Distressed? De-stress! 4 Stress Management Techniques to Try

How great would it be if all jobs and workplaces had zero stress because of stress management techniques?

It would only be wishful thinking, however. Stress is an inescapable and inevitable part of daily life, even in the most enjoyed occupations in the world.

The best thing you and everyone else can do is learn to better manage it. This is where stress management techniques come in handy.

In a good work culture, managers and leaders recognize that they are in part responsible for the well-being of their teams. They also know that providing an atmosphere where well-being is prioritized will greatly impact the performance of the team. Helping your team to understand and manage their stress and mental health is an excellent way to do this.

Doing this is easy enough for your in-office team. But how do you manage remote employees when you cannot see them in person?

How Stress at Work Works

Workplace stress is one of the main sources of stress for working-age adults in the US. A 2021 report on global employees by Gallup.com revealed that 44% of all workers experienced stress at work.

The number began skyrocketing during the start of the pandemic in 2020 and continued to rise throughout 2022. According to the American Institute of Stress (AIS), 62% of working adults admitted having high stress levels, extreme fatigue, and feeling out of control.

Statistically, remote employees have it worse. According to a 2022 report by Deloitte, 77% of remote workers in the US have experienced stress and burnout in their jobs.

When stress is not managed, it has a habit of building up onto itself. Think of stress as your daily workload: if you do not keep up with your daily tasks, they will continue to pile up throughout your work week. There will come a time when you feel as though you will drown in paperwork.

Chronic high stress levels have always been a risk factor for mental health problems. A recent study linked chronic high stress levels to the development of depression and anxiety disorder.

Unmanaged high levels of stress negatively affect employee performance as well. Occupational stress and mental health issues are two significant causes of employee absenteeism and dysfunctional presenteeism.

But what causes occupational stress?

AIS says that 41% of employees cite immense workload as the culprit. Thirty-two percent said bosses and coworkers made their jobs stressful. Eighteen percent cited work-life imbalance, and 9% said lack of job security as their primary source of stress.

Meanwhile, 35% of remote workers cited having to attend unnecessary meetings as their main source of stress. Their next stressor at 31% was the lack of support or recognition from upper management.

Knowing this information is a great start to helping manage employee stress effectively.

Stress Management Techniques

Based on these statistics, I would recommend the following to keep employee stress at healthy levels:

• Clearly Distribute tasks and optimize workflow
• Recognize your workers as humans and empathize with them
• Provide and facilitate resources for mental health awareness and stress management interventions

Let’s dive into what this can look like in practice.

1. Prioritize People Over Projects

Acknowledge and accept that your employees each have different needs—even when it comes to stress management techniques. This may feel overwhelming at first glance, but remember that you also hired them because they offered different skillsets–diversity is a great thing! Some of the ways you can demonstrate this include:

• Allowing flexibility in the way that the work is done, while maintaining strict guidelines and expectations that the work does get done.
• Create policies and a culture that accommodates different phases of life and different lifestyles. When you create a strong team ethic, your workers will feel celebrated and supported during significant life transitions and you can ensure that the workflow will continue as planned
• Encourage honest feedback from the ground up. Your line-level employees are your greatest problem solvers. By creating an open dialogue about what is stressing them in the workplace, you often also find the most resourceful solutions from teammates who are in the thick of it on the ground floor of your operations
• Provide regular and consistent training for mental health literacy, resiliency, stress management, and communication skills

2. Detach from Work Psychologically

Despite the common request to “leave your personal life at the door” once one starts work, most people cannot compartmentalize their work and personal lives, which causes friction. Instead of upholding these outdated expectations, here are some ways you can help employees:

• Enforce all employees to clock in and out on time, whether they work from home or in the office. Maintaining clear expectations for all to tap in and tap out regularly prevents the urge to overcommit which leads to burnout and bickering in the long run.
• Implement and adhere to reachable hours and allow subordinates to turn off work emails and phones.
• Enforce disconnecting from work as much as disconnecting from home, meaning that vacation or personal time should be planned by the team accordingly so that work is not a requirement in off time.
• Consider enforcing a minimum PTO rule. Because some employees haven’t mastered personal habits for self-care, they may never take PTO. This will require workers to step away from the office and their work for a minimum number of days.

3. Encourage Taking Micro-breaks

Sometimes employees forget to get up and stretch or rest their eyes occasionally, which you should encourage. Research has shown that micro-breaks help to learn and focus over longer intervals:

• Implement timer apps that remind workers to take breaks every two hours
• Suggest using Pomodoro timers for employees who are dealing with or recovering from anxiety, depression, or burnout

4. Provide Opportunities for High-Effort Recovery Activities

A 2022 study found that more physical activities can be more effective for stress recovery than “low-effort” activities.

You can encourage your subordinates to try this by sponsoring out-of-office activities such as hiking, swimming, and the like.

Offering regular training or workshops that get your employees active will break up the work cycle and help your team to embrace the science behind improved focus and cognition. Consider workshops with yoga, dancing, team-building activities, or even running teams.

There are lots of stress management techniques to try.

Stress management techniques are crucial in helping employees cope with occupational stress. These four are but a few examples of how you can help your subordinates and coworkers.

Does your current company have sufficient protocols to facilitate and promote mental health awareness? Together we can create a customized plan.

Leave me a message and let’s talk!