Office life can be adventures for many and for many it can be a place where they tie their experiences and goals. Office workplaces are spaces where people try to channel their energy into creating, collaborating, and coming up with extraordinary strategies.
However, there are times when your employees can feel a little stressed over their assigned tasks, and sometimes this little stress can pile up to become work-related depression, less creativity, and quitting. According to research in the United States, every 10 out of 7 people feel regularly stressed during their office hours.
In this article, we will discuss the simple yet effective ways to reduce stress at your workplace. These simple tricks and tips will help you identify your pressure points and how you can relax mentally without losing your productivity and creativity.
How Stress is Caused at WorkPlace
It is important to remove stress or manage it while you are working in a professional environment however, it is more important to know about the elements that can cause you stress while you are working. These elements can be anything or anyone and to prevent yourself from stressing factors you must locate them first.
Here are some of the major causes of stress in the workplace,
· Long Working Hours
Long working hours are one of the most stressful and bad practices that are the new norm in many offices. If you are one of the victims of this practice try to avoid this dangerous loop by working only within a set time.
· Job Insecurity
One of the most dangerous and intoxicating things about the toxic work environment is the job insecurity that lures people into thinking that they won't be able to have their current job security if they don’t do anything extraordinary for their organization. This is now more in trend due to the excessive inbuilding competition in our society.
· Excessive Work Load
Japan is known in the world due to its extremely long working hours which made its employees quit the cooperative culture soon. The excessive workload can be easy for a day or two but it might be harmful if done regularly.
· Over Supervision
Over supervision is an irritating yet very common issue that causes stress to many people during their working hours. However, it is now considered workplace harassment in many countries, it surely is uncomfortable and drains the creativity out of a person.
· Inadequate Working Environment
Employees often go through stress due to their annoying and less supportive working environment. This is sometimes can cause serious demotivation for many and can result in stress and even depression in many cases.
Ways To Reduce Stress At Work
As every sickness and disease has its antidote, so does stress. There are multiple ways that you can reduce workplace stress and boost productivity and creativity. However, the results can vary from person to person but all of these ways help you manage your tension and come out feeling relaxed and unbothered.
1. Identify Your Stressors
To cure something we need to identify the actual problem. In this way, you have to identify what causes you stress, what is that typical single or two-three things that initiate the problem for you and you feel anxiety. If you can write down all the things or issues that can cause you to feel stressed and give you a headache, managing such elements that can cause stress will become relatively easy.
After identifying your Stressors, try to write them on the paper with their intensity level, giving each specific point according to their stressing capabilities. This will help you not only identify your stressors but help you locate which one can be easily tackled than the other one which will save a lot of time and effort of yours and you can channel the energy into something more productive.
2. Re-evaluate Your Negative Thoughts
This one can be tricky if you sometimes get confused in your thoughts about the workplace and the environment. All you have to do in this is to take your time out of a task and relax, relax, and breathe calmly until you feel calm in the movement. This will help you in calming the immediate stress that you can feel while doing any task. Secondly now imagine all the good stuff that your company or your workplace offers you, try to focus on the positive aspects of your job and your office rather than focusing on the negative issues.
If you make a habit of thinking and liking all the positive aspects of your job you will automatically prioritize positive elements over negative ones and then the negative ones will lose their intensity and will seem light to your head rather than pinching negative elements that cause you to stress.
3. Create a Strong Support Network
Creating and maintaining a strong support network have tons of advantages. Your people who understand you and encourage you to accelerate in life are the ones that help you the most in reducing stress and anxiety at the workplace.
Try to communicate with people who are kind and helpful rather than being an introvert and not asking for help, talk to people and hear out their experiences so that they can advise you and tell you what worked for them and what did not.
4. Stay Out of the Gossip At Office
Gossip is unprofessional and has nothing to do with productivity and professionalism, instead, it can give you negative thoughts and will make you seem pessimistic in the eyes of many if you value drama and gossip rather than sharing something meaningful with your colleagues.
Try avoiding such gatherings where you become a part of gossip rather than becoming a team having a vision, at office places gossip can create an uncomfortable environment for you and for others that can contribute to stress and anxiety in employees.
5. Seek Counseling
Many offices and workplaces now have counselors and psychologists who can help you know about relaxing techniques and how to manage your emotions at work. It is advised to visit a counselor at least two times a month if you experience stress and depression related to work.
Counseling will help you find elements that can lift your mood pretty quickly and will also tell you how to manage stressors. You will also find that your counseling journey will make you more productive and It will also help you in becoming more creative and better at planning.
· Perfectionism is Not Your Friend
Employees often stress because they tie their hopes to the idea of perfectionism and this certain idea can cause a lot of issues in your professional life. If you will always seek perfection you will not feel happy and content with the work you have already done and this will make the same and will eventually come on you in the form of negativity.
Try being content and satisfied with the work you have done for yourself or for your company in this way you will be able to feel motivated and happy rather than being anxious and demotivated. Try accepting the outcomes of the task and rely on progression rather than perfection because progression is a positive approach toward a healthy stress-free office life.
