10 Tips to Help Lower Employee Stress

Stress is simply a fact of life in the modern workplace. Virtually every business owner and employee, regardless of the size of the enterprise, must deal with the impact of stress in the workplace.

The negative impacts of workplace stress are many and varied: increased employee absenteeism and turnover, higher insurance and workers’ compensation costs, lower employee productivity, and lower sales and profits, to name just a few. In fact, the American Institute of Stress estimates that stress in the workplace costs U.S. businesses more than $300 billion a year.

Here are 10 tips to help you reduce the level of stress on your employees and in your workplace in general:

1. Create an environment of open and honest communication: Poor communication with management is one of the primary causes of stress among employees. Don’t let them just wonder about the direction of the company or the security of their jobs; share with them openly and honestly both the good news and the bad.
2. Empower your employees: A lack of empowerment is another main cause of workplace stress. As much as is feasible, allow employees to make critical decisions and direct the outcome of their jobs.
3. Adopt flextime and other flexible work schedule arrangements: Most employees today lead hectic lives outside of the workplace. Allowing them to alter their work schedules in ways that are more conducive to their personal and family lives can be a huge stress reducer and also engenders a tremendous amount of loyalty and goodwill among employees.
4. Reward and praise outstanding performance: Don’t hesitate to recognize employees for a job well done. Verbal praise often carries even more weight than financial rewards, though even modest monetary rewards such as movie tickets or a free lunch can go a long way toward reducing stress.
5. Set the proper tone at the top: Employees often feed off of the attitudes they sense from ownership and management. Try not to let your own personal stress show through and filter down to the rank and file.
6. Establish a zero-tolerance policy on harassment and discrimination: Make it crystal clear to all employees that these will not be tolerated in your workplace under any circumstances.
7. Encourage healthy social interaction: “The workplace that plays together stays together.” While you can’t force employees to socialize together, try to create environments that make it easy if they want to, whether it’s picnics, holiday parties, or other planned social events outside the workplace.
8. Provide opportunities for career development: Not seeing opportunities for career advancement and development can be demoralizing and demotivating, ultimately leading to increased employee stress.
9. Offer stress management training and education: Many companies offer classes and instruction on a variety of different stress management techniques, including meditation, proper exercise, muscle relaxation, conflict resolution, assertiveness, and even massage therapy.
10. Try to control the pace and volume of work: A fast-paced, high-volume work environment will likely lead to increased employee stress. While controlling the pace of work isn’t always possible, try to limit the duration of high-stress periods if you can, and let employees know that a reprieve is on the way. If you know that the upcoming month will be especially busy, for example, let employees know in advance and tell them when things should slow down so they can see the light at the end of the tunnel.