Stress is a part of everyday life but can hurt many aspects of your life. And work especially can be a significant source of stress, leading to lowered productivity and higher employee turnovers, which is why it is crucial to work towards creating a workplace that is relatively low on stress. And so, we will be sharing some tips to help you reduce stress at the workplace.
Every workplace and employee is different, and there are no simple answers to solving stress-related issues. That is why we will be sharing some general tips that can help, but you should make efforts to customise them to suit your employees better. If they feel that you value their health and wellness, employees will take notice and appreciate it. With that out of the way, here are five ways to work towards lowering workplace stress.
Encourage wellness
An excellent way to start is to encourage a healthy and wellness-oriented mindset at your workplace. Encourage employees to live a healthy lifestyle by partnering with a gym to offer lower-cost memberships. You should offer health insurance packages as part of the employee benefits if you do not already have them. Just encouraging employees not to work through their breaks and leave the office can be enough to make a difference.
Offer flexibility
With technological advances and a better understanding of new work methods, flexible hours and remote working are now more commonplace. Your workplace should not be a place your employees see as a source of stress or to occupy their time. Work quality and timely delivery are paramount; making up the time does nothing. By encouraging greater flexibility and allowing employees greater freedom in how they work, you can improve the environment and morale of your workplace. A more adaptable and flexible team has a better work-life balance, making them more productive and less stressed about work.
Encourage breaks
Working non-stop has a very negative effect on both mental health and productivity. Breaks are an excellent way to refresh your mind and lower stress. Encourage your employees to give their minds time to rest by scheduling breaks during the day. Working non-stop for more than 2 hours at a time can create a lot of stress and make the workload you face more challenging. Setting aside 10-minute breaks every 2 hours is a great way to improve your employees’ mental health and productivity.
Recognise contributions
People appreciate when their hard work is noticed and recognised. The positive feedback of knowing that your work is being valued can be a significant boost to mental health and will lower a person’s stress levels. Meetings are a great time to recognise the performance of employees. It benefits the people being recognised and encourages other employees when they see that accomplishments are noted and appreciated. Creating a culture that recognises the contributions of the team is a great way to build the mental health and satisfaction of your workforce.
Provide counselling
Nowadays, more companies and organisations are looking into providing counselling to improve employee mental health. Many people need to understand better how to manage or handle stress, so this can be very useful for improving general mental health. That does not necessarily mean that you have to hire an on-site counsellor. Depending on the situation, you can offer employees access to off-site counselling, whether as a team or as individuals.
These general methods can help lower the stress levels at your workplace and improve the mental health of your employees. It would be best if you worked to accommodate your workplace’s specific conditions and requirements to adjust these tips better to fit your needs. You can check out our other articles to learn more about how to improve your workplace.
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