Managerial strategies for reducing excessive workplace stress

Workplace Stress

All Stressed Out and Nowhere to Go:

How Mangers Can Reduce Workplace Stress

To highlight a system to enhance the reduction of workplace stress that can be employed by managers in most work settings.

Workplace stress is one of the most significant of all work related problems. Individuals experiencing some stress in the workplace tend to prosper in that it creates a system, when it is moderate that drives personal growth, development and positive mental health. (Rue & Byers, 2006, p. 348) So, it is safe to assume that some level of workplace stress is actually productive, while excessive or prolonged stress can be extremely destructive. It is the job of the good manager to identify and react when workplace stress becomes detrimental.

According to the American Institute of Stress, stress costs U.S. businesses an estimated $300 billion dollars a year through several means including, lost productivity, increased employee compensation claims, increased employee turnover and lastly increased health care costs. According to the same source; "...stress is a factor in up to 80% of all work-related injuries, a major factor in 40% of all turnovers, and a major contributor in 75 to 90% of primary care physician visits." The Bureau of Labor statistics agrees sighting that the average cost per employee per year to business for stress related losses is about $10,000. (Rue & Byers, 2006, p. 348)

Stress itself, defined as the, "...mental or physical condition that results from a perceived threat of danger (physical or mental) and the pressure to remove it." (Rue & Byers, 2006, p. 348) Many individuals site work as the number one source of stress found in their lives. In a stressful work environment one finds that demands perceptually threaten the individual's capacity to physically or mentally meet such demands. Stress is exacerbated when the individual does not feel that they are being compensated adequately for such demands and that they have limited internal and external resources to deal with it. Furthermore, workplace stress can seriously contribute to all levels of conflict and even mental and physical violence in the workplace. (Rue & Byers, 2006, p. 348-349)

Several recommendations are made by Rue and Byers to allow the manager to more effectively recognize and deal with workplace stress:

Conducting a workplace stress audit

Creating organizational guidelines based on audit to reduce stress including:

Offering resources to aide individuals in managing personal stress

Such as developing Wellness Programs and/or other Employee Assistance Programs

Recognizing and intervening in potential burnout situations

Creating systems to avoid and deal with workplace violence in all its forms

INTRODUCTION

There are many causal factors to workplace stress as well as ideas for solutions to reducing workplace stress. As can be seen in the executive summary, the significance of workplace stress warrants the introduction of change in management and organizations that foster only the appropriate level of workplace stress to illicit progress and attempt to alleviate or reduce that which is extreme or prolonged to better serve the employee and the organization

Purpose and Scope

This work will serve as a guide for the development of best practices for the reduction of workplace stress, with an emphasis on the ability of management to universally reduce workplace stress.

The work will first demonstrate the significance of the problem using topical and timely literature to address the concern. It will then assess the causal factors of workplace stress, using a brief literary analysis. Lastly the work will embark on an outline to demonstrate change within the workplace that will improve the condition of workplace stress.

I will not discuss the cost of such programs but will instead assume that most costs would be offset by a reduction in excessive workplace stress.

Assumptions

The assumptions of this work are based upon solid research, in that the development of workplace stress reduction programs, as a reduction of loss is not proven effective in every case, but anecdotal evidence suggest such and if such programs are effective research will likely prove the affirmative in the future. Furthermore, results from extensive support research, conducted by others in varied work populations as well as environments could be applied to my organization or any organization.

Methods

This work will rely heavily on literature, as a guide for the understanding of workplace stress and on developing appropriate interventions for stress. It is important to understand that many work places are inherently stressful, due to the nature of the work done there but that universalities can be achieved if audits are conducted effectively. (Kowalski, Harmon, Yorks & Kowalski, 2003, p. 39) There is also significant evidence that such audits can elicit ideas that management might not have originated, due to the fact that they are not always aware of front-line issues. Additional information will be garnered from literature associated with the development of Employee Assistance Programs, such as the one utilized by the organization I manage.

Limitations

This work would be greatly advanced by a research-based experiment where a workplace stress audit was conducted before and after the implementation of a EAP and other workplace stress reduction tactics, in a group of moderate size, as assumptions made from literature are not always generalizable.

Management Centered Stress Reduction Strategies

There is a clear sense form the above writing that the best possible manner in which people can receive stress management assistance would be from the top down, if for no other reason management sponsored assessments as well as interventions demonstrate a system that will be perceived as caring about the health and wellness of the individual. It must also be noted here that traditional interventions have been centered on teaching individual stress coping skills, rather than demonstrating alterations in the whole system that better meet the needs of even those who are unwilling to seek help for work related stress.

Stress management for employees tends to focus on the individual because of the implication that adaptive coping strategies can be learned (Matheny, Aycock, Pugh, Curlette, & Silva Cannella, 1986). Yet variations in the stress and coping process may be due to influences from the larger social context (Lennon, 1989; Pearlin, 1989). To date, counselors know little about the influence of the work context (e.g., institutionalized social roles) on workplace stress and the stress adjustment process. (Long, 1998, p. 65)

Though it may be beneficial for individual stress management training to occur it might also seem rather shallow in a situation where broader concerns, such as the work environment or aggressive social behavior between coworkers is occurring. In short the program that directs everything back on the individual is enforcing the idea that the individual, rather than the system is flawed.

It is for this reason, and others outlined earlier that there is a clear need to perform a workplace stress audit as a first step toward creating new or better Employee Assistance Programs. The management must clearly understand the level of stress, as well as the employee perceived reasons for its occurrence. The manger must be an ally, or resource in the development of the individual as well as the environment to reduce stress and aggression at work.

