How to reduce your stress levels in the workplace

Feeling stressed in the workplace? You’re not alone, and you’re certainly not unusual. All jobs involve some amount of stress, even if you’re fortunate enough to be doing something you love – so don’t feel bad! There are a whole host of factors which can increase workplace stress in the short term, including deadlines, absences, projects and presentations. Sometimes, this stress can even be a positive force, driving you to meet those deadlines or be on your A-game for that big project.

Short-term stress is common, can usually be dealt with, and can even have positive effects for your performance and work rate. Chronic stress, however, is a problem; and if left unchecked, it can have major consequences for you personally and professionally. Here are five pointers for reducing your stress levels in the workplace:

How to reduce your stress levels in the workplace checklist

· Check yourself. – If you find yourself getting frequently stressed at work, you might benefit from keeping track of your stressors and responses in the form of a stress log or journal. Take notes about what caused you stress, how you responded at the time, and how you felt about the incident later in the day. In this way, you may be able to identify common stressors and equip yourself to respond to them more positively.

· Recondition. -Using you stress log, try to develop healthy responses to situations which cause you stress; and reward yourself for doing so! Gentle exercise, such as walking or yoga, can improve vitality while reducing stress, and is a much healthier response to stressful situations than indulging in unhealthy vices such as alcohol and tobacco.

· Fix your boundaries.- Establish – and protect – your work-life balance and boundaries. If you know you’ll be run-down and unhappy working more than a certain number of hours in a week, you have a responsibility to yourself to keep to this – even (and especially) if it means standing up for yourself when you’re being stretched too thin.

· Enjoy yourself.- You need to protect your work-life boundary because your life is important; so enjoy it. When you’re not working, try not to think about work: relax, do what you want to do, and spend time with friends and family. Work to live; don’t live to work.

· Get help when you need it.- If you’ve taken measures to reduce your stress levels in the workplace and still feel overwhelmed, there’s help out there for those who need it. If work conditions are what’s causing your stress, it might be worth talking to your manager to see if anything can be done; and outside work, there are trained professionals offering everything from counselling to life coaching. In the UK the NHS provide mental health services on referral from a GP, so talking to your doctor is a great first step.

How to reduce your stress levels in the workplace a workplace point of view

Workplace stress damages the individual and the company, and for employers there are strong professional and personal reasons to minimise stress in the workplace.

How to reduce your stress levels in the workplace how we can help

mmmultitude have more than 20 years’ experience in workplace wellbeing, covering everything from quality management to health and safety compliance: if you want to keep your workplace positive and productive, drop us a line today.