Thursday, September 25, 2008

Stress Management For The Workplace

Workplace stress is as inevitable as death and taxes. Most people will experience stress in the work place on a regular basis. Some occupations have high levels of stress associated with them. Health care and law enforcement workers, for example, experience daily stress as a part of their everyday working life. Workplace stress can be reduced by identifying those situations which trigger it and reducing your exposure to those situations.

Here are some of the common stressors in the workplace and ways to handle them:

Co-workers with bad attitudes

It’s not uncommon for the people we work with to present a challenge at some point in our careers. Still, dealing with bad attitudes is a stressful challenge that can cause our own productivity to decline.

There is a lot of be said for ignoring problem persons. Most of the behaviors we find irritating are just that, irritating, but not devastating. Learning to accept the annoying behaviors of others as out of your realm of influence and unworthy of response is crucial to your ability to perform your job’s duties.

If this tactic doesn‘t work, try discussing the problem with them directly. There are times when they may be unaware of the way their attitude comes across to others. An open and honest conversation can be a simple solution that brings down the stress level immediately.

If that doesn’t help, you’ll have to go to your boss and tell them what’s going on and that it’s been affecting your work. Sometimes they’ll take ahold of the situation themselves in order for things to run smoothly.

Poor Management

Maybe your nasty cube-mate isn’t the problem but your horribly demanding manager is. Tolerating a boss who’s unfair or belligerent can send your stress level through the roof. Try discussing your issues with him or her before taking any further action to remedy the problem.

|If direct discussion with your supervisor proves ineffective, the next step is to approach the next level of management. Document the inappropriate behavior you have witnessed or personally experienced and report it to someone in human resources or follow the appropriate channels for your company.

Suffering silently with a management problem is not a good idea. It will make you miserable and anxious and eventually flow on to decrease your productivity and effectiveness. Most places of business want to hear about these types of situations and will do what they can to correct them.

Increased Workload

Occasionally it is the volume of work itself that causes stress in the workplace. It goes without saying that you should only accept assignments that you have time for, but when there are no options for opting out of additional work it is important to ask for help when you are overwhelmed. Sharing the workload is what teamwork is about. Most companies are happy to foster teamwork between co-workers. If the workload becomes too stressful and no help can be found contact your supervisor and explain that you are overwhelmed. In most instances arrangements can be made to reduce your workload.

Stress in the workplace can come from many other sources as well. Learn what causes your stress and find out how to work through it. Your workplace can be a stressful environment, but don’t let that stress get the best of you.

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