April is Stress Awareness Month. We’ve written this article to help raise awareness of the many causes of stress – as well as share our thoughts on how to help those affected.
There are so many pressure points in our complex lives that managing stress is a significant challenge, especially for line managers. And what we see in the workplace may well only be half the story. We’ll look at ways to spot the signs, reduce stress and create a psychologically safe place to work.
Our stressed nation
Even before the impact of the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis, Mental Health England found that 74% of the UK described themselves as ‘overwhelmed or unable to cope’ at some point in the year. That was in 2018. In 2021 consultancy ciphr polled 2,000 UK adults and found that nearly half (49%) admit to feeling stressed five or more days each month.
One of the biggest risks with stress is that it doesn’t get the attention it should. We don’t hesitate to take our physical conditions to the doctor, but stress is often not taken as seriously. We know it affects us, but we brush it off as part of life or it ‘comes with the territory’ in a demanding role.
So many of the triggers for stress come from what happens outside of work – personal finances, relationships, health and balancing life and careers. It’s impossible for these issues not to affect the version of ourselves we bring to the workplace.
The impact of stress
Here’s why we do need to take stress seriously. It’s a significant factor in mental health problems and can lead to anxiety and depression. It is also linked to physical health problems like heart disease, problems with our immune system, insomnia and digestive problems. What’s more, it takes valuable skills and resources out of the workplace. Across 2021 to 2022, the HSE found that the UK lost 17 million working days to work-related stress, depression or anxiety.
What contributes to stress and how we deal with it can vary hugely from person to person and differs according to our social and economic circumstances, the environment we live in, our genetic make-up or personality type.
Of course it’s impossible to live without any stress and many may feel they benefit from the ‘adrenalin’ that a little stress brings to their roles. However, the danger comes when this gradually increases and action isn’t taken. It can overwhelm our ability to cope. In the workplace productivity can drop along with morale, increasing the risks to the health of the individual and possibly others.
Spotting the signs
Would you recognise the signs of stress – in others as well as yourself? Because we all experience and react to it differently, it makes it difficult to spot. In many organisations it’s the line manager who has most contact with their team and is best placed to notice any changes in behaviour that might have stress as the cause. These can include:
- Mood swings, tearfulness and irritability, and perhaps particularly negative behaviour which is out of character.
- Frequent short-term absences. These may not only be related to physical health and could be caused by factors away from the workplace.
- Increased signs of physical illness. Tiredness, frequent complaints of muscle aches & pains or headaches. Frequent colds whether they take sickness absence or not.
- An inability to concentrate, delegate effectively or prioritise their workload.
- Loss of interest in their work or a feeling of disengagement – even when work itself is going well.
The increase in remote working only adds to the challenge of spotting the signs of stress. Employees may choose to work hours that suit their lives which cause a blurring of the line between work and home life and is a classic cause of burnout – a growing problem that is often difficult to spot. Line managers need to pay particular attention to the working patterns of remote based team members.
Reducing stress triggers
Particularly as a line manager, you probably have the greatest opportunity for making a positive impact on your team’s stress levels and the causes of that stress – at least where the workplace is concerned.
The best basis to start this is by really knowing your team, the roles they do and their capabilities. Such as:
- Is their workload manageable, is the job suited to their personality and personal situation?
- If they’ve requested flexible working, has the request had a fair hearing and any reasonable requests been accommodated?
- If there are risks of stress, are protective factors embedded into their daily routines?
- If they are remote based, are you checking in regularly to assess how they are managing their work – and their time?
Outside of the workplace, the pressures in our personal lives can have a significant impact on triggering stress. These can often be sensitive issues concerning finances, relationships and not the least, the legacy of the pandemic and the many thousands of people who have lost a family member.
A little support can go a long way when it comes to managing stress. It goes without saying that the more accessible you are as a line manager, the more comfortable they will feel about sharing those issues.
Building your team’s emotional resilience
Given that a certain amount of stress is inevitable, helping your team develop the skills to cope with stress helps to reduce its impact. One way to do this is by developing their emotional resilience – their ability to adapt to stressful situations or crises. More resilient people are able to ‘roll with the punches’ and adapt to adversity without lasting difficulties; less resilient people have a harder time with stress and life changes, both major and minor.
Our levels of emotional resilience vary from individual to individual and also stem from a number of key factors such as personality type, social situation and the life experiences that have brought us to this point. But, even allowing for individuality, there are some general ‘protective factors’ that help to improve resilience.
Maintaining physical activity, team and social interaction (especially for remote workers), providing interesting and stimulating work, feeling a sense of purpose and being mindful of the need for good sleep and nutrition are all things that a line manager can influence or at least point their team in the right direction.
Opening the conversation around stress
Being able to talk about the issues triggering stress can be a big help to an employee and help the line manager better understand their situation. But research by Mental health charity Mind had found that 30% of employees didn’t feel that they can talk openly with their line manager if they were feeling stressed. Without the skill sets needed to encourage those conversations, line managers have little chance of offering the help they would like to give.
We recently wrote an entire article on how to get conversations started in the workplace. Focused on mental health, many of the tips in our article are relevant to building the understanding and empathy needed to talk about issues triggering their stress. We cover creating the right environment to talk, why being non judgemental matters and even some conversation starters.
Read the full article here: Mental health in the workplace – how to get the conversation started.
A psychologically safe culture
Psychological safety is a relatively new term but one that’s very relevant to stress prevention. It’s about creating a workplace where employees feel comfortable and can bring their whole selves to work. This comes through greater acceptance of people for who they are and the recognition that what goes on in their lives outside of work will impact on performance. For example, someone concerned about their finances will find it hard to leave those concerns at the door. They need to know that the organisation recognises that it’s OK to not be OK.
Psychological safety is also about a culture where employees feel that they have the freedom to speak up, sharing their ideas, questions, concerns or even mistakes freely, without fear of punishment or humiliation. When this doesn’t happen, the result is that we often carry those issues we’d really prefer to share or don’t speak out on issues we feel are important. For anyone feeling stressed about an issue they feel they can’t raise, the problem remains hidden – along with the stress itself.
Developing a culture that’s truly psychologically safe is a whole topic in itself. But incorporating some of these suggestions will certainly make your culture more supportive to reducing stress:
- Invite feedback and follow up on any concerns raised. It’s important that employees feel that what they say will get a fair hearing.
- When problems emerge or mistakes happen, focus on what went wrong rather than focusing on a particular person.
- Invest in mental health training so that employees know there will be an understanding and confidential person they can share any issues that may be affecting their mental health.
- Take cases of bullying seriously and be prepared to investigate fairly and without discrimination.
- Get your leaders on-board with communicating the positive aspects of your psychologically safe culture. The more all of this is seen to be happening, with support from the top, the more it will lead to a less stressful workplace.
Conclusion
Stress can have a significant impact on employee wellbeing without the support from the wider organisation. But the challenges lie in the many causes of stress, not all of which are work related. Better awareness of the signs of stress creates organisations better able to respond with understanding and empathy. For stress to become manageable, employees need to feel they can discuss their issues and raise any work-related concerns that contribute to stress without fear. A psychologically safe culture will play a big part in creating an organisation where employees feel valued, supported and potential stressors in the workplace can be addressed.
For more information about Stress Awareness Month 2023, visit: https://www.stress.org.uk/national-stress-awareness-month/
Photo by Gift Habeshaw on Unsplash
