Thursday, June 5, 2008

Seven ways to reduce stress at work

Many employers today are focused on fostering a healthy workplace, even with all the campaigning for employees to eat right and exercise, there’s still one factor that might be working against you – job stress.

Stress on-the-job poses a health risk to individual employees as well as the company as a whole. A recent daily tip from BusinessWeek, focused on ways we can all reduce stress in the workplace.

When stress lingers through an extended period of time, “the body is kept in a constant state of activation, creating increased wear and tear to biological systems.”

Common causes of job stress: corporate culture, interpersonal relationships, roles and responsibilities on the job, how work tasks are designed, career concerns and environmental conditions.

Seven ways to combat employee stress at work:

  1. Ensure that an employee’s workload fits their capabilities and they have the resources to complete their tasks.
  2. Design jobs and tasks that give meaning, stimulation and opportunities for employees to demonstrate their skills.
  3. Make sure employees’ job responsibilities are clearly defined.
  4. Allow workers to participate in decisions and actions that affect their jobs.
  5. Provide opportunities for social interaction.
  6. Be sensitive to employees’ demands and responsibilities outside of work and mold work schedules to fit those demands.
  7. Pay attention to your employees’ state of mind from day to day. Recognize symptoms of stress and encourage employees to take a break from time to time.

1 comment:

Alexander said...

Stress is becoming a more common reason for sick days due to more people working longer hours and taking more on. There are many solutions to stress depending on your circumstance but the main thing is to ask for help, don’t be afraid to ask for help.


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