Mental peace and intellectual skills are two main factors you need to ace your workplace performance. It is for all; there is no restriction to any specific industry or designation. The employees of today’s time have skills, resources, and capabilities. But when it comes down to workplace stress, unfortunately, they face that too. Stress is a stimulus that makes us experience unexpected behaviors or circumstances. Instead of a constructive reaction, we go into a state of being numb.
Workplace stress is usually due to undesirable pressures. These can be job insecurity, conflicts with co-workers, and nearly impossible to fulfill demands from the management or upper authority.
You can never base mental health on theory; what may be stressful for one cannot be stressful for others. Yet, some factors trigger mental health, and we will be discussing them right away.
How Workplace Affects Mental Health?
Productivity at the workplace is directly related to one’s peace of mind. The symptoms of affected mental health do not necessarily have to be psychological; they can be behavioral and physical. And after a certain point, it becomes a challenge, and many people fail to overcome it.
One reason can be a lack of attention towards the matter. To cope up, let’s shed some light on workplace stressors that are affecting your mental health.
1. Job Insecurity
Doing a job is a consequence of financial pressures, self-establishment, and strive for independence. The companies go through economic changes and spice up competition among the employees. This uncanny struggle to survive puts extreme pressure on employees and keeps them disturbed.
If we look deep into the current pandemic, the companies worldwide have witnessed takeovers, rightsizing, bankruptcy, and whatnot. Everything has ultimately contributed to employees’ stress and anxiety.
2. Conflicts with Co-workers
Co-workers can be a curse or a blessing. If you work with some problematic colleagues, you can relate to how hard it is to survive the day. You either have to stand against them or work as a team to achieve targets. In both cases, the conflict stands steady.
A better way to resolve these conflicts is by getting advice from a mutual senior employee or co-worker. The disputes among workers are evident in every sector. For instance, in the healthcare sector, there are many disagreements between medical professionals. However, doctors and nurses possess not only technical knowledge but also emotional intelligence. Nurses are exceptionally trained in various skillsets through online post master’s certificate nurse practitioner programs, enhancing intellectual and emotional quotient. Other industries should also focus on training their workers/employees to be emotionally stable. Whichever option you choose, make sure to agree upon common ground.
3. Conflicts with the Management
Companies and management often fail to understand the human capacity and put extra burden regularly. It is not like they don’t understand the multitasking ability, yet they put pressure intentionally.
These conflicts and problematic relationships, or in other words, corporate culture, turn out to be a reason to quit a job for 43% of the employees. But unfortunately, everyone does not have a list of opportunities; they choose to remain, and it keeps affecting their mental health.
4. Unrealistic Work Demands
Unrealistic work demands can be; short deadlines, unrealistic expectations to perform a high-quality task in a short span, excessive workload, late sittings, and slow processes. All of these lead to stressful demands that affect workplace performance and productivity.
Unrealistic demands may also be asking for timely tasks and not giving the salary on time or not providing the promised benefits. The worst part is that the management doesn’t realize what an employee is going through.
People cope with stress differently, and few throw up their mental condition with emotional and behavioral distress. Some employees undergo anxiety, some face insomnia, while others suffer excessive headaches and nausea.
Communication can be a good option here, but it requires cooperation from both ends.
5. No Recognition of Work
Do you know that 76% of the employees are willing to switch jobs because the seniors don’t give them the value they deserve? It hurts when you work hard and do not get the proper recognition. It is quite common in the workplace of today’s time. Competition among employees also bars several deserving employees from being recognized.
Those who are mentally smart and relatively strong fight for their rights, but the others get anxious and fail to figure the right way out.
How to Cope-Up with Work Stressors?
Stress at the workplace is the most daunting feeling. You wish to help yourself, yet you can’t. But, there are some things you can do to cope with it;
- Find a supportive friend among your co-workers and share out loud with him/her whenever you feel down.
- Take out few minutes alone and have some me-time at your workplace.
- Find out the right exercises and methods to sleep well.
- Release stress by writing everything down and maintain a journal.
Final Thoughts;
To cope with workplace stressors, one needs to be fully aware of the value of mental peace, the importance of communication, and a positive approach towards problems. Companies need to understand employees’ pain points and work on their mental health.
They can hire experts who can start a training program and work on mental well-being. The management should regulate awareness of stress management exercises. There should be a proper communication channel where employees can share the problems and issues they encounter at the workplace.