Healthy workplaces manage stress

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stressWhat do you do in your organisation to increase awareness and manage the impact of stress? This month, we marked National Stress Awareness Day with The Stress Management Society, who this year shone a light on workplace stress in concert with the EU-OSHA 2014 – 2015 Campaign: Healthy Workplaces Manage Stress.

To be able to assess the real impact of workplace stress, The Stress Management Society conducted a study on men and women in workplaces across the UK. The study found that: 

  • 43% of people say they feel stressed at least once a day at work
  • 22% of people feel they can never escape work as the increase of online and digital working has made them contactable 24 hours a day
  • Almost half of those questioned said they failed to take a proper break from work for lunch
  • More than a quarter of people check their emails as soon as they wake up, 48% then continue to check them during the evening and almost a third (28%) of people check them at the weekend
  • Almost a third (28%) of people say that stress affects the quality of their work

It is evident that work is a major stressor and, with working hours increasing, we are spending more and more time at work. Here are a few tips to help reduce stress at work, increase productivity and efficiency and also improve quality of work:

  • Work-work balance: Prioritise and balance the conflicting demands on your time. Do the most important task when your productivity is at its highest during the day and save the non-important tasks for when you productivity dips.
  • Do one thing at a time: Focusing on one task at a time can increase productivity by over 400%. Finish your current task before moving on to a new one and minimise disruptions.
  • Learn to say NO: Simple but effective. Negotiate a mutually agreeable outcome. Where ‘no’ is the appropriate response, say it without guilt.
  • Master your technology: Don’t be a slave to technology. Use it to save time; don’t allow it to waste your time. Use applications to manage your time more effectively, set reminders and diarise tasks, but switch off when you are doing something important that requires attention and focus. Also, don’t forget to switch off when you are away from work for a healthy work-life balance.

If you like these tips and would like to gain a greater understanding of how employee stress is affecting your business, join Symposium Events and The Stress Management Society at the Workplace Wellbeing and Stress Summit 2014 in London on 27th November.

About

The Society was formed in 2003 by a number of healthcare professionals, management consultants and therapists - all experts in mental health, well-being and quality of life issues.

Their goal was to create a brand new type of accessible organization that offered impartial help and advice to everyone on stress management.

The professional counsellors involved in the organization are qualified to the highest degree. They are members of professional bodies from the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy, General Hypnotherapy Register, Association of Neuro Linguistic Programming, and Association Thought Field Therapy.

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