I promise you nothing is as chaotic as it seems. Nothing is worth diminishing your health.
Nothing is worth poisoning yourself into stress, anxiety, and fear
Steve Maraboli
In today’s society feeling stressed is pretty much inevitable. Work-related stress is considered to be one of the most important issues. It has a number of negative impacts on health and leads to physical, psychosomatic and psycho-social problems. Work-related stress is caused by conditions, practices and events at work that may give rise to stress and anxiety.
Excessive work stress interferes with productivity and negatively impacts:
- emotional health;
- physical health;
- productivity;
- job performance;
- job satisfaction;
- quality of interactions with other people;
It is important to recognize when your stress level is out of control before you get used to it [1]. There exist certain signs of stress:
- anxiety;
- difficulty concentrating;
- difficulty making decisions;
- insomnia;
- short temper;
- increased or decreased appetite;
- muscle tension or headaches;
- feelings of loneliness or worthlessness;
- social withdrawal and isolation [5].
An employee should consider workplace hazards and know the factors that are likely to cause work-related stress:
- unclear work or conflicting roles and boundaries;
- unmanageable workloads;
- unrealistic deadlines and expectations;
- unsupportive, demanding management;
- lack of job development;
- high levels of responsibility;
- taking work home;
- unpaid overtime;
- career and job ambiguity;
- being underappreciated;
- fear of job redundancy [2, 4, 5, 6].
Beyond doubt, no one can completely avoid stress. However, work-related stress may be reduced by:
- creation of a supportive environment;
- optimization of work conditions;
- development of communication skills;
- rethinking career ambitions;
- delegation of responsibilities;
- implementation of health and safety policies [3].
Thus, it is impossible to control work environment; however, one should not remain irretrievably stuck in a difficult situation. There are some ways to manage workplace stress without making huge career changes: balanced schedule, prioritization of tasks, perfectionism resistance, creation of a friendly social climate, development of optimism. Make sure you take time to do what you love to do and schedule time to take care of yourself.
References:
1. Beat stress at work http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/pages/workplace-stress.aspx (accessed April 30, 2015).
2. Causes of work-related stress http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/hr/policy/stress/causes.html (accessed April 30, 2015).
3. Policy for prevention and management of stress in the workplace. http://www.hse.ie/eng/staff/Resources/hrppg/Policy_for_Preventing_Managing_Stress_in_the_Workplace_.pdf (accessed April 30, 2015).
4. Stress at work. Tips to reduce and manage job and workplace stress. http://www.helpguide.org/articles/stress/stress-at-work.htm (accessed April 30, 2015).
5. Stress symptoms, signs, and causes. The effects of stress overload and what you can do about it http://www.helpguide.org/articles/stress/stress-symptoms-causes-and-effects.htm (accessed April 30, 2015).
6. Top 10 sources of workplace stress, fight them with employee engagement http://www.peoplemetrics.com/blog/top-ten-sources-of-workplace-stress-fight-them-with-employee-engagement (accessed April 30, 2015).
