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Managing Your Stress In The Workplace

• November 03, 2021

Every year on 3rd November, the UK has Stress Awareness Day.

A day to reflect on everything in your life and assess whether your life has as little stress as possible, and to look at ways to try to prevent it whenever you can.

In a study by PerkBox, just shy of 80% of people in the UK felt work-related stress last year! This is significantly more than the 59% that were that stressed before the pandemic hit!

There were a lucky 17% who rarely experienced this stress and a 1% that never felt stressed!

With this staggering statistic, it means that work is the biggest stressor for people (with money issues being the second biggest with 60% of people asked stating this too).

A few of the biggest causes for this stress is:

•   Office politics
•   Lack of interdepartmental communications
•  The work performance of others
•  Long working hours

It is clear that there needs to be a change in the way that us Britons handle our day to day lives in order to reduce stress in whatever way possible.

It could be very useful to identify skills for ourselves and then incorporate them into our work lives so that stress can be as minimal as possible in all aspects of our lives!

One key aspect is time management

• If you let all of your tasks get ahead of you it is easy to quickly feel overwhelmed! You will have so much to do and no longer enough time as there has not been an equal division of your time for these tasks.
• Try to organise your time as best as you can, schedule in enough time for each project you are working on in your day in order to have an efficient timetable that will allow you to keep on top of everything in a timely manner!

Be realistic

• It is easy to feel like you cannot say no when people ask you to do a new task, but it is important to assess the reality of your situation.
• You simply may not have enough time to do the task they want you to do!
• It is okay to say no, it will ultimately be best for the company if you are not rushing to do all of your work because you have taken on too much.

Talk to others around you

• Sharing your problems with others can be a huge help!
• This can be friends, family or work colleagues!
• People are likely going to want to help you if it is possible, they could try to be quieter, offer up some help with your workload or just act as somebody you can vent to! It is always good to confide in people who want to be there for you!
• This could also be beneficial for the other person as you can share your tips amongst each other and take any useful information and apply it to your own situation.

Make a comfortable environment

• This can range from your home environment, your work desk, your clothing etc.
• It is important to feel as comfortable as possible in an environment so you can relax into whatever setting you are in without having to worry about everything around you.
• If you are in tight clothes, an uncomfortable chair, feeling cold, you will focus on all of these and prevent you from doing whatever you need to. Fixing these problems will allow you to think of more productive things instead of being in discomfort all day long.

Don’t overwork yourself

• Though it is important to do your work, do not push it past your limits!
• You need time away from your work when the day is over, do not sacrifice all of your free time to it, you will get burnt out.
• The quality of your work will go downhill if you are constantly exhausted from never taking your breaks, so focus on yourself in these situations and your stress levels will decrease as you will have that time to recharge and feel more mentally ready for your day.