How to handle stress at work

What is stress?

Stress is your body's response to anything that requires attention or action. Everyone experiences stress to some degree. We experience it when we face major life changes, relationship difficulties, financial problems, unrealistic expectations, pessimism, job loss, or change.

Today we will speak about stress at work and learn how to handle it. 

The way you respond to stress makes a big difference to your overall well-being. Whether you are ambitious or calm you can handle stress. First, you need to recognize it, do some action, and take it under control.

Knowing the signs of stress will help you recognize them:

• Headaches
• Insomnia
• Changes in weight
• Blood pressure
• Mood swings
• Anxiety
• Negative thinking
• Loss of concentration
• Aggression
• Low confidence

If you find yourself reading these signs, take a break and follow the steps of overcoming stress.

Reasons for stress at work:

• Unclear performance expectations
• Low salaries
• Heavy workload
• Conflicts with manager or coworkers
• Tight deadlines
• Changes in duties
• Discrimination or harassment
• Lack of autonomy
• Security issues

 How stress impact employee performance:

•  Absenteeism
• Diminished productivity
• Low motivation and creativity
• Decreased employee engagement
• Increased turnover

Before taking steps to overcome stress, let’s go through the latest statistics about stress at the workplace.

According to the Gallup State of the Global Workplace: 2021 Report workers' daily stress reached a record high, increasing from 38% in 2019 to 43% in 2020.

• Globally, employee engagement decreased by 2 points, from 22% in 2019 to 20% in 2020, following a steady rise over the last decade. 
• WORRY, STRESS, ANGER, AND SADNESS increased for employees globally in 2020. In addition, from 2019 to 2020, negative emotions increased more for female employees than male employees. 
• Gallup estimates that low engagement costs the global economy US$8.1 trillion. 
• Employees who are engaged but not thriving typically feel high levels of stress, worry, anger and sadness, despite their positive experiences at work. These emotions are all bellwethers of burnout. But, when employees are engaged and thriving, the risk of burnout declines sharply.
• Americans are one of the most stressed out in the world. 

Finally, let’s follow some steps to overcome stress at the workplace.

• Support your health and sleep well 

Stress can cause serious health problems. Don’t let stress damage your health, prevent it on time. Sleep is important for our health and energy. Healthy food, good sleep, and sport can make you feel better even in the worst situations.

• Prioritize work 

Time management is the most powerful tool in overcoming stress. Lack of time, doing everything in a hurry is very stressful. Prioritizing your work, leaving earlier in the mornings, scheduling your daily routine, writing diaries, and planning everything clearly will help you organize your day, do a more quality job and find time for yourself.

• Balance your breaks 

Sometimes we forgot about breaks. We are having lunch in a hurry and coming back to work, often working overtime. Whereas breaks are very important. Just go out, have a little walk, eat yummies, and have a rest. Your mind needs to be refreshed.

• Delegate responsibility 

Many managers and coworkers face problems in delegating their responsibilities. Taking too much in your arms and not being able to delegate them will bring you burnout. Start by delegating little tasks and then learn to delegate and manage at the same time, in a short period you will be able to delegate your responsibilities and have more time in doing your prior tasks.

• Flip negative thinking

If you go deep in negative thinking it will swallow you. Try to find a positive side even in the most problematic situation. Negativity can’t help you solve your problems. In hard situations try to focus on the solution, finding reasons and the right solutions will help you prevent situations like this in the future.

• Take time off 

If you are unproductive, sensitive, and don’t want to cope with anyone. Just take time off. Do what you enjoy most, listen to good music, watch movies, spend your time with your family and friends. Relax! 

• Look for satisfaction and meaning in your work

Loving what you do matters. If you don’t love your job, can’t find meaning in it then you are in the wrong place and no matter how long you spend on that work, leave it now! Focus your thoughts on what makes you happy, what you enjoy most when you feel more comfortable and fill in harmony. Only if you love what you do and can enjoy every success and failure of your job, you can concur the heights!

• Be your own critic

Before blaming others for your problems and troubles take time to understand your portion of the blame. It’s always easy to blame others. Taking responsibility for your actions is a sign of maturity and only if you can admit your failure and mistakes, you can be a good professional, leader, friend, or spouse. Read more, develop your skills, try to be better every day. Follow your dreams and act every day to achieve them. Don’t let anyone or anything impact your values and beliefs. Always stay yourself! Being a human, spreading love, and finding harmony that’s all that you need first!