Work place stress and HR Strategies for stress management


Introduction

Every employee has experienced stress in various levels. Nowadays stress has become a severe issue. Job stress is the damaging physical and emotional responds which happen when the necessities of the job don’t match with the skills, abilities, available resources and tools of the employee.

Covid-19 pandemic has made this issue more worsen due to the fear of losing job, fear of affecting Covid-19 virus, loneliness due to isolation, etc. According to World Health Organization, when employees are requested to do works which exceeds their capabilities, knowledge, skills and when there is no adequate support from the supervisor or peers to fill that gap, employees experience work place stress.

Consequences of stress includes, differences in sleeping habits, more absenteeism due to sickness, leaving job, issues in personal relationships.

Causes for work related stress

There are numerous causes for the stress. It varies from person to person and with the type of work they have to done. Some common causes for the stress are,

· Heavy workload

It is said that to successfully complete a task there should be stress for some extent. But when employees are unable to perform the given work in expected time duration stress is caused. They face difficulties in working with huge workload. Unrealistic deadlines aggravate this issue.

· Poor work relationships

Work place relationships play a major role in job satisfaction and employee engagement. Relationships with co-workers and supervisors are unavoidable. When employees have poor relationships with the co-workers and managers or when they are not given the expected support from them it causes the work place stress. Conflicts with supervisors and co-workers, bullying, unfair treatments, aggressive managers, etc. make the stress a grave condition.

· Lack of job security

Fear of losing job, future transfers and fear regarding the future in career sometimes cause the stress among people.

· Unhealthy work-life balance

Long working hours and weekend working result in the lack of sufficient time to be with family and friends. As a social being humans find it more isolated. Long travel time and traffic accelerate the stress. Inability to balance the work and personal life is a prominent reason for causing severe stress.

· Unavailability of necessary resources and communication failures

Sufficient knowledge and skills is necessary to perform a job efficiently and productively. When employees are not confident regarding their training and skills, and their knowledge it is difficult to perform the task. This causes stress among workers. Sometimes necessary tools are not produced to the employee to do his job role. And also when an individual is not clearly informed regarding the job, when he doesn’t receive necessary feedback about the work done, it may result in arising stress.

· Low salary and other benefits

Stress occurs when an individual is not satisfied regarding his salary or when he can’t achieve the expected income. Sometimes it is not regarding the financial value, it is regarding his value for the organization which is reflected through his salary.



How HR can support employees?

The work place is a source for factors causing stress. (Michie, 2002) And also the consequences of employees’ stress give adverse effects on the performance of the employee. So, it directly affects the productivity, efficiency and overall performance of the organization. Reducing the stress is beneficial not only to the employee but also for the organization. So it is the duty of an organization to take measures on preventing workplace stress of their employees.

· Training staff to manage and prioritize the work through stress management training programs.

Necessary training can be given to prioritize the work and manage them with the time. Trainings on efficient management of work based on their energy levels  can be arranged with the appropriate resource persons.

Stress management can be included into the training and development programmes. Benefits and methods of managing work should be informed to the employees. Through this it is expected to make the follow those strategies and perform the duties without much stress.

· Open and clear communication

When maintaining an atmosphere and work environment where employees can communicate their stress and issues to the management it makes them more engaged. Counselling facilities, grievance handling meetings can do more on stress management. Necessary surveys can be conducted to continuously find the issues of employees and suitable remedies should be given.

Employees should be clearly informed regarding what is expected to be done. It prevents the stress causing from misunderstandings.

· Flexible working hours

Most of the employees find it difficult to balance personal life with the job. They are stressed with the facts such inability to cater the needs of children, parents, no enough time to be with them, lack of social life, etc. Management can help in arranging flexible working hours, and shifts. Extra benefits such as paid vacations can be granted to facilitate the personal life of employees.

· Rewards and other benefits

This is a method of appreciating the work of the employee. Though this, it is expected to increase the job satisfaction. Employees can be facilitated with extra benefits such as health and life insurances, transport facilities, free health screenings for common diseases like cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc.  They are helpful in coping with the personal life.

· Improve physical health

Physical health and mental health are interconnected with each other. Without achieving good physical health sound mental health cannot be achieved. Gym membership grants, promoting sports in the work place, meditation and yoga facilities can be implemented. A mind relaxing environment with walking paths is such an example.

Conclusion

To a certain extent stress is beneficial, but when it exceeds the some level it is harmful for the human being and its relationships. (Panigrahi, 2017) Stress is caused by various reasons. Stress is a response, everyone experience from all the life time. It is unavoidable. But when it exceeds the preferable level it should be reduced. Otherwise it may give severe effects. Prevention and reducing the stress among employees is beneficial for employee as well as for the organization.

References

Michie, S., 2002. Causes and management of stress at work. Occupational and environmental medicine, 59(1), pp.67-72

Panigrahi, A., 2017. Managing stress at workplace. Journal of Management Research and Analysis, 03(04), pp.154-160.


