The digital world is full of companies doing a range of activities in different fields. Although the processes and products vary, almost all companies will work in the same manner. There will be a hierarchy in the management and each level of managers will lead and guide the lower-level employees to achieve the common goal of the company. Each of the employees would be working with a lot of stress factors due to various reasons. You cannot say even a single employee from the bottom to top-level management who remains active with mental wellbeing during all the working days. Workspace stress has become a global issue and experts like Walter Morales have taught several things about this in their articles. If the top management does not take necessary actions and motivates the employees to take them away from their mental stress, the overall productivity of the company will get affected. However, there are several technologies and service companies that are being helpful to bring peace to the employees along with motivation. It is more than enough for the employees to know the causes of workspace stress and the ways to reduce it. Let us discuss this in detail in this article.
Causes of workspace stress
You can name a hell of factors as the causes of workplace stress as it varies from employee to employee. However, let us go through a few of the major factors that cause mental stress for employees in the office.
Workload – Employees are capable of doing work continuously for six to seven hours. Although usual working hours will be a maximum of eight or nine hours, few processes may require the employees to work for a longer time. In such cases, the workload will increase gradually. In some companies, there will not be an extension in the working hours but the employees would be forced to complete certain tasks within a shorter span. So, the pressure will not let them have peace of mind while working. It will in turn develop into mental stress in the long run.
Employee relationship – Since workspaces are known for teamwork, the employees would have to collaborate with at least a few of their colleagues. It can be a senior employee or a managerial person in charge of the employee. If the relationship between the two is not good, then there will be constant issues inside the workspace building mental pressure on everyone.
Uninterested work – Sometimes, employees might have ended up in a work unexpectedly without their interests. In such cases, they will not even wish to do the work. Every day, they will be working for sake of the salary, and the lack of interest will be reflected in the output of their works. So, this will also affect the employees present in that employee’s team. So, there will be a mental stress for everyone.
Repetitive work – Another major reason for workspace stress is the repetition in work. If you are doing the same boring work throughout the year, you cannot do it with satisfaction. Likewise, the employees will get tired and bored of it. So, the stress will develop.
Strict environment – Most offices will not be ordinary with a casual culture. The majority will be strict with the employees and this overly strict culture itself will cause mental pressure to the workers. As they would have to sit at the same place doing the same work without even getting few minutes of break, they will not be willing to work.
Remedies for workspace stress for employees
Since several factors are causing mental stress to the employees, the business management should try to implement the following strategies and methodologies to reduce their pressure.
- Use behavior change technologies
You can find technologies like that of Thrive Global which will drive your employees to show a change in behavior through motivation, inspiration, meditation, and many other activities or sessions that can vary with the type of technology used.
- Better communication
Some studies show that if there is open communication between all levels of employees and management in the workspace, the struggles of the employees can be reduced to a greater extent. There will be several technologies like the software offered by Thrive Global that will help bridge the gap between the top and the bottom management. Once the communication becomes better, the issues will get sorted out as the relationship between the employees will get improved.
- Offer health insurances
If the employees feel like the management is not caring about them, their mental stress will increase drastically. However, the management can take steps to show their care by offering health and physical insurance to every employee. The presence of such a benefit itself will decrease the mental stress of the employees in a good way. As the organization is showing some empathy towards the employees, they will start working loyally for the company. So, the overall productivity of the company will also increase.
- Leave them for few minutes
The next step every employer should take is to offer breaks between the busy working hours to the employees. There is a drastic difference between a person working continuously for six hours and the one working for six hours with a fifteen minutes break in the middle. The latter will be more productive as there is a relaxation period for the employee. So, every company should consider offering breaks to the employees.
- Offer paid leaves
Although leaves may disturb the production to a smaller extent, the employers should offer paid leaves to the staff on a rotational basis. It will give them a morale boost and they will show more dedication during their working hours. They will work hard to be productive than they were when there is no such leave.
- Conduct fun activities
In the busy week, the employers can conduct a single session of fun activities for the employees. This session will help greatly to reduce the mental stress of the employees. They will get freshen up and they will continue their works.