Who Is Responsible for Dealing with Employee Stress? Is It The Employee or The Organization?

 Who Is Responsible for Dealing with Employee Stress? Is It The Employee or The Organization?

Modern workers feel stressed out on the job, and the stress is taking a toll on their sleep, health, relationships, productivity, and sense of well-being. Work-related stress is a growing problem around the world that affects not only the health and well-being of employees but also the productivity of organizations. It arises where work demands of various types and combinations exceed the person’s capacity and capability to cope. I think instead of discussing who is responsible for it, we should think it as a win-win strategy or opportunity. 

If a company you are working for is the union of you and other employees of it, the company will be bigger when each of its employees is also bigger. Therefore, rather than thinking about who is responsible for this, how to benefit each other is a more appropriate topic we should consider. Suppose that all employees believe that their employers are responsible for dealing with employee stress, it becomes an excuse for blaming someone else. The employees will become weaker when they find someone to release the stress that is actually caused by themselves. However, if all the stress must be dealt with all by the employees themselves, they are like a candle that burns at both ends. Consequently, they are more likely to quit their jobs, less willing to perform better, and lower their ability to be creative and innovative.  

Dealing with The Stress

Work-related stress can be caused by various events such as the demands of their job is greater than they can comfortably manage, conflict with coworkers or bosses, constant change, or potential redundancy. However, before you can cure any stress, you have to examine what causes it. Sometimes, identifying the question is harder than fixing it. Most of the time, organizations are doing things like increasing their immune system to fight all the potential threats. For instance, raising their paychecks, promotion, award, or other benefits are trying to ensure their employees are still by their side. But, it must be flexible to deal with unknown threats. It is good to be strong, and it is also important to be careful and in great status.

For An Individual to Deal with Their Own Stress

i. Exercise

Obviously, exercising regularly is one of the best ways to relax your body and mind, and also improve your mood. It's not a miss direction method. Rather, it is a scientific method. Research shows that exercise increases your overall health, and some of the benefits are quite direct. For instance, physical activity helps bump up the production of your brain's feel-good neurotransmitters, called endorphins, and also provides stress relief for your body while imitating the effects of stress.

ii. Keep Learning New Skills

The more you learn, the greater opportunity you will get. Therefore, you will have better chips on the table to win the game and also have the courage to leave the environment that you do not fit in.

iii. Keep A Positive Attitude and Accept That There Are Events That You Cannot Control

You cannot control what's the weather like, but you can control how you react to it. Sometimes rainy days are pretty inconvenient, but it is necessary for us to have water flow into our reservoirs. In a desert, water is more precious than gold.

iv. Grow Good Hobbies

The key to exercising regularly, losing weight, becoming more productive, building revolutionary companies and social movements, and achieving success are understanding how habits work. Particularly, the keystone habits. Keystone habits are where positive change begins. They are habits that produce something of a ripple effect in which one little positive change has the potential to produce other positive changes in all different parts of someone's routine. For example, if you mind your diet and exercise regularly, you are less likely to smoke or do anything bad to your health.

For An Organization to Lower The Stress of Their Employees

Due to the pandemic of coronavirus, people are worried about job losses, getting sick, and feeling isolated while working remotely. Work has always been stressful for some, but since the Covid-19 pandemic changed many of the work environments and processes that people were used to, it's become stressful for most. Despite the increase in stress, work must go on. There are some effective ways for companies to help their employees to manage stress, no matter where they are or how they're working.

i. Humanize The Workplace With Empathy

Managers can help just by being human and humanizing the workplace by infusing empathy, compassion, and prioritizing mental health.

ii. Provide Tools And Platforms To Alleviate Tasks

Provide tools or platforms that alleviate simple, mundane tasks. In addition, invest in their upward growth. It will pay back in dividends.

iii. Provide Mental Wellness Programs

Interpersonal communications with a lot of empathy coupled with some mental wellness programs like meditation sessions or spend some time across casual chats with employees and bond at deeper levels to make them feel cared for.

Reference

Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. (2020, August 18). Exercise and stress: Get moving to manage stress. Mayo Clinic. Retrieved February 20, 2022, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/exercise-and-stress/art-20044469 

Work-related stress. Work-related stress - Better Health Channel. (n.d.). Retrieved February 20, 2022, from https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/work-related-stress