Top 5 Ways Managers Can Reduce Stress in the Office

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All jobs can be stressful at times, but when the level of stress gets too high it can be detrimental to both your work and your health. So if your employees are starting to look a little worn around the edges then here are some easy ways you can reduce the pressure.

1) Adopt a Positive Attitude

One of the biggest reasons for employee dissatisfaction is due to bad relationships with managers so you may be having a bigger impact than you realise. But not only is it important to act kindly towards those below you at all times, it’s also important to be positive.

Negativity can go viral, so rather than discouraging your staff by complaining, instead stay positive and believe that everything will be ok. This doesn’t mean to say that problems should be ignored, but rather than making a mountain out of a molehill, instead approach dilemmas rationally – in perspective problems often aren’t as big as they may initially seem.

2) Encourage Time Out

Working too much can lead to burn-out, so encourage employees to leave their desks and step out from behind the office dividers. This can be anything from reminding them that they could join others for lunch to organising regular social outings. You could even run a few charitable events in the local community.

3) Ensure Workloads are Manageable

If someone can’t finish all of their work within the normal working week then either there’s a problem with their productivity or their workload is too large and may need to be partially reassigned.

Ask employees to track roughly how much time they spend on tasks for one week and assess if their workload is realistic. One way to do this is to have them break the time into 15 minute chunks. You may even find that some employees find it harder to get distracted if they regularly adopt this approach.

4) Identify When Someone Needs Help

Not everyone always asks for help, so be sure to monitor what hours people are working and check that no one is consistently staying late to finish work. It’s also important to make sure to listen. People rarely get to the root of the problem at first, so dig a little deeper and see what’s really causing the issue.

5) Recognise Achievements

While offering incentives can put pressure on people, recognising achievements has the opposite effect. You don’t always need to give financial rewards to show people that they are valued and appreciated, instead a kind e-mail or mention can have the same effect. In large corporations it can be particularly easy to feel like no more than a small cog in a big wheel, so it’s your responsibility to make every employee feel like they make a valid contribution.

So rather than handing out free iPads or stress-balls, try to adopt a few of these simple approaches and you may be surprised at the result.

Have you found any other techniques that help to reduce stress in the office?