Are you noticing that your employees are feeling stressed? Stress can result in poor work performance, fatigue, loss of interest in daily activities, and emotional distress. From the employer's standpoint, this is problematic as it can also increase presenteeism in the workplace. Here are 3 things you can offer employees to manage workplace stress.
1. Offer a Flexible Work Environment
As an employer, we can not control the outside stressors that our employees face, but we can offer a flexible work environment to help reduce their stress. According to the American Psychological Association, only 57% of employees are satisfied with the work-life balance practices offered by their employer. Offering flexible schedules or the option to work from home if possible can help reduce employee stress by providing employees with more ease and control of their schedule.
Benefits of a more flexible work schedule could include time blocking schedules as employees see fit and working during their most productive hours of the day in a distraction-free environment. This can also reduce employee stress caused by any unpredictable events, like those who have sick children causing them to leave the workplace. This flexibility provides more work-life balance, which, according to 80% of employees, is one of the most important factors in a job.
2. Reduce Task Saturation
Heavy workloads can be a large contributor to stress. According to the American Psychological Association, more than 36% of workers said they typically feel tense or stressed out during their workday. 43% of employees cite heavy workload and 40% cite unrealistic job expectations as significant sources of stress. Checking in with employees and to learn more about what projects they are working on and how they are handling tasks and deadlines can help provide employers more insight to their stress levels. Keeping deadlines for projects and goals achievable and realistic can lead to less stress and higher productivity.
Although as an employer you cannot do the actual work for your employees, you can provide tools, platforms, and software that can help alleviate simple tasks. This will help reduce task saturation and help your employees relieve some stress throughout their workday. This may also help reduce any unrealistic job expectations that employees face.
3. Offer an Employee Wellness Program
Wellness Programs are a great way to reduce employee stress. Only 35% of employees have reported receiving sufficient resources at work to help manage stress. Offering a variety of resources to employees can help not only to reduce stress in the workplace, but help support and address outside stress that as an employer you are not aware of. These programs also help support employee well-being.
According to the American Psychological Association, less than half of employees (43%) said they receive non-monetary rewards and recognition for their contributions at work. Incorporating incentives and rewards into an employee wellness program can be beneficial to boost overall satisfaction and reduce stress at work.
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Written by: Luis Tejeda, Wellness Workdays Dietetic Intern
Sources:
1. SHRM
2. Forbes
3. Agilquest