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Chances are, your employees feel stress at work. In a recent worldwide Gallup poll, a whopping 44% of workers reported they were stressed out. The study indicates that stress levels among workers are rising, too.
Left unaddressed, workplace stress can lead to health problems like high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and mental health issues. Chronic stress can weaken the immune system, which may increase susceptibility to colds, flu, and coronavirus infections. This, in turn, can increase the number of time off days your employee may take and lower employee output. Stress also disrupts productivity by decreasing employee engagement.
Combating these issues and helping your employees thrive means creating a company culture focusing on stress prevention and stress management.
Powerful ways to help reduce workplace stress
Some careers create more anxiety than others. Employers can not only help workers in high-stress positions, but also take steps to help decrease stressors across the board by being proactive about the employee experience. Let's take a look at 10 ways you can help reduce workplace stressors and to help employees.
1. Create a strong work-life balance
A positive work-life balance includes minimizing work-related stress to create a sustainable professional life while optimizing well-being and health. Some ways to achieve a healthy work-life balance include employees maintaining reasonable working hours and providing more adequate time to complete tasks. These boundaries help to reduce the pressure on employees to work an extended workday and can help diminish work stress.
2. Provide employees with premium benefits
One of the most impactful ways to help reduce stress in the workplace is to take care of employee health. Employers can do that by providing access to premium health benefits alongside other options. Premium benefits with access to health professionals and preventive health and benefits education and resources can help employees combat stress and healthcare costs, which also can be stressful.
3. Encourage open communication
Unfortunately, a lot of stressful situations at work come from the top down. When employees don’t feel comfortable communicating with upper-level management, they may feel more stressed and tend to feel more pressure while in the office.
As an employer, you can shape the employee experience and help reduce stress caused by leadership. Classes and workshops on topics like active listening and constructive feedback, as well as stress management training for managers, can provide tools and training resources for managers so they can handle and communicate effectively with employees.
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