affecting by risk An employer must identify who is most affected by this risk i.e.Full time employees, part-time employee, third-party employee, contractor, staff, visitors, clients and other official

3) Develop an action plan to reduce the risk at workplace. An employer must develop an action plan against risk and methods to control

4)Implementation:In this phase, the employer should give training to employees about the implementation of the action plan to reduce risk at the workplace. After training employer should make sure that the action plan for risk is implanted in system

5)Evaluation of an action plan to reduce stress In this phase the employer should evaluate the action plan which was implemented earlier This will give the effectiveness of the action plan to reduce the risk

6)Learning and revising action plan In this phase, the organization should address the learning outcome from the process and make a record of the finding and again revise the whole action plan

7)Documentation:Do what document and document what you do. In other words, you should documents every detail never classify as important and unimportant. Each piece of information is vital for continuous improvement of an action plan for risk

CHAPTER NO.5: SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEM OF STRESS AT WORKPLACE

Stress management by the company

Accurate job design and work design with employee expertise and knowledge
Develop strong support systems for stress employees
Proper ergonomics using industrial standards
Arrange stress-relieving event meditation
Build a strong company culture with a healthy workplace environment which gives individual Make company HR department stronger to handle a work-related issue such as Harassment, conflict with the boss, regarding change of department
Build a clear HR working policy which shows company cares for their employees and their health
Give paid holiday and encourage employees to go for vacation which will release stress from a daily hectic schedule
An employer should offer paid holiday if someone is in serious stress
Arrange free body check and consultation for 2 to 3 time in a year.
Provide health insurance to employeesRun extensive training program for employee
After periodic time take employees' feedback upon working environment
Arrange private one to one consultation with employees regarding their ongoing activity and how they are linked with job satisfaction
Celebrate local festival which encourages employee interaction from a different department outside of the work topic
Arrange some corporate small games to relieve the stress every week
Arrange annual function, sports events, and vacation where an employee can bring their family. This will build go relations with other team members. Give some place to an employee where they can spend fun time such as dart board, gym, video games, small board game room, table tennis etc
Provide flexible working hour to employee
Give them record about their paid and unpaid leaves
Offer employee weekly snacks or small meals so that they can enjoy with other office members

Stress management by individual

Take proper sleep of at least 7 to 8 hours at night
Start a day with a positive set of mind with proper planning and having nutritious healthy breakfast
Being well organized and reaching office on time
Learn to say to "No" to an activity which results in uncomfortable state and require extra time devotion from your schedule
Proper seating chair, clean desk without too many papers on it,
Go for a short walk after lunch hour and take a small break in between the work to relax
Accept the fact that you cannot control all event of your life
Practice some meditation techniques
Exercise daily

Take a periodic small break from a stressful situation and again come back on that problem. This will ensure higher productivity and less stress at the workplace.Talk with someone who one trust the most. Don't think of what will other will think of me. Share the feeling will reduce stress and depression

Read some good meditation books. Learn the art of delegating the work and how to get work done by team leaders

Don't compromise for things which are related to yourself. Maintain a diary of day to day activity in respect to stress level one experience and recognize the activity which causes high stress

Practice deep breathing and yoga

CHAPTER NO.6: BENEFITS OF PREVENTING STRESS IN THE WORKPLACE

Reduce the chances of bad health
Decrease near miss, injuries, and accidents
Safe working environment
The illness rate decreases reduced
High work efficiency
Work engagement increases
Economic benefits
Decrease litigation cases and actions
Heavy returns for training
High customer loyalty
The low time required for hiring
Benefits for individuals
Increase inspiration and motivation
Higher success rate
People feel like part of the corporate family
People take part in the decision-making process
Relationship building in team members
High employee retentionLeadership skill can be developed in a team
Best career possibility can be exploredManagement benefits
Better overall output
Outstanding performance
Standardized workflow procedure
Less rework
Build a brand in the market
Rapid company growth
Make a competitive advantage because more and more talented people will join the team

CHAPTER NO.7: CONCLUSION

Nowadays stress management is a real challenge for employee in this high end business environment. The good organization always take care of their team's health. By implementing above mention solutions to current stress problem at workplace organization and individual both can get benefits. This will ensure the future growth of the company. From this article take away is that as a business leader, he or she should develop skills how to de-stress employees' lives so they perform at their very best. Furthermore, Individual can develop knowledge and expertise how to cope up with work-related stress. The organization can develop a unique action plan which will lead guidelines on how to handle the stress.

This article is particularly helpful for developing HR policy and arrange year calendar event such as social get together, parties, camping events, build strong relation between company's employee, increase employee retention, reduce conflict and make a company as big brand.

CHAPTER NO: 8 REFERENCES

Stress in the Workplace: Causes, Effects & How to Cope - Vol. 8, no. 1, May 2012 Newsletter of the Canadian Association of Professional Employees - ISSN 1710-5080
Protecting workers health series no.3: Work for the organization and stress-systematic problem approaches for employers, managers, and trade union representative by Stavroula leka BA MSc Ph.D., Professor Amanda Griffiths cpsychol AFBPsS FRSHAnd professor Tom Cox CBE, 2005
Managing stress in the workplace-Anguilla public service- Department of public administration ref.date: 2013
Reducing stress in the workplace by associate professor Anthony LaMontagne & Dr. Tessa Keegel March 2012
Workplace Stress: A Critical Insight of Causes, Effects, and Interventions by Aftab Ahmad, Amjad Hussain, Muhammad Qaiser Saleem, Muhammad Asif Mahmood Qureshi, Nadeem Ahmad Mufti - Technical Journal, University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Taxila, Pakistan, Vol. 20(SI) No.II(S)-2015
Management of Stress at Workplace By Smruti Rekha Sahoo 2016