The workplace is one of the most stressful environments in which people can find themselves throughout their lives. In the office, the pressure of short deadlines, the close scrutiny of a superior and conflicts that may emerge between colleagues are extremely demanding situations and they all add up to the problems that can emerge throughout the workday. Violence in particular, creates insecurity and highly impacts all stakeholders in a company. Consequently, many people are extremely tensed at the end of a work day, and may experience headaches and feel nervous or exhausted (Johnstone & Freenay 2015). In time, stress in the workplace can have a negative impact upon a person’s general health. This situation involves a high cost for the company as well, because stressed employees, who also suffer from different health problems due to stress, are less productive and are