National Stress Awareness Month

4/5/2019

National Stress Awareness Month

If you’re like most workers America, you might feel like there are never enough hours in the day to tackle the never-ending to do list. Caught in a never-ending tailspin of deadlines to meet, meetings to attend, projects to kick-start. And that doesn’t include all of the “other” tasks that need to get done in a day for family members, friends, school or even yourself. All of this “to-do tackling” combined can feel overwhelming; the daily stress of trying to balance work life with personal life can really take its toll on your mental, physical and emotional health.

April is National Stress Awareness Month, and a good time to recognize the ways that corporate culture can add to, or even become the culprit of, the s-word: stress. Over time, stress in the workplace can lead to burnout and reduced productivity, neither of which are good for employees or a company’s bottom line. The good news is that there are ways to combat a stressful work culture, and turn it into one that is supportive of employees.

Here are three tips you can use to turn your company’s culture from stressful to successful:

1. It Starts At The Top. It’s no secret that employees model the behavior of senior leadership. Leaders set the expectations, both in what’s written in the company handbook and also by the actions they take. Make sure leadership is modeling a workplace culture that is supportive of employees and isn’t expecting stressful work conditions to be the norm.
2. Invest In Employee Development. Management should work with employees to determine both short-term and long-term goals, and how to achieve them with actionable, measurable steps. Doing so will help employees feel more in control of their success while being supported by their employers.
3. Encourage Rest. We can’t pour from an empty cup. Encourage employees to rest and relax: use those vacation days, limit checking email outside of work hours and prioritize sleep, healthy eating habits and spending time with loved ones.

Would like to take the temperature on your organizational culture? Contact us, and we’ll send over our complimentary culture assessment.