Managing Workplace Stress
Article published in Engineers Australia Magazine August 2006
Irrespective of where you are in the corporate hierarchy, you can expect to be exposed to some level of workplace stress. Whilst it is not always possible to avoid these stressful situations, it is possible to control how you react to them. This is particularly important for your overall health and wellbeing as well as the wellbeing of your organisation.
Dr Putai Gin holds a PhD in workplace stress management and coordinates post graduate programs in workplace stress research at the University of New South Wales. According to his research, over 50% of workplace related lawsuits are stress related. This statistic should be of particular interest to engineers who often find themselves in senior management and leadership positions and may end up having to defend their organisation in such a situation!
Gin believes that as well as adverse consequences of the legal action itself, employee productivity and the reputation of the employer also suffers. Ironically in many cases, such legal action could be easily avoided.
As well the impact on the organisation as a whole, workplace stress has many negative effects on the body. According to Dr Craig Hassed, a senior lecturer with the Faculty of Medicine at Monash University, stress “can lead to an increased risk of depression, suppress the immune system leaving one more open to infection, increase inflammation, and affect one’s heart rate and blood pressure increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease.” Some of the most recent research has also found that stress can lead to more rapid aging, DNA damage in the cells and may even contribute towards certain cancers.
There is evidence that a stressful workplace can increase the risk of employees suffering from depression and that conversely stress management programs can reduce that risk. In a recent randomized controlled trial carried out at the School of Social Welfare at the Osaka Prefecture University, researchers found a significant improvement in depressive symptoms in employees that undertook a 3 month stress management program as compared with a control group. They concluded that “a stress management program based on the cognitive behavioural approach at the workplace may have potential for the prevention of depression.”
Implementing such a program is not difficult. The program used for the Osaka study involved lectures on the perception of stress, providing employees with measures to cope with stress and email counselling.
According to Hassed there are three areas that effect workplace stress namely the employees’ perception of control (the ability to influence the work environment around them), the ability to meet demands (by moderating expectations of employees) and having appropriate support (being supportive of others). “Always asking and expecting more of people does not necessarily mean that performance is going to be improved.”
Gin believes that another important factor is training all levels of management in managing emotional competence. This involves giving management an awareness of their own emotional strengths and weaknesses, training in self regulation of these emotions, improving perception of the work environment to build coping skills and providing training in relationship management. His research has found that where management has a high level of emotional competence there is less workplace stress, improved relationships with staff and clients and a greater satisfaction with the work environment. Overall a win-win situation for everyone.
Even simple techniques such as ensuring that employees don’t feel ignored, managing anger and avoiding humiliating employees in public goes a long way towards reducing the daily workplace stress.
Employees (and managers) can also take steps to help themselves by ensuring that they have regular healthy exercise, eat properly and have a balance between work and leisure activities.
Complementary therapies such as yoga and ti-chi may also be of benefit. In a small study conducted by the Department of Psychology and Centre for Health Equity Studies at Stockholm University, researchers found that both a cognitive behavioural program and Kundalini yoga program were equally as effective in reducing both the psychological and physical effects of stress.
Gin’s own research found that combining both cognitive and physical programs (for example ti-chi) delivered as slightly higher benefit, however the overwhelming factor affecting the success of the programs was the employee’s perception of benefit. “People will perform better when they expect to!”
His advice is “that it is very important for someone to find a stress management program which is tailored for their needs. This gives people ownership and control of their program and encourages them to commit long term.”
Although stress management relief can never come out of bottle alone, short term use of appropriate herbal and nutritional supplements may help one to cope with particularly stressful situations. Porridge is very good for the nervous system (as well as being highly nutritious) and makes a great start to a winter morning. Chamomile tea is particularly soothing and makes a relaxing substitute for coffee or other stimulant drinks. Ensuring that one eats properly is also very important as low blood sugar (cause by skipping meals or over-indulging in sweets) makes it considerably harder to cope with stress.
B vitamins, magnesium supplements and herbs such as Withania, St John’s Wort and Kava Kava may also be helpful. However you should always seek professional advice from a suitably trained health professional before taking any herbal or nutritional supplements particularly if you are taking other medications.
Listen to the interview with Dr Craig Hassad via Podcast. Click on the link below.
