Ways to weed out WORK STRESS
Jyoti Uplenchwar

HAVE you found that decisions are getting delayed? Do you find people nervous and twitchy, prone to anger at the slightest provocation? Are there frequent inter-departmental hold-ups and delays? Do you find that the performance of your organisation is not up to the mark?

Look around, think and analyse...is your workforce stressed?

Stress is ubiquitous factor that is a part of one’s personal and professional life. By accepting it and by learing how to deal with it (developing the right attitude) anyone can lead a more productive and meaningful life.

• Depression triggered by stress, ranks among the top three workplace problems.

• Workplace depression costs employers billions each year in direct and indirect costs, such as decreased productivity and lost work days.

• Incapacity to work leads to absenteeism and ensusing loss of resources,

• By the year 2020, depression will rank second only to heart disease as the leading cause if disability worldwide.

• Mental health problems are a leading cause of distress, illness, and disability and therefore carry a significant financial cost.

• The total cost of mental health problems in Britain is an estimated £32 billion. More than a third of the total estimated cost (£12 billion) is attributed to lost employment and productivity.

• It has been estimated that 91 million working days are lost due to mental health difficulties.

• Indirect costs such as absenteeism, loss of productivity, impact on family members, and job loss account for a large part of the cost of mental ill-health.

• In Great Britain, stress-related sickness absences from work cost an estimated £4 billion annually.

With this as the outcome, surely it is worthwhile considering a preventive mode of action by taking stock of the preliminery indicators and have a remedial plan in place. A lot can be achieved by identifying the stress factors and taking steps to reduce or eliminate them. Exposing corporate players to stress workshops can promote positive effects and quell harmful effects.

The effects of stress from a management perspective reveal some stark facts which play a nodal role in the development and growth of an organisation. When stress levels cross the optimal functioning zones, the effects start showing on the balance sheet of the organisation. The E factors ie Effectiveness, efficiency, Efficacy, are distorted, which is sure death for an organisation.

In order to identify the stressors (stress-inducing factors), understand them and put the pressures to producive use, it is important to categorise management personnel.

Mr Irresponsible: Passing the buck and blaming others for inefficiencies and delays in work will stunt an individual’s growth. As a person and will also affect an individuals decision-making and problem-solving abilities. This will lead to the non-achievement of goals, which leads to stress.

Mr Un-appreciated: The feeling that one’s efforts and hard work are not being recognised, while others claim the reward will result in disinterest in the job and a mental block towards continuous efforts. Lack of confidence that these efforts will finally be recognised and rewarded will lead to envy and stress.

Mr Obsessive: Obsessions with one’s own ideas can often lead to a dead-end where an individual’s ideas and efforts are focussed in the wrong direction and are, therefore, not recognised or acknowledged. This leads to wasted refforts and a failure to achieve the right goals, which leads to stress.

Mr Egoism: Being excessively conceited and self-absorbed leads to an individual’s in-ability to handle criticism in all environments. This leads to a high level of stress when the individual is not in his/her comfort zone. Even in one’s niche environment, ego often hinders interpersonal relationships and leads to isolation, which leads to stress.

Mr Poor Communicator: The inability to communicate effectively often causes individuals, who are reactive by nature, to make impulsive and uncalled for statements which results in a lot of anguish and regret later on.

Mr Blow-Your-Own-Trumpet: People with a tendency to exaggerate and boast about their own efforts and results tend to put off and desensitise their associates. By isolating themselves and attracting negative vibes in the workplace they bring upon themselves unnecessary stress.

Mr Introvert: Predominant introverts find that their lack of both communication skills and courage prevents their potential from being discovered, leading to stress.

Mr Complacent: This laid-back attitude stifles an individuals urge to grow, allowing others to overtake them. Another factor leading to stress.

Mr Know-It-All: The attitude of an individual who feels he is always right while others are at fault and know nothing ends up creating a void between him from others. This isolation and the resulting unpopularity is reason for stress.

Mr Bossy: An authoritarian and superior style of management may be a ladder to success in the professional world but it can spell disaster in one’s personal life.

Organisations today are facing both tough competition and a threat of obsolescence. Today, in order to survive most organisations resort to unhealthy business practices where the ends are more important than the means. This leads to the adoption of an impersonal attitude within the organisation and a degradation of the work culture. A sense of alienation prevails in the work place with monetary rewards being the only motivating factor that holds people together.

For long-term survival an organisation must build a culture that is people-centric, visionary, dynamic and creative. As an organisation is made up of individuals, the management’s objective must be to harness their Energies in a holistic and synchronous manner. For this to happen, the organisation has to continuously re-engineer itself to weed out factors that contribute to the stress of their employees, some of which are listed below:

Lack or recognition: When employees’ efforts are not recognised or when others appropriate the credit for good work done, an individual’s self-esteem is affected and is a crucial de-motivating factor.

Lack or autonomy: The inability to take decisions within one’s sphere of responsibility suffocates competent people.

Lack of a clear job description: People very often feel stressed on account of the ambiguity they feel when they are not clear of what is expected of them.

Unrealistic expectations: High, unrealistic targets and inadequate availability/allocation of resources are major stress-contributing factors that employees have to learn to deal with.

Lack of inter-department co-operation: Unnecessary interdepartmental delays of jobs or file movements lead to non-achievement of targets which cause anguish and lead to inter-personal conflicts.

Process industry-specific: Non-availability of raw material/spare parts can cause delays and lead to non-achievement of targets and is a major cause of stress in production departments.

Improper communication: Mis-communication or delayed communication by top management to the levels below them leads to a state of confusion and uncertainty.

Unwarranted changes: Changes in the work system, or policy matters can lead to stress.

Inadequate training: The inability to handle a job/situation creates low self-esteem and is a reason for stress.

Tolerance of sycophancy: superiors who are taken in by flattery and turn a blind-eye towards the exploitation of juniors, breeds resentment and leads to stress in the work place.

A difficult boss: This is a major stressor as it gives the employee a sense of inadequacy and helplessness.

Office politics: Politics along with the general environment prevalent in the work place has a major effect on people’s performance.

Social factors: Our society is in transition. In the cities, the traditional family system is facing extinction and nuclear families are becoming the norm. The burden of family management has to be shouldered by the husband and wife. As work demands increase, the partners have very little time for each other, tempers run high, irritability increases and tolerance levels decrease. This not only affects their own relationship but also adversely affects the children’s psychological growth.

Organisations have long realised the need of a healthy workforce for better productivity. What is less understood is that health not only encompasses the body but the mind as well. The removal/reduction of stressors is one of the most important productivity improving exercises that an organisation can undertake. From an institution’s point of view it is important that the HRD keep a track of the stressors and that management realises that investments have to be made to minimize these stress-inducing factors that its employees are exposed to.

One of the primary objectives of management should be to create a positive mindset and a persevering attitude amongst its employees. Studies can be conducted to identify the stressors affecting the workforce. Workshops to help people manage their stress and in the case of select individuals professional counselling can be offered to tide over crises situations.