There is also a clear sense in the literature that the need to define both passive and active responses to workplace stress and aggression is essential. Some people may employ passive or disengagement coping strategies, where they will remove themselves from the stressor or avoid it to reduce the level of stress associated with it, or active coping or engagement coping where the individual will attempt to cope with stress by addressing it and trying to change the situation. (Long, 1998, p. 66) it can be assumed that the later would be long-term and productive, in many cases while the former would be counterproductive and possibly end in even greater stress caused by work affect, inability to communicate and a sense of powerlessness.

Performing an active assessment, utilizing industry specific or general techniques for audit can be the essential first active step in change as it allows individuals to align and air grievances without naming names, or feeling like a complainer. The advantages of using a pay service, such as the many available on the web (Rue & Byars, 2006, p. 349) is that a good service can offer a tailored test or survey materials that is specific to the organization as well as support and suggestions for the development of intervention strategies. In many cases such programs offer as much or as little as a company wishes to utilize. The time saved by utilizing such a service could pay for itself. There are also resources available in the form of books and other materials for those who wish to appoint an individual to produce a stress audit program and/or offer intervention strategies, once an audit has been conducted.

On an organizational level there are several suggested guidelines for managing stress, before, during or after an audit.

Shortening hours of direct contact with customers

Granting special leaves (sabbatical programs)

Introducing early retirement programs

Installing on-site exercise programs

Actively involving employees in the decision-making processes

Fulfilling the realistic expectations of employees

Introducing flextime or telecommuting where possible

Insisting that employees take vacation time

Clearly defining employee jobs

Providing well-thought-out training programs

Introducing changes gradually (Rue and Byars, 2006, p. 349-350)

Focusing on helping individuals manage personal stress through the development of stress management programs, with a clear emphasis on the individual not being flawed but being a part of the solution to environmental problems. This is also a clear indication that an audit is necessary as individual stress may not be the sole, and likely are not the sole source of workplace stress. Self audits may also be necessary if the individual is experiencing many symptoms of personal imbalance. (Rue and Byars, 2006, p. 351)

Once personal and company wide stress audits have been conducted and the manager is knowledgeable of the outcomes there is a likely need for the implementation of a Employee Assistance Program, that can assist the individual, and the group in resolving stressors both in and outside the work environment. EAPs can be anything from allowing employees to take reasonable draws or take paid personal leave to address family problems on a more regular basis, rather than only on the traditional one week vacation plan, that does not serve the modern work environment. (p, 356-357)

One particularly effective EAP is a wellness program, that provides illness prevention and intervention programs and allows the individual opportunities to enhance personal well being. The program can provide, periodic health clinics, or offer time off for preventative health checks, smoking cessation classes, nutrition education classes, hypertension screening clinics, weight control classes, exercise classes, stress management classes, accident risk reduction training, immunization opportunities as well as CPR training for individuals. The availability of community opportunities may be an aspect of understanding that management needs to elicit such interventions. (p. 358-359)

Burnout is one of the most significant causes of workplace stress, as well as attrition and turnover. Individuals may not recognize burnout, and outsiders may not either. It is for this reason that one of the most important aspects of any audit is to assess the personal level of burnout symptoms. (p. 353-354) One clear symptom of burnout, as well as prolonged or excessive stress in or out of the workplace is depression. (Johnson & Indvik, 1997, p. 359) Depression can be a symptom that shows in the work or general affect of the individual in subtle ways or more intense ways, causing work slowdowns as well as absenteeism.

As has been previously stated in the above work, workplace stress is a significant factor for business failure, and individual attrition and turn over, as well as the individual health of employees and therefore the health of the organization. Without the practice of workplace stress audits, implementation of changes that elicit reduced stress in the workplace, including management driven organizational changes such as Employee Assistance Programs organizations may be in extreme dire straights and potentially at risk for subtle and overt workplace violence.

Implementing change can involve individual as well as organizational change and should be begun at the managerial level to demonstrate collective desire of the organization to build greater employee motivation and productivity as well as decrease the inherent costs in extreme or prolonged workplace stress. Management must be involved to demonstrate collective goal of the organization to provide a better work environment. Changes can be as simple as offering flex hours or as complicated as creating developmental strategies for organizational and professional growth through reasonable workplace stress. The manager is in a position to provide the greatest level of change, especially with regard to the collectivism that is gained through expressing a common goal with subordinates.

References www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5001710880

Johnson, P.R., & Indvik, J. (1994). Workplace Violence: An Issue of the Nineties. Public Personnel Management, 23(4), 515. Retrieved August 22, 2007, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5001710880 www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5000556644

Johnson, P.R., & Indvik, J. (1997). The Boomer Blues: Depression in the Workplace. Public Personnel Management, 26(3), 359. Retrieved August 22, 2007, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5000556644 www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5001987876

Kowalski, R., Harmon, J., Yorks, L., & Kowalski, D. (2003). Reducing Workplace Stress and Aggression: An Action Research Project at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Human Resource Planning, 26(2), 39. Retrieved August 22, 2007, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5001987876 www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=96534408

Long, B.C. (1998). Coping with Workplace Stress: A Multiple-Group Comparison of Female Managers and Clerical Workers. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 45(1), 65-78. Retrieved August 22, 2007, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=96534408

Rue, L.W. Byars, L.L. (2006) Management Skills and Applications 12th Ed. New York: McGraw Hill.