Every colleague in the workplace thrives to be successful. With continuous demand in our roles to meet targets and achieve our goals, sometimes you can feel like you never stop. Stress is a common state that can occur when you’re unable to cope with the demands to meet these goals and targets. As a result, you can underperform in your role and it can have a negative impact on your overall mood and productivity.
Sometimes, it may not even be yourself in this state of stress. Taking care for the wellbeing of others can be just as important as the wellbeing of your own. This is why it’s important that you’re able to identify key signs that a colleague may be stressed as they may not speak out about it to others. By identifying it sooner, you can tackle it head on and help resolve the issues they may be facing.
If you’re unsure about how to identify the common signs of stress, here are some to be aware of so you can look out for it in your colleagues.
How to identify signs of stress
How individuals showcase stress can vary as they tend to deal with it in different ways. Some can be rather erratic and appear annoyed, whilst others may shy away from their normal daily routine and switch themselves off from others. Considering that signs of stress can vary, it’s important to identify the triggers. Generally, people tend to react to stress in 3 different ways:
They become overwhelmed
This state of stress can be rather intimidating for someone who may be witnessing it. This character of behaviour tends to be quite fast-paced and outspoken. As the individual feels so pressured by the weight on their shoulders, adrenalin tends to build. This results in the person looking irritated and becoming speedy with their actions. In some cases, they can also become argumentative and ‘snap’ fairly quickly with others. This can have a negative effect on others around them.
They take a step back
This state of behaviour can be the complete opposite of the one mentioned above. Rather than being visual with their actions, they choose to shut themselves off from others instead. This helps them to protect their feelings and what they’re experiencing. Common actions of individuals who experience stress in this way will be rather critical of themselves and become quite withdrawn from others. Their mood can be rather low or down, avoiding conflict and working harder to take their mind off it.
Pretend as though nothing is wrong
Probably the most difficult behaviour to identify would be the ones who act as though nothing is wrong. The best way they deal with stresses is act as though nothing is wrong and make a bigger effort to cover over the cracks. What they tend to do is take their stresses home and channel the stress into damaging habits. This can be negative on both the physical and mental wellbeing of individuals. In such cases, it may be better to ask if something’s wrong if they don’t appear right.
Help one another where you can
Sometimes, when an individual is stressed it can be for many reasons. It can be personal like a breast reduction Manchester procedure going wrong or something bigger like a conflict occurring at work. How they deal with stress can vary. By understanding how people can deal with stress it can increase the chances of dealing with it sooner rather than later.