Excessive levels of pressure within a workplace are harmful for one’s wellbeing and can also result in the wellbeing of surrounding employees being negatively impacted. Stress is a cancerous element in the workplace, as it not only affects individuals that are stressed, it is also expands then affects surrounding employees. There are numerous ways stress can be managed enhancing one’s wellbeing in the workplace and at home. This essay will provide clarity on the distinction between stress and pressure whilst addressing managerial responsibilities, causes, remedies and identification of stress or stressors. At times, stress is difficult to identify, however, can be revealed by monitoring patterns such as sudden changes in behaviour, absence from work, body language and attitude. These patterns tend to be a result of work factors, physical environment, organizational practices, change and relationships within a workplace. Stress causes great financial strain within an organization and society as a whole. Stress costs US organizations approximately US $150 billion per annum (Kindler, Hughes and Cooper, 2008), European countries “an estimated 5–10% of GNP P.A and costs Australian’s $10 billion per annum to Australia in accordance to Safework Australia. The typical response to stress from employers was to blame the victim of stress rather than its causes. Now individuals in managerial positions have developed a range of responsibilities in coping with the stress and wellbeing of fellow employees such as managing level, type and patterns of workload and environments of employees. This can be done via monitoring workload, support, relationships setting expectations and managing change. .
A perfect example of stress in the workplace is depicted by Josephine G Paterson of RCN in relation to nurses, their likelihood of quitting an organization due to stress.and also by Emmanuel Barbas, Co-founder of Barbas & Zacári who both portray the impacts of stress within an organization, the impact on employees, managerial responsibilities and what can happen to their organizations if stress is not dealt with accordingly. .
Identifying stress in the workplace is a challenge. There is a difference between good stress and bad stress is that acute stress (good) consists of short temporary responses, acts as a motivator, protects us from danger and credible fear, raises alertness. Chronic (Bad) stress on the other hand contains distress, long term responses, acts as a de-motivator, overreactions to non-threatening encounters, leads to physical and mental complications and also wears down the body making it susceptible to illness (Dhabar, 2012). .
but can be managed when individuals in managerial positions investigate certain elements within the workplace. When examining the workplaces key stressors such as work Factors, excessive hours, unreasonable performance demands, physical environment, noise and overcrowding, health and safety risks, ergonomic problems it is easy to see why so many in the workplace ‘burn out’ (Thomson, 2013). Stress within organizational practice becomes present when there is a lack of autonomy, poor communication, unclear roles, responsibilities, change, insecurity, poor chances for advancement or promotion and high turnover. This is extremely dangerous as it causes clutter in the brain (Cohen, 1997), hence clear thinking to decline causing the organizations productivity to lower as a whole. This depicts the need to monitor stressors carefully via positive relationships where office politics and conflicts are avoided. .
Unfortunately, “the typical response from employers to stress at work has been to blame the victim of stress, rather than its cause” Michie, 2002). Now Individuals in managerial positions have a range of responsibilities and resources they can use when it comes to stress and wellbeing management. The demands within an organization’s level, type, patterns of workload and the environments are key factors to mitigating stress, for example; the control individuals have on their workload is also a key element that needs to be monitored carefully, employees with little control over their workload can lead to a lapse in confidence in managing their pressures causing vulnerability to rise and stress to likely rise. .
When managers study individuals within a workplace there are three main identifiers of stress; The first being changes in behavior and/or emotional response; a decline in quality and quantity of work, error rate increasing, a calm individual showing an , increase of irritability, someone’s who’s spirits are normally quite high showing a district lowering of mood. The second factor is signs of distress, different people show distress in different ways, there are, however, many common themes for identifying distress such as anger, quietness and irritability. Some individuals are stoic and will therefore had developed skills in hiding distress. Patterns of absence is another key element; absence becomes apparent at work which is a sign of ,
excessive stress. The third sign is nonverbal communication such as body language. Nonverbal communication is a subtle yet important way into an individual’s state of mind. One identifier of an individual’s stress is body posture and eye contact (Navarro, 2008; Thompson, 2011b). If elements within a workplace such as performance demands, physical environment, health and safety, ergonomic issues, lack of clarity and elements within an individual such as behavior and emotions, distress, patterns of absence and body language are not identified then dealt with, an organization can greatly suffer financially, productively and reputably. Therefore, it is best for an organization to deal with these stress during its early phases before it becomes a catalyst for other issues within an organization. .
As Kinder, Hughes and Cooper, 2008, point out, stress is estimated to cost US organisations approximately US$ 150 billion a year and stress costs European countries “an estimated 5–10% of GNP per annum. In 2013 Anne Sharry of Safe Work Australia states that stress costs businesses more than $10 billion per year and that “Typically mental stress claims result in workers being absent from the workplace for long periods of time” this demonstrates that (Worksafe, 2013) stress in the workplace leads to more long-term absences than any other core factor. Stress causes the “adrenal glands to ramp up the release of hormones, cortisol, adrenaline, and norepinephrine. Adrenaline speeds up your heart rate and raises blood pressure”, this leads to digestive problems and can alter the composition of an employee’s gut bacteria causing them to become ill (Khazan, 2015). Due to these absences workloads increase which leads to longer work hours, lower morale, increased mistakes and accidents leading to a reduction in productivity. This could be catastrophic for small businesses with limited resources such as Barbas & Zacári an online store with 5 employees. (Emmanuel Barbas, 2016) states “stress is the most damaging element in our young workplace, as it causes employees to remove themselves from work leaving certain tasks being unattended to, when a small businesses workload piles up and resources are not being utilized to their fullest extent could lead to bankruptcy”. (Econtech, 2007) If stress is not dealt with correctly there may be decline in human resources within a workplace. A survey conducted by Monster.com of nearly 7,0000 U.S. workers found that “35% had contemplated leaving a job to flee a stressful work environment, a more significant number, 42% had “purposely” left a position because of such a workplace.” This demonstrates a waste of resources being spent on rehiring and training, therefore an organization will suffer financially not only for training an employee but also work being uncompleted during the hiring phase (Graneek, 2010)
Stress management is is a key element to prolong the lifespan and success of an organization. There are two ways in which stress can be dealt with from a managerial perspective. The first being preventing stress and the second being dealing with stress after it has occurred. The most economical avenue is to prevent stress, this can be done by addressing key factors such as excessive hours, unreasonable performance demands, physical environment, noise and overcrowding, health and safety risks and ergonomic problems (Thompson, 2013). .
