Introduction
Workplace environment in the modern era is changing at pace. As the market for products and services are expanding providing the targeted audience a healthy choices at their disposal, problems are promptly erupting within organizations. One such problem that is fairly debated and frequent in nature is that of work related stress among employees. If the workforce of an organization is facing problems related to stress it makes the matters worse for an organization, which already due to intense competition face a stiff task for its survival. Stress among the workers in an organization poses a strong internal threat that an organization must deal with in order for its survival or else its name may end up in pages of history.
Problems When Employee’s Mood and Emotions Are Negative
Emotions and mood play a vital role in our daily lives and even in our work. Our emotions and mood determine how we interact with the people in our surroundings. If our mood and emotions are positive then our behavior and approach will be positive. In such a state of mind, an individual will experience everything in his surroundings nicely. Even in the workplace positivity in emotion and mood leads towards better productivity and a better job performance. Nevertheless, strong negative emotions like anger and dissatisfaction affects everything in our lives (Tsutsumi & Kawakami, 2004). As far as the workplace is concerned, the most likely effects of negative mood and emotion may not only lead towards poor performance and poor productivity, but also it can create a strong urge in an employee to quit his job. When the mood and emotions are negative then an employee may not be able to focus on his work, thoughts related to internal dissatisfaction can bother an employee to such an extent that his willingness to work reduces up to a level from where he initially starts missing work and ultimately look for another opportunity. Even in this case, the biggest problem with the employees is that they are feeling disgruntled over the behavior of their managers, due to which they are unable to perform up to their potential and hence quitting because of the created dissatisfaction.
Remedies for Managers to Overcome Stress of Employees
Employees are like plants if you nurture them, they will grow and if you ignore them, they will become lifeless. Stress related problems in workplaces are growing in global organization specifically in those organizations where rigid behaviors are adopted. Employees are more inclined towards freedom while at work, so providing that freedom can overcome the problems related to stress a bit (Van der Klink et.al, 2001). Nevertheless, stress cannot necessarily be reduced by a single factor. In organizations, it can be considered as an ailment that requires specialized treatments. Therefore, to reduce stress managers can do the following
- Giving employees as much freedom and autonomy to work as can be tolerated
- Proper communication about goals, objectives, and requirement of job
- Supervisors should encourage participation of subordinates to enhance their morale. It will make employees feel valuable to organization
- Help employees in their growth by telling them about opportunities
- Providing employees with all the essentials of doing the job in a better way
If the managers adopt a role of a mentor rather than an authoritarian, employees will feel comfortable in their work and hence will try to improve not only self-performance but also will boost the performance of the organization. Thus, managers can utilize the mentioned methods to reduce the stress of their subordinates.
What Can Individual Employees to Reduce Their Stress
Employees stress out when they are over burdened with work in their workplace. This usually happens when management set unrealistic targets for the employees or demand extraordinary from ordinary workplace. It also happens when employees themselves are unable to deal with the tasks on time. Complacent behavior at work leads towards over burdening of work, which causes stress among employees (Vakola & Nikolaou, 2005). Thus in this scenario employees can reduce stress by managing their time accordingly. If they are able to show a less complacent behavior then time management will not be an issue. Prioritizing tasks according to their importance is another way through which employees can help themselves in reducing their stress.
Conclusion
It is important for management of an organization to deal with their employees in the best possible way as treating them wrongfully may lead towards job related stress. For this management initially need to set the goals in accordance to the potential of employees. Secondly, management need to develop an organizational culture, which is easy to adopt, or else the employees may not be able to develop themselves into a healthy member of the organization. Stress among employees is a common factor but if it is managed poorly, it can lead to disastrous results for an organization as it can cause massive turnovers those results in drying up the fuel on which an organization is run.
References
Tsutsumi, A., & Kawakami, N. (2004). A review of empirical studies on the model of effort–reward imbalance at work: reducing occupational stress by implementing a new theory. Social science & medicine, 59(11), 2335-2359.
Vakola, M., & Nikolaou, I. (2005). Attitudes towards organizational change: What is the role of employees’ stress and commitment?. Employee relations, 27(2), 160-174.
Van der Klink, J. J., Blonk, R. W., Schene, A. H., & Van Dijk, F. J. (2001). The benefits of interventions for work-related stress. American journal of public health, 91(2), 270.
