4 Tactics for Workplace Stress Management

March 31, 2018

---

Stress is a fact of life for every member of your team, but excessive stress can lead to burnout, which ultimately leads to turnover. As a leader, you can help your team manage stress with these four strategies.

One: Let Your Team Disconnect

Everyone deserves time to focus on their family, hobbies and things they enjoy when they are off work. Talk to your team about setting healthy boundaries and let them know it’s ok to disconnect. They don’t have to answer emails at 9:00 p.m. or fieldwork calls on their vacation time. Create a “backup buddy” system so that each person has a backup when they are off. Have them set their voicemail and out of office responder to direct people to their backup so they can spend their off time recharging their batteries.

Two: Facilitate Better Relationships

If your department has a strained relationship with another department, it impacts everyone’s ability to work productively. Talk with other department heads and managers to try and work out solutions to facilitate better working relationships. It might mean new processes, better documentation or clearer communication. Pave the way by taking the initiative to make things better for your team.

Three: Get Flexible

Thanks to mobile connectivity, work can happen anytime, at any place. Your employees have families and other obligations and work-life balance is a major source of stress. Consider letting your team telecommute a few times a month or initiate flexible start times so people can choose hours that work best for their personal schedule.

Four: Cut Unnecessary Meetings

You’ve sat through your share of pointless meetings in your career, checking your watch and stressing about all the productive work you could be doing instead. Are all your departmental meetings as productive as they could be? Make an effort to cut out unnecessary meetings and make them more meaningful by setting and sticking to an agenda every time. Designate a clear start and end time for every meeting, and when you feel the meeting losing focus, rein it in sooner, rather than later.

Looking For More Advice?

For more strategies on how to reduce stress, increase engagement and boost productivity, reach out to the experts at PrideStaff today!