Comments

  1. Venushka BandaranayakeMay 3, 2022 at 7:48 PM

    Work Place stress is one of the most common issues faced by employees. The efficiency and the effectiveness of the employee were severely affected due to the high-stress situation. On the other hand, it affects both the mental and physical health of the employee badly. You have well explained the effects and how to overcome stress in your article. Really valuable Blog. All the best.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dilini MBAMay 4, 2022 at 7:10 AM

    As discussed, stress in the workplace is a major issue faced by employees. It will lead to dissatisfaction and reduced productivity levels. It will also lead to health issues and absenteeism. HR managers and supervisors need to take the necessary steps to help employees manage their stress levels. Good article Amila.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anuradha WickramasiriMay 5, 2022 at 10:53 AM

    Employees are suffering with stress in the work place due to various reasons which have a direct impact to organizational performance. It has a bad impact on the mental and physical health of the employee too.Idetifying the reasons for stress and provide solutions for same will be beneficial for both parties in every aspect.
    Good job Amila

    ReplyDelete
  4. FuardMBA24May 5, 2022 at 12:03 PM

    Stress must be handled with care. It can be even more dangerous when we are misbehaving. Irregular work in the workplace usually causes stress. Here you have explained in detail causes for stress and how to help employee to mange stress by HR. Good job

    ReplyDelete
  5. Achala BandaraMay 6, 2022 at 9:19 AM

    One of the most common difficulties that employees confront is workplace stress. Due to the high-stress situation, the employee's efficiency and effectiveness were severely harmed. On the other hand, it has a negative impact on the employee's mental and physical health. In your essay, you have properly explained the impacts of stress and how to deal with it. A very useful blog. Best wishes.

    ReplyDelete
  6. ChathuraDMay 6, 2022 at 12:00 PM

    This blog clearly explained the reasons for work place stress as all of us experienced at least one time in working life and strategies to cope with stress, including: Create a wellness plan. Allow for remote work and/or flexible hours. Make fitness options available. Great article.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Nishantha RathnayakeMay 6, 2022 at 7:49 PM

    You have clearly explained, Employees suffer a significant amount of workplace stress. It will cause discontent and lower production. Health problems and absenteeism will also result. HR managers and supervisors must take the initiatives to assist employees in managing their stress levels. Good Article

    ReplyDelete
  8. Suranga Senarathne - MBA May 7, 2022 at 4:40 AM

    Stress must be handled with care. It can be even more dangerous when we are misbehaving. Irregular work in the workplace usually causes stress. Here you have explained in detail the causes of stress and how to help the employee to manage stress.
    Very good writing.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Suresh HerathMay 7, 2022 at 6:47 AM

    Stress must be managed carefully. When we misbehave, it might be even more hazardous. Workplace irregularity is known to create stress. Here, you've detailed the sources of stress and how HR can assist employees in managing stress.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Amila KarunarathnaMay 7, 2022 at 8:37 AM

    Lack of stress management in the workplace contributes to illnesses, absenteeism, and employee turnover. And ultimately it affects to productivity of the organisation. You have disscussed the all aspects of the subject.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Employee engagement

Image
  Employee engagement is a significant driver of business success in contemporary competitive marketplace. Higher employee engagement contributes for reducing employee turnover, retention of talent, achieving productivity, achieve customer loyalty, and enhance the performance  and company’s profitability etc. Employees with higher level of engagement, contribute more to the productivity of the organization  and t hey work hard, retain and encourage others to do so. What is employee engagement? Strength of emotional and mental harmony employees feel towards the work they do, their teams, and their organization is regarded as the employee engagement. (Ryba, 2021) Considering how employees feel regarding their company or organization, employees are divided into four categories ·  Highly engaged employees ·  Moderately engaged employees ·  Barely engaged employees ·  Disengaged employees Interpretation of employee engagement as employee satisfaction is not...
Read more

Effects of employee turnover and Employee retention

Image
Employees are one of a most important part of an organization which directly involves with the performance of an organization. Hence retaining skilled work force will be a definite advantage to an organization by mean of organization’s stability, growth and revenue. Employee retention According to the Sandya and Kumar , (2011) Employee retention a process in which the employees are encourages to remain with organization  for the maximum period if time or until the completion of a particular project. Employee retention is directly tied with the employee motivation and there five impertinence aspects of motivation including compensation, Growth opportunity , Support from the organization, Relationships and Working environment. Employee turnover The opposite of the employee retention can be identified as the concept called employee turnover. In other words  employee turnovers refers to the number of workers who leaves an organization with in a given period of time. As an example ...
Read more

Aspects of Employee Training and Development

Image
Training and development is  an integral part of the human resource functions in any organization. It is a continuous process  which updates the knowledge and widens the skills of employees ,   one of the  most  important  resource in any organization. Training and development is designed to cater the changing environment with various programme  and methods planned by professionals. This helps to extract the maximum efficiency and productivity from the available human resource. Training is a  formal and systematic modification of behavior through learning which occurs as a result of. Also t raining is a  formal and methodical adjustment of behavior through learning which is a result of education, instruction, development, and planned experience.(Armstrong, 2003 as cited by Mensah and  Darkwa, 2016) What is training and development? Although the term training and development is used as one and same, training and development have some diff...
Read more