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Lessen the Stress for Those Employees You Manage

Guest post by: Amanda DiSilvestro

Article Overview: In a world where it seems just about everyone needs 25 hours a day to get things do, what are you doing as an employer to make sure your employees are not overly stressed on the job?

Lessen the Stress for Those Employees You Manage

With many businesses laying off people or not rehiring, the workload is then placed on other individuals who are required to do extra work, something that can lead to stress issues.

According to a survey earlier this year from the American Psychological Association (APA), 36 percent of workers sighted feeling work stress regularly and nearly half (49 percent) indicated low salary has a major impact on their stress level at work.

Along with money issues, employees noted a lack of opportunities for growth and advancement (43 percent), heavy workload (43 percent), unrealistic job expectations (40 percent) and long hours (39 percent) as significant sources of stress. Additionally, less than half of employees (43 percent) said they receive adequate non-monetary rewards and recognition for their efforts at work and only 57 percent stated being satisfied with their employer’s work-life practices. Lastly, 52 percent of employees indicated they feel valued on the job, only two thirds reported being motivated to do their best at work and nearly a third (32 percent) stated that they intend to seek employment elsewhere within the next year.

If your employees are feeling a bit under the gun, what can you do to lighten the load a tad?

Among the options is to:

· Be sure your employees recognize the signs of stress on the job so they are pro-active to them and not re-active. In the event an employee feels anxious, irritable, fatigued or has issues concentrating, see what is bothering them, especially if its work-related;

· Reassure them that the company is doing everything possible to succeed and that layoffs are not in the plans at this point and time. Employees who have more job reassurance are less likely to be stressed out;

· Offer a workout program through a local fitness club so that employees can exercise more often. Whether it is one day or several days a week, employees will feel better about themselves and their jobs by working out;

· Plan some social get-togethers. It can be a happy hour or an in-house lunch, but bringing your employees together as a team in a non-working situation offers a great chance for everyone to unwind;

· Review each employee’s time management and see where they may be able to shore up a few areas. By feeling less pressure to get things done on the clock, employees will be more relaxed and should concentrate better;

· Let employees know when they do something good. Too many employers only point out when something goes wrong. Take a pro-active approach and congratulate employees for a job well done.

While employers and managers have the ability to lessen the stress of their employees, not all do.

Some don’t recognize the signs of when an employee is stressed out, leading to an issue either where the individual starts to fail at their job and must be disciplined or even let go, or the person leaves on their own accord.

By acting as a positive role model for his or her employees, business owners and managers can set the tone for a positive office experience from the intern all the way up to the top sales person.

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Article Tags: american psychological association, fitness club, job, layoffs, life practices, money issues, non monetary rewards, reassurance, rewards and recognition, salary, signs of stress, sources of stress, stress level, tad, time employees, two thirds, work stress, workload, workout program
Referred by: http://www.resourcenation.com/



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