Stress is a prevalent issue in the workplace, and it’s estimated that the cost of stress for businesses exceeds 300 billion each year. Work is one of the top stressors for people, whether it’s the daily workload, feeling as though you have lack of job security or problems with colleagues and team members that lead employees to feel overwhelmed. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to reducing stress at work but there are things companies can do to provide effective stress relief programmes with the help of HR software like Cezanne HR. Here are some ideas for how HR departments can establish an efficient stress relief programme, with ideas that can be tailored to specific workplaces.
Encourage Workplace Wellness
Exercise and healthy living are the best ways of combating stress, so companies should bear these two factors in mind when they’re cultivating a wellness programme. A focus on wellness helps to improve your mood by increasing the production of endorphins. Some of the ways companies can develop a wellness programme include subsidised gym memberships, bring in yoga instructors once a month for group yoga sessions, allocating an area for quiet time and meditation when staff get too stressed throughout the day, providing healthy snacks in the office, and encouraging team members to get outside on their lunch breaks and go for a walk.
Provide a Stress-Free Environment
Much of the stress of work comes from the environment we work in. Think about each aspect of your office space and how it does or doesn’t provide a stress-free space to work. It might be something as small as the space around your desk that could be leaving you feeling squashed in and confined, or the drab colours of the walls that leads to you feeling tired and demotivated. Businesses can rectify this by updating the office with a more upbeat colour scheme, introducing plants around the office, and providing comfortable spaces where employees can relax and unwind on their breaks. These changes will help to reduce stress and keep staff relaxed and inspired, while also making the office a wonderful place to work generally.
Allow Flexible Working
When employees are hired, it’s because you’re confident in their ability to do their job well and on time. Yet so many businesses still deny staff the right to work from home or work flexibly around their personal lives. The workplace shouldn’t feel like a cell but rather a place that offers facilities to get the job done, but if employees feel that they’d be more productive and motivated working remotely, it could be great for morale. If the business isn’t ready for full remote working straight away, you could trial a flexible working policy and go from there as people prove themselves to be trustworthy.
Praise Staff
One cause of stress in the workplace is that staff feel overworked and underappreciated, but this is an easy fix that has a big impact. Simply by offering praise and recognition where it’s due can help relieve stress and anger and will ensure that employees know that their work hasn’t gone unnoticed. From naming employees who have done a particularly great job in the weekly meeting to just dropping them an email to let them know that their efforts have been appreciated, you may be surprised just how much of a positive impact this can have on morale, motivation and stress around the office.
Create Quiet Time
Stress can’t be avoided completely in any area of life, but when it does arrive, there are things you can do to alleviate it. An easy way to do this is to provide an area where staff can go to get some quiet time when they’re feeling overwhelmed with work. Research has shown that as many as 80% of disengaged employees prefer the option to have stress-relief breaks, such as a massage, a nap or even just a required break, so it helps to provide a space where people can take these moments away from their desks. Other ways to achieve a similar effect is to have days of the week where staff don’t have to worry about meetings, such as no meeting Mondays’ that give employees chance to block out time to focus on individual tasks or projects without being interrupted.
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