Stress in the Workplace

Stress in the Workplace

There has always been an element of stress experienced by individuals during the course of their day to day work.  In years gone by many workers have performed jobs that have been carried out in dangerous conditions, with no technology available  to assist with or in some cases, thought given by the employer to the safety of their employees.  Consider the young children not so many years ago, crawling through tunnels underground during mining operations, cold, wet, hungry and in the pitch black with only a small candle to guide their way.  Imagine the fear and stress suffered by those children during these times and the psycholgical affect this must have had on them, to say nothing of the anxiety experienced by the children’s parents, who relied on the pittance they earned to feed the family.    Fortunately in this day and age, many of the difficult and dangerous occupations and situations have been eliminated by technology, or where total elimination  is not possible the best possible health and safety measures have been introduced to lower the risk to those undertaking the tasks.

The threat to an individual’s safety at work has always been a primary cause of stress, but dangerous conditions are  not the only cause.   There are other threats ever present among the workplaces of today’s world:

• the threat of dismissal from employment;
• the threat of discrimination: the threat of the rate of change within the workplace and the uncertainty associated with that change;
• the threat of harassment from fellow workers and bosses;
• the worry that you are not properly trained and equipped to do the job that you have been asked to do
• time constraints

to name but a few.

Each of these threats exerts pressure on an individual and how we react to this pressure will be different from person to person.    It is sometimes difficult for us to know how to respond to these pressures and as a result we hold the stress inside us, resulting in negative side affects.

Some obvious physical signs of stress are tiredness, headaches, weight gain or loss, increase in blood pressure, stomach ulcers and digestive problems like indigestion or constipation.  We start displaying changes in behaviour  like having difficulty sleeping, drinking too much alcohol or taking to drugs, being aggressive or in some cases becoming very passive in our behaviour.

These signs are not always obvious at our workplace, but there are a couple of signs that manifest themselves at work that we should all be aware of.

Workplace conflict can begin to rear its head during times of stress.  Obviously there can be situations where large groups of people can be under stress from lets say the threat of work place closure and at this time management and co-workers alike need to take care of each other and consider the pressures being placed upon everyone.  However should an individual begin to display conflicting behaviour and they have not done so before this could be a good indication that things are not ok with that person.  This isn’t  to say that the stress that may be causing the behaviour is coming from the workplace of course, but that this individual is suffering some form of distress which is manifesting itself in behaviour which is out of character.

Another good indicator is when someone begins having frequent periods of absence from work – sick days.  Not wanting to go to work because a situation is getting you down there is a natural reaction, I am sure we have all experienced this feeling at some time.  Employers should always consider that work place stress may be causing absenteeism and it is their legal obligation to try eliminate the cause of the problem.  So if you are a manager or supervisor of employees who are possibly displaying signs of workplace stress, do not hide from it, take the situation full on and try to work with the individual and other forces causing the problem to eliminate them.  Good Health & Safety Policies will have guidelines how to deal with this type of  situation.

If you are suffering from workplace stress, what do you do.  Firstly talk to someone about it, your manager or supervisor is the best person, but if you don’t feel that you can approach them, then consider the Workplace Health & Safety Officer, the Human Resource Manager, the Workplace Nurse or Doctor.    Consult your doctor or health practitioner, talk to a stress management consultant.  But above all things don’t do nothing.  There are people out there to help, and you owe it to yourself to find that help.

Your health is yours alone to manage and experience, and stres if  it severe enough and over a long enough period may have detrimental effects on your overall health and well being, so look after yourself and if you find yourself in difficulty at work.  Seek help, it is out there.