According to the National Institute of Safety and Health, over 40 percent of people reported that their job was stressful or extremely stressful. Over 29 percent of people reported that they felt extremely stressed at work. Good employers should be taking the stress levels of their employees into consideration and planning ways to help lower stress in the workplace.
Eliminate Intrinsic Dangers
Many workers report that there are intrinsic dangers that are inherent in doing their job. While not all workplace dangers can be eliminated, meeting regularly with your employers and allowing them to voice their safety concerns is a great place to start as they may have super ideas about how to make their jobs safer. Take a realistic attitude toward the amount of time pressure you are putting on each employee. See if there is a way that you can divide the workload in a more realistic manner. Hire a commercial cleaning service to make sure that the work environment stays spotless.
Develop Clear Work Guidelines
Many people report that they do not understand how they can move up in the company. Others report they feel stressed because they do not clearly understand what their job entails. Still, others report that they feel stress because they do not have a good life-work balance. Writing company guidelines is a great place to start eliminating a lot of these stresses. The guideline should clearly spell out how you expect employees to behave away from the office along with clear guidance on how they can move forward.
Put into Place Objective Goals
Your employees should be well informed about the goals that you want your company to meet over the short-and-long course. Yet, many employees report that they feel stressed because they do not understand how their job responsibilities align with meeting those goals. Meeting with everyone to explain how their goals fit into the overall picture can help. Make sure that you are giving pay raises and promotions based on preassigned criteria so that people know what they must do to be considered. Create an open-door policy allowing employees to voice their concerns while receiving guidance from you.
Build Better Relationships
Make a large portion of your manager’s evaluations their ability to manage others. Then, seek feedback from those working under them regularly. Plan team building activities to allow employees to get to know each other better. You may be surprised what hidden talents lay on your team unless you allow someone the freedom to express themselves. Watch for signs that someone is feeling overly stressed and have a private conversation with them about what you can do to help solve the problem.
While it is impossible to eliminate all stress in the workplace. Use these ideas and your own ingenuity to help lower everyone’s stress levels at work.
Guest author Hannah Whittenly is a freelance writer and mother of two from Sacramento, CA. She enjoys kayaking and reading books by the lake.
