When it comes to running a business and managing employees, where do you draw the line between pressure and stress? Maintaining balance between the necessary pressures that drive productivity and damaging stresses can be challenging for businesses of all sizes.
According to the American Psychological Association and the World Health Organization, workplace stress causes approximately $300 billion in collective losses each year. To help explain these losses, the studies report that 75 percent of workers feel that they work in a high-stress environment and 51 percent of workers associate their lack of productivity with workplace stress. As an employer, what can you do to manage stress, in turn increasing productivity, reducing absenteeism, and earning back those losses?
Here are a few tips on creating a low-stress work environment:
Establish an employee recognition program – A Bersin & Associates study confirms that a sense of achievement and recognition for a job well done boosts morale and increases productivity.- Maintain organizational ethics and workplace values– Make certain that the values expressed in your organization’s mission statement or handbook are consistent with the actions of management to establish and maintain credibility among employees.
- Create room for advancement – The Wall Street Journal and the Journal of Applied Psychology report that a lack of opportunity for advancement stifles employees’ creativity, morale, and productivity. To encourage the best quality of work from your employees, consider giving them incentives to work toward.
- Provide stress management training – Good or bad, most jobs create stress. A recent Cleveland Clinic study shows that having a stress management program in place helps employees develop the coping skills needed to reduce workplace stresses.
- Improve working conditions – According to the Centers for Disease Control, difficult and/or dangerous working conditions typically create undue stress among employees. Eliminate dangerous conditions by ensuring that all aspects of your workplace comply with OSHA standards. Regular and open communication between employees and management will help you make certain that all problems are being addressed.
Creating a low-stress work environment requires effort and compromise from both sides, but when employers and employees share the same goal of reducing stress, everyone involved benefits. Click here to learn more about what employees can do to manage their own workplace stress.
At Eaton & Berube, your business’s protection and your employees’ wellbeing are important to us. For additional business management tips and other useful resources, please subscribe to our blog or contact us.