Stress wreaks havoc on both the mind and the body. When your company’s workers experience excessive pressure regularly, their productivity suffers. Reducing and managing strain poses a challenge. Don’t leave your employees to deal with job anxiety on their own. Take initiatives to help them alleviate and deal with the stresses that hinder performance.
Provide good structure for your employees. Give clear instructions about what you need them to do, the time frame you set and be direct about your expectations. Do not have your employees flitting between multiple tasks on a regular basis. Multitasking fails to produce quality results, stifles efficiency and creates unnecessary tension so do away with it.
People can reduce stress by exercising their bodies. Encourage physical activity in your facility to reduce and manage the pressures of the workplace. Set up a walking program during lunch, hold mini-workouts in the break room and, if financially practical, provide your workers with a gym membership or discount. Remind employees to get up regularly if they spend most of their day at a desk.
Create flexibility as much as possible to reduce employee stress. Work with individual staff members concerning the hours they work and the days off they have. Remember, employees have responsibilities away from their jobs they need to care for and when you make these easier for them to attend to, everyone benefits.
Strive to reduce and manage your own anxiety. Employees pick up on your stress even when you don’t vocalize it. Watch out for nervous mannerisms, tightened facial features and other indications that you are overly worried. Do, however, behave transparently with your workers regarding what is going on in their place of employment. It is more stressful for people to imagine what is happening than to actually know about it.
Your company prospers when you and your employees work to reduce everyone’s stress. Do not accept that huge anxiety on the job is inevitable. Instead, take advantage of techniques that bring tension down to a manageable level.
