Layoffs are tapering off and business owners are beginning to breathe again. Employees, on the other hand, probably aren’t breathing much easier than they were during the thick of the recession.
They’re still worried about losing their jobs. They still feel like they’re working harder than they had to before hard times hit—and they might be earning less or the same as before.
Studies show that workplace stress has increased over the past several years and that productivity can drop if employers don’t address the problem.
Here are just some of the issues likely stressing your staff—along with suggestions on how HR can help.
The daily grind
Lousy pay, gridlock and crabby co-workers can exacerbate stress in any workplace—even yours.
More than three-quarters of Americans are stressing out about something related to their jobs, according to the 2011 Work Stress Survey by Harris Interactive and Everest College.
The survey of nearly 1,000 adults found that 77% are stressed by at least one thing at work.
The top stressors: low pay, commuting, unreasonable workload, fear of being laid off. Next in line: annoying co-workers, the boss, poor work/life balance and lack of opportunity for advancement.
Advice: Increase managers’ awareness about what the study’s authors call “the stress epidemic.” Remind employees often about their work/life benefits and your organization’s wellness program. If it’s feasible, restore your training budget to pre-recession levels as soon as possible.
High-pressure job duties
Stress is a fact of life in some professions. Pressure-cooker work tends to attract the kind of people who can handle stress, but even those folks could use help now and then.
The most stressful profession: commercial airline pilot, according to CareerCast.com’s 2011 Stressful Jobs Report. But the next four might surprise you: public relations executive, photojournalist, newscaster and advertising account executive. Jobs in communication are stressful because workers so often deal with crises and work under intense deadline pressure.
Corporate executives, architects, stockbrokers, emergency medical technicians and real estate agents round out the high-stress Top 10.
The least stressful jobs are mostly in health care: audiologist, dietitian, dental hygienist and speech pathologist. Computer programmers and software engineers also are on the low-stress list.
Advice: If your organization employs people in high-stress positions, offer stress-reducing benefits like extra time off, access to an employee assistance program, discounts on gym memberships, paid time off for volunteer work and occasional telework (well, except for the pilots).
Incompatible work styles
Not all great minds think alike. Seventy percent of administrative professionals who responded to a new OfficeTeam survey said it’s challenging to team up with colleagues whose work styles are different from their own.
Still, 66% recognized the benefits of collaborating with those who approach things differently. So don’t limit creativity by pairing employees only with like-minded peers.
Advice: Train team leaders to foster collaboration. Before launching any team, they should get members together to talk about attitudes, effort levels and the appropriate way to disagree. Encourage negotiated compromises so no single team member railroads the rest into working one way.
Example: If one employee prefers scheduled meetings, but the other would like to simply drop by unannounced, encourage the pair to try it both ways to reduce conflict. No partner should ever feel he or she is always the one who has to give in to the other.
Effects of poor nutrition
It’s a vicious cycle: Stress can lead to poor nutrition, and bad eating habits can exacerbate stress.
Why should HR worry about what employees eat? Aside from obvious health problems, which affect insurance costs, the cycle of poor diet and stress can make employees gain weight, feel unwell, start worrying, lose confidence—and become unproductive.
Advice: Make nutrition education an HR priority. Motivate employees to eat right by making them aware of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s new “Dietary Guidelines for Americans” (www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines), which offer easy ways to lower intake of sodium and trans fats. Organize group weight-loss competitions or team participation in fun runs. Offer free fruit and cold water so employees will be less likely to snack on chips and soda. Serve healthy lunches and snacks at meetings.
Stress on the home front
In the tug-of-war between career and kids, the private lives of working parents seem to be losing.
A national survey of working parents by Care.com reveals that 62% are so stressed from managing their jobs and their families that they don’t go to the gym, call their friends or have sex with their spouses. A quarter of them admitted they would leave their jobs for positions that paid less—if they offered greater flexibility.
Advice: This can be a slam-dunk for your organization. Flexible working arrangements like job sharing, part time, telework, compressed workweeks and flextime are proven stress relievers, and not just for working parents. If you’ve got these benefits on the books, remind employees that they’re available. If your organization doesn’t offer them, consider adding some—at least on a case-by-case basis.
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