Excessive work hours can be cut down by employing more staff or finding more efficient systems to fulfil such tasks, for example in an administration role requiring a high volume of emails to be responded to, an automated response could be created for certain email categories called canned responses (Sieber, 2014).
Unreasonable performance demands are a key issue within a workplace, each individual should have performance expectations catered to their skill and ability (Sengul, 2012). The physical environment of a workplace can be damaging to an organization, the overcrowding and noise levels of a workplace will directly impact a workplaces (Zimring, 2008) as this causes an employee to feel costrophobic, unsafe and heightens the senses to create unnecessary stress levels. .Stress within organizational practice is present within a workplace when there is a lack of autonomy, poor communication, unclear roles, responsibilities, change, insecurity, poor chances for advancement or promotion and high turnover. This is extremely dangerous as it causes clutter in the brain (Cohen, 1997) hence clear thinking to decline. Health, safety and ergonomic risks within the workplace can cause stress to the body and mind. When the importance of workplace safety within the 116,325 individuals made workplace claims for injury within the Australian workplace in 2011-13 with a median of $8,900 being paid out to these individuals (Work Safe, 2013) These statistics demonstrate that it is vital for a workplace to identify hazards, assess the risk if necessary, control the risks and review the control measures. .
Each workplace must find out what can cause harm, understand the nature a certain hazard may cause, the likelihood of it happening, implement control measures that are practicable in the circumstances and each piece of inventory must be working as planned. Secondly, once stress has occurred support and maintaining a healthy relationship with employees is vital for mitigating stress levels within an organization and preventing its cancerous spread. Asking a superior for support should be a welcoming process which can be achieved through a positive and supportive working relationship. Conflict must be dealt with effectively and any unacceptable behaviors dealt with a reasonable manner. Expectations must be set within an organization so employees have clarity of their position and role within the organization. This prevents confusion, uncertainty and provides clarity within the workplace. Eliminating doubt within an organization is essential for the mental wellbeing of employees. (Holvolson, 2012). Change within an organization must be managed extremely carefully because it affects an individual’s sense of security, competence, relationships, sense of direction and control and territory (Simon & Shuster, 1979). To soften the impact of change it is advised an organization, honesty, timing and support during a transitional period are essential (Bridges & William, 1991). A perfect example of stress in the workplace of a nurse (Paterson, 2014). A nurse’s working life is filled with stress and is deemed normal, however, prolonged stress or work in situations can cause a nurse to feel trapped leaving long-lasting effects on healthy. The most dangerous situation is the imbalance between the demands placed on an individual and the resources this person is given to cope with these demands. It is also stated Nurses also have a responsibility to look after their own health and ensure that they are fit for work, this is not a surprise why an outstanding level of two thirds of nurses contemplate quitting work due to stress. (Guardian, 2014). This can be dealt with through support systems such as mentoring, psychological help, honesty and appropriate timing.
Stress within a workplace can be identified in many forms whether it be within a workplace environment or by monitoring behavioral patterns of an individual employee. Stress is a cancerous element as it affects not only affects individuals that are stressed but also those around them. Patterns such as sudden changes in behaviour, absence, body language, and attitude are key signs of an individual’s stress levels. These patterns can be addressed by preventing stress from occurring in the first place which is the most cost effective or secondly, dealing with stress after it has occurred through support systems. Key factors such as excessive hours, unreasonable performance demands, physical environment, noise and overcrowding, health and safety risks and ergonomic problems can be monitored which would prevent stress within the workplace. It is best to monitor these issues before a company expands as costs in stress management, loss of staff, recruitment and training may be prevented. .
Stress is expensive to society; stress costs US organizations approximately US $150 billion per annum (Kinder, Hughes and Cooper), European countries “an estimated 5–10% of GNP P.A and costs Australian’s $10 billion per annum to Australia in accordance to Safework Australia. The typical response to stress from employers was to blame the victim of stress rather than its causes, however, moving forward a key element of individuals in a managerial position is to monitor stress by keeping a tab on workload, support, creating relationships, setting expectations and managing change effectively. Stress is an expensive, time consuming, cancerous and dangerous pattern to all those involved, it can cause problems amongst colleagues, financial strain within an organization, may result in bankruptcy for small business and should be dealt with before it becomes an issue, if stress becomes an issue in the workplace, appropriate support systems should be implemented to prevent further damage. The detriment stress can cause was discussed by business owner Emmanuel Barbas and Josephine G Paterson of RCN when stating two thirds of nurses were considering quitting their jobs due to unhealthy stress levels and that stress within a small business could be catastrophic and may even lead to bankruptcy during it’s introductory and growth phase. Stress must be monitored carefully in each workplace and it is more financially viable to prevent stress during it’s early phases before allowing it to spread.