Treating Workplace Stress
Glenis Wade
Treating Worker Stress,
Physical Health and Professional Performance Problems
Being stressed in your professional life not only puts you
in a foul mood for the day, stress can lead to poor health, underperformance
and low productivity. We especially know that our work life reputations can
take a downward spiral whenever our professional performance diminishes.
In the corporate world there are a wide range of services to
prevent worker stress and promote employee wellbeing. HR and Organisation
Development departments aim to quickly respond to insights from the latest research
linking worker stress and ill health to business discontinuity, financial
losses and low employee engagement. There is now also a strong drive to
carryout initiatives for corporate responsibility and looking after a company’s
people helps to satisfy that. The tactics that large companies use to support
employee health and wellbeing does vary. And I see many different solutions to
combat worker stress from my particular vantage. Below is a list of a few.
How Successful Businesses
Treat/ Prevent Workplace Stress
- From a telephone assistance service (direct dial
up a listening counsellor) to providing designated chill out and lets chat
zones
- From cycling loan schemes to installing standing
walking computer desks- From non smoking policies and signs to external smoking shelters to giving time off to attend STOP programs
- From training in stress reducing management styles to coaching mindful management techniques in all leadership styles
- From doing a one off wellbeing audit to going for excellence accreditations
- From drug and alcohol misuse policies and testing to giving workers time off to get support and heal
- From communicating positive attitudes about mental ill health to integrating a prevent program systematically and Mental First Aid training
- From dealing with a conflict situation to building a culture of collaboration and support
- From allocating a wellbeing champion to integrating a wellness (happy helpful) culture
From the annual off site leadership retreat to contracting massage therapy teams for regular onsite appointment
1. From
gym membership discounts to holding weekly on site yoga/ Pilates classes
2. From chilled water coolers to high fruit and vegetables menus in the canteen
2. From chilled water coolers to high fruit and vegetables menus in the canteen
What are the symptoms
of work related stress?
You know you are suffering from work related stress as there
are physical signs that arise in the body. Here are some of the workplace
stress related conditions that you might notice, according to the Health and
Safety Executive. These are divided into systems of the body.
Signs of Professional
Stress
In the department of Calm I see a wide range of individuals
that don’t have the kind of workplace wellbeing support that their peers
working in organisations might have (see list above). Many clients include
independent freelancers, nascent and serial entrepreneurs, people starting up
businesses, mid career changers as well as senior executives of smaller firms
and lone business owners.
The professional impact of stress or business related
anxiety is often noticeable in the quality of work being done and I know I
don’t need to remind you of the reputational ramifications. It is widely
reported that the business symptoms of a person’s low resilience is increased
procrastination, avoidance of important activities, poor time management an
inability to prioritise. Biased thinking can also lead to erroneous business
judgments being made.
I also find it
important to acknowledge to clients that specific activities within their
business or profession can be stressful. The most common stressor I’ve noted
that people have is reaching out to “the others”. Whether that is asking for
help or asking for new business (cold calling/ sales talks or networking). Many of the central themes we work on in the
Department of Calm is helping individuals find workable ways of connecting or
reconnecting with a challenging business relationships or vital professional
activity they hate doing or just can not get to grips with. Below are five top
tips that tend to help clients to build their resilience while we work on relaxation
therapies and carrying out practical exercises to overcome professional barriers.
Six Practical Tips!
How to build entrepreneurial resilience and ease the strains of being a
mumpreneur, sole trader or new business owner
1. Practice mindfulness
in your everyday work and you will be doing mindful management. It is especially good for helping you to
listen more attentively to your employees.
You might want to go on a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
course. It will help you to cultivate your practice of being mindful everyday.
2. Do seated
meditations at your desk. You can start from a practice of 3 minutes and
build up to 10, 15, 20 or even 30 mins meditation during your lunch break. Use
the timers available such as The Anamaya App as it has both timer and reminder
functions. You’ll be able to set up daily reminders to create that
sacred space so you can easily rest and recover at work. Here is a link to some
of the research
looking at the value of regular seated meditations at work using various
timings by Manocha, Black et al (2011) and Melville, Chang et
al (2012).
3. Regularly
talk to a colleague who you hold in high regard about difficult tasks you
face. The number of times you talk to someone about your stressful tasks per
day the more the talking meaningfully strengthens your immune system, reduces
your blood pressure and heart rate. Here is a link to Heaphy and Dutton’s (2006-2008) research about the physiology of positive
workplace relationships . Here is another on building High Quality Connections
4. Engage in a
program of therapies to suit you if you realise your professional anxieties
have roots quite early in your past. These will help you to start quashing your
unhelpful thinking biases. Researchers in business show how cognitive biases
can cause people to fail in their business and enterprising endeavours.
5. Book in for regular massage/ facial therapy sessions as research is increasingly
showing us the positive effects from massage. Scientists have seen that special
receptors in the skin are triggered to stimulate the feel good hormones in the
brain when strokes like massage are performed. Here is the link to one Professor
explaining his work via You
Tube video .
One of the relevant research
papers by Lloyd, McGlone et al (2015) is HERE.
Other research I conducted with colleagues at London College of Fashion see (Mair,
Wade et al 2015 HERE) discovered how facial cosmetics and treatments are used
by people for wellbeing in the same why that McGlone refers to self grooming
rituals too.
6. Switch
off with a regular hobby or art form that is expressive of who you are and
lets your personality, values and beliefs shine
The six tips I’ve provided are generated form my involvement
in university teaching and research. It is the combination of increasing evidence
in these areas that frames the way that I assist clients I meet. Thank you for
reading this far and I look forward to seeing you in the Department of Calm one
day.
Research Studies
Heaphy,
Emily and Dutton, Jane E., (2006) “Positive Social Interactions and the Human
Body at Work: Linking Organizations and Physiology” (October 2006). Ross
School of Business Paper No. 1056; Academy of Management Review, September
2006.
Lloyd,
D. M., McGlone, F. P. and Yosipovitch, G. (2015), “Somatosensory pleasure circuit: from skin to brain and back” in Experimental
Dermatology, 24: 321–324.
Mair,
C.; Glenis Wade and Danka Tamburic. (2015) “Older
Women Want to Look Good Despite Media Pressure to Look Young” in The International Journal of Aging
and Society Vol 5 :1
Manocha
R., D. Black, J. Sarris, and C. Stough, (2011) “A Randomized, Controlled Trial of Meditation for Work Stress, Anxiety
and Depressed Mood in Full-Time Workers,” Evidence-Based Complementary and
Alternative Medicine, vol. 2011,
Melville
Geoffrey W., Dennis Chang, Ben Colagiuri, Paul W. Marshall, and Birinder S.
Cheema, (2012) “Fifteen Minutes of
Chair-Based Yoga Postures or Guided Meditation Performed in the Office Can
Elicit a Relaxation Response,” Evidence-Based Complementary and
Alternative Medicine, vol. 2012,
More Resources
Read: The Mindful Workplace Book by Michael Chaskalson
Watch: Your tube video-
Mindfulness & Leadership in Business: Mark Bertolini, Soren Gordhamer on
You Tube from Wisdom 2.0 conference
Watch You tube video- Mindfulness
& Entrepreneurship: Peter Read
Contact
details:-
Anamaya Phone Number: 0203 011
0355
Glenis Phone Number: 0771 917 8836
Glenis Phone Number: 0771 917 8836
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