Create a stress-free workplace
While stress and work seem to come hand in hand, they don’t have to. Peter George shows us how to identify the signs of stress, and offers a mix of tried-and-true and quirky techniques to help create a stress-free workplace.
At the end of the year, if you are smart, you will take a look back at the year just gone and evaluate how you and your business has performed. If you are extremely smart, you will not just look at the bottom line of your company, you will examine the inner workings of your business, how it is run, and how your business has affected your quality of life.
Each and every year two resolutions come to the fore among workers, particularly those that own their own business: improve work-life balance and better manage the stress levels of me and my employees.
Running a small business is one of the most stressful occupations there is, with the constant worries of cash flow, improving work processes, on top of the ever-present need to bring in new business.
It is around this time of year, though, that small business owners look back and realise that all of those resolutions they made way back in December have been forgotten; they are as stressed as ever, and their employees are working harder and longer hours than ever before.
If, however, you keep this checklist handy, you should be able to identify the reasons for stress, the symptoms and how to change the work practices of you and your employee’s to reduce your stress levels immensely.
We all know the signs of stress, but often we choose to ignore them, whether we see it in ourselves or in your employees. It is worth remembering them in order to identify when your star employee is about to crack under the pressure and leave you in the lurch.
10 Ways to Know You Are Stressed
1. The amazing exploding individual. Perhaps the most common and obvious sign of stress is a short temper. If you or your employees seem to be yelling at each other on a daily basis, the chances are you or they are stressed.
2. The attention deficit disorder individual. A stressed worker, and that includes the business owner, is not a good worker. Stressed individuals are unable to concentrate as well as a calm individual.
3. Bags under the eyes. This one is a cliché, yes, but unfortunately it is true. Most of us cannot leave our stresses at the office, we take them home with us and dwell on the problems of the day, or the ones to face the next. Lack of sleep, though, is a vicious cycle: the more stressed you are, and the less you sleep; the less you sleep, the more stressed you become.
4. Increased number of sick days. This symptom can display itself in two ways. Firstly, stress can manifest itself physically by lowering the immune system and causing you to become sick more often. Secondly, many people deal with stress by simply ignoring it and taking a day off from work. Unfortunately for small business owners, staff taking sick days often increases stress levels for the proprietor.
5. Affecting external relationships. Snapping at the secretary, wanting to be alone at home or arguing about the little things. If you have noticed that the relationships you have worked so hard to foster and faltering because of minute details, you could be stressed.
6. Burnout. If you are usually an extremely detailed oriented person, as most business owners have to be, and you suddenly realise you just do not care any more, chances are you are experiencing burn-out; one of the most obvious signs of stress.
7. Smoke signals. We each have our own vices, and many people turn to alcohol or cigarettes in times of stress. Increased drinking and smoking can be an indication that a person is experiencing a period of increased stress-levels.
8. Outwardly expanding signals. Although not considered a traditionally harmful substance abuse problem, stress eating is something that affects a huge number of Australians, yet if you or an employee gains a large amount of weight over a short period of time, it can be an awkward topic to broach.
9. Strong or severe emotional symptoms. Stress can cause strong emotional changes, since it triggers the release of a lot of very powerful hormones and chemicals into our bloodstream. Examples include extreme anxiety or agitation, aggressive or violent behaviour, ‘withdrawal-isolation’ behaviours.
10. Your family. Oftentimes our best feedback mechanism is our family unit, whether it is your mother telling you that you look tired, your partner warning you that you are becoming snippy, or your kids wondering why they haven’t seen you in weeks.
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