Soothing the stress

Stress is a silent killer. Not only can it damage the health of employees, but it can hurt their productivity. For these reasons, it’s important to be aware of their stress levels.

But when employers prioritize employee well-being, they face a major challenge: Helping staff manage their stress.

An employer’s role is two-fold:  create a less-stressful, more-pleasant environment, and empower employees with team-focused stress management techniques.

This shows them how much they are valued as people and emphasizes that their wellness is important to the company.

Creating less stress

To guide employees to a happier, healthier life, start by de-stressing the work environment.

Evaluate what aspects of the workplace are doing more harm than good and make the following changes:

Personalized workspaces: Update the workspace policy and encourage employees to personalize their office space. They can bring in plants, photos and other decor that make them feel comfortable and happy at their desk. Otherwise, they may be stuck staring at grey cubicle walls.

Communication boundaries: Review the current communication policy and look for ways it may impact employee well-being. A 2015 study published in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology coined the term “telepressure” to describe people’s urge to quickly respond to all kinds of messaging, including emails.

Those who experienced this reaction reported a poorer quality of sleep and an increase in missed work due to health problems.

Minimize telepressure by establishing boundaries. Employees should not be staying up late fielding emails and writing reports. Set a curfew for work correspondence, and educate employees on how they can establish a healthy work-life balance.

Healthier lighting: Look at the design of the workspace. Ditch those bright, white lights that sap energy and cause headaches, and replace them with soft, warm lighting options.

Salt lamps, for example, are helpful in promoting a relaxing, peaceful environment. Bigger windows and skylights can also add more natural light to work areas.

Engaging decor: Office decor might be unintentionally creating more stress. Add warmer, more welcoming colours throughout the office and in common areas. This could include wall hangings, photographs of nature and other positive imagery, or even air-purifying plants, such as areca palm or English ivy.

Stress-relief opportunities: It’s also crucial to give employees a safe outlet for stress relief. Many employers provide ping-pong tables or an onsite gym.

Another fun way for employees to blow off some steam is to create a “swearing room,” a designated, soundproof room where employees can vent their frustrations openly and loudly, as research has shown expressing profane feelings can be a good way to release stress.

Guided relaxation: Be strategic in how and when to take action on stress management at the office. It’s important to note that 1:42 p.m. is the most stressful time of day for employees, according to a 2016 survey of 2,000 Americans from Groupon. Management can proactively address this “afternoon slump” by getting employees involved in fun ways to de-stress.

Start a “Breath Squad,” a group of employees that comes to teams and departments to host a five-minute relaxation technique, such as a guided meditation or progressive muscle relaxation. This aids in bringing staff together and creates a welcoming, peaceful environment.

Writing exercises: Designate a “Stress Stick It” wall where employees can anonymously write their stressors on sticky notes and add them to a wall.

Because writing down stressors can bring relief, it’s also good to host journaling groups that give employees a break in the day to write about their emotions and stresses privately, but in a room together.

The science of stress

Stress can cause a lot of health problems, especially for employees who experience it at home and in the office.

It starts in the brain’s amygdala and sends a threat message to the hypothalamus, which then tells your sympathetic nervous system to protect you from an attack.

The nervous system increases the heart rate and prompts glands to release cortisol. With too much cortisol hitting the brain for a long period of time, your body creates something called hippocampal brain damage. This disturbs your circadian rhythms, which disrupts your sleep-wake cycle and causes memory loss and brain fog.

If a worker’s brain is flooded with cortisol, she will struggle to focus, recall important information, and concentrate on her daily tasks and responsibilities.

There are several different kinds of stress people experience. The most common type is acute stress, which is the body’s immediate reaction to a new challenge. This triggers a fight-or-flight response, but it isn’t always negative.

When a person experiences this regularly, it’s called episodic acute stress. People who experience this are often irritable, short-tempered and anxious.

When these moments last longer, and the amount of acute stress increases, this is considered chronic stress. This can stem from life issues such as a dysfunctional family, financial crisis, or a burdensome, unfulfilling job.

Chronic stress can contribute to several diseases such as cancer and heart disease, and must be addressed in a proactive way. 

Eustress is what people feel during moments of excitement. Rather than being caused by threat or fear, it’s caused by an exciting activity such as riding a roller-coaster.