Not all stress is the same and not one solution is given to all types of stress. Critically, there should effective ways to beat each and every symptom of work related stress that acts as the culprit to poor work performance and bad employee retention. As a stellar employer, you should have a tight grasp of those types of stress, why they arise and how to beat them so that you can help your employees handle them, and change your workforce management. Worker stress may be originated from how you manage your employees.
1. The Worn-out underling
Description: They are preoccupied well from the time they show up at work until the time they leave and they have just a titbit of freedom while they are there. They don’t have much to say about how they do their job and what types of projects they work on. It is because they are always working upon someone else’s schedule.
⇒Solution: This type of job is related to high demanding from the assigner and low control from the assignee. It can lead to seriously psychological strain. Even if the employees cannot have their work less demanding, they should have ways to get more engaged in the decision making to ease their stress.
2. The Frustrated go-better
Description: They work really hard though, they feel they don’t gain enough compensation or credit. With a buck of sweat and even tears they poured out, they have made their employers look good. Yet, they haven’t been returned with a pay rise, job advancement or adequate recognition.
⇒Solution: The imbalances between effort and reward are the quick way to the stress, especially for those very driven and yearning for approval.
They can try talking with their boss about their career goals. As an employee, you should take this talk seriously and reconsider how well they do for the company and whether you have given sufficient rewards to them. For those employees, they can be more insightful into how to improve their situation as well as outlook even if they don’t get rewards they want at once.
3. The Outcast
Description: They feel like they are alone in everything and not being in a good way. If they ask for guidance or help, their employer won’t give it to them, and when they need to let out their discontent, they don’t have a reliable alliance to turn to.
⇒Solution: The employers should practically support for this employee (i.e. the resources as well as help he/ she needs to have his/ her job finished well). Plus, the colleagues should emotionally support him/ her. Too little concern can make him/ her feel left aground on the irritating island.
Those employees themselves should work on communicating their practical and emotional needs. If they want their employer’s help, they should be most possibly specific and persuasive. Also, prioritize connecting with fellow workers.
4. The Doormat
Description: They deal with verbally rude, demanding customers, but they have to swallow their resentment and stay calm, polite and professional.
⇒Solution: When there is a difference between the employee’s internal state and his/ her role to play at work, his/ her experience, defined by researcher, is emotional labor. If you find your employees suffering this problem, give them advice or additional training about how to tackle difficult customers without being disheartened. Doing their job without emotional abuse will leave them feeling better about themselves
5. The Techno prisoner
Description: The boss now can monitor them 24/7 thanks to cellphone, Blackberry and laptop their company generously offered. They are almost connected to the workplace all the time, and there can't be a line between their work and their private life.
⇒Solution: Techno related stress is increasingly popular. And to protect themselves from physical and mental strain, the employees should learn how to disconnect (literally). Suspend the blocks of time (between 9 p.m and 8 a.m), turn off the electronics and concentrate on clearing the head.
You, as an employer, also should not optimize the effectiveness of technology that way. Instead, properly monitor your employees. Ask them whether they are uncomfortable with your monitoring (through suggestion box, or the like). If they share in being stressed over such controls, listen to their suggestions and make the proper decision to make sure of their work performance, private space and your good management of their work.
6. The Burnout
Description: They are terminally worn-out both emotionally and physically to the level that they find it difficult to work. They feel as if they are about to break down.
⇒Solution: Burnout – the severe exhaustion – is the consequence of prolonged stress at work. If the employees experience such exhaustion, they should discuss with a supervisor about it and see whether they can have time off, or even take a leave of absence.
7. The Bully target
Description: Their employer insults them, asks them for impossible deadlines, make them overwhelmed with work just because he/ she can, and reprimands them in front of other fellow workers. Or the employee has seen the boss do those things to others, and feels worried about being the next.
⇒Solution: If the employee feels he/ she is being bullied by his/ her boss, he/she can try to mollify that boss. If there are a certain number of employees that share the same frustration, those employees can be together confronting the tyrannical employer. If that doesn’t work out, they can resort to document that bullying and voice the concerns with human resources or a superior.
8. The Wronged victim
Description: They find work unfair. Their boss plays favorites and makes arbitrary and mystifying decisions of management. They feel like being treated like children.
⇒Solution: Unfair workplaces is lacking in what called ‘organizational justice’. They can have stressed out workers who feel like they are being treated unfairly or differently. Those employees should voice their concerns with a reliable HR rep or superior, which may make their stress level down.
Replies to This Discussion