WORK is the biggest cause of stress!

I was interested to read the other day that research carried out by Mind – the UK Mental Health charity found that one in three people say their work life was either very, or quite,
stressful, more so than debt or financial problems or even health.

The survey of over 2,000 people found that workplace stress has resulted in 7% [rising to 10% among 18 – 24 year old] having suicidal thoughts and 18% [one in five people ], developing anxiety.

After these results reached the press, I was contacted by LBC Radio London and asked to comment on the research.

  1. Why were the figures so high?  Was I surprised?
  2. Are there greater pressures in today’s working world
    than there were years ago? 
  3. Are managers doing enough to help their employees?’

So I thought we would have a quick look at some my responses, today.

We know that high levels of stress negatively impact both physical and mental health and through the medium of this column, I frequently discuss ways of creating a healthy corporate culture i.e. building resilience, enhancing wellbeing and reducing stress.

Unfortunately, there are still too few employers that recognise the importance of good interaction between managers and teams, and the minimisation of stressors in the workplace.

Stress in the Education Sector

Last week, I was with a colleague called Alexander in his mid 20s, who works in the UK education sector.  I asked him how the job was going and his response was ‘Not good.  It’s not the job, it’s the people!’  By enquiring a little deeper, I found that he
was a committed IT Manager who apparently does his best to manage his team in
what he describes as a ‘toxic culture’. The style of management is reactive which means that every action has to be done immediately which has a huge pressure on both him and his team.  Furthermore, he is expected to answer email during the evening, at home, so that he never is able to switch off completely.  He complains that he doesn’t feel appreciated or valued for what he does and that the work environment is a blame culture where there is never any consultation about working practices or
changes in schedules, targets and deadlines.

When things go wrong, which is frequently, blame is just apportioned without proper investigation with the inevitable consequence that Alexander has now decided to find a better employer and who can blame him.

However, he highlighted many factors relating to work-life balance that are important to recognise: i.e. no accountability:  minimum or no consultation and a lack of recognition and reward for the individual worker or manager.

Although part of Alexander’s management role is to identify and manage undue stress in any member of his team, in fact he cannot manage the stress within himself, let alone in his team.

Which raises the question, are there greater pressures in industry today than there were years ago?  Well, many of the stressors are the same and yet today brings with the additional challenge of having to be available 24/7 and the too often expectation from management of long-hours working and unrealistic deadlines.

Such companies or organisations have little understanding of work-life balance or of taking any action to support the mental and physical well-being of their staff.  If they did, staff would feel more loyal, motivated, committed and likely not only to want to stay working in the organisation but also to recommend it to others.

That would be a win-win situation but many companies seem to be unaware of the benefits.

Many of you know that I often deliver presentations from the platform about ‘personal resilience’ and ‘reducing stress’.  I say things like ‘if you can’t change the stress inherent in the organisation, then you need to be resilient enough to manage it’.  And I hope that you agree with that.  However, it doesn’t take responsibility away from the top team to ensure that they are offering a healthy workplace in the first instance.

So here is a reminder:

Look out for signs and symptoms of stress and take action.

Talk:  Make time to communicate regularly with your team.

Lead:  Ensure you lead by example and demonstrate a healthy work-life balance.

Everyone of us needs a work-life balance that gives us equilibrium but sometimes we have to work very hard to achieve it.

Key Points

  • Some stress is endemic in today’s workplace
  • It can often be managed by being resilient
  • Too much prolonged stress is counter-productive

Reprinted with the kind permission of Gulf News.

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Proven Work Stress Solutions:  Take a look at our corporate website where you will find work stress management techniques.  www.carolespiersgroup.co.uk https://www.carolespiersgroup.co.uk or call + 44 (0) 20 8954 1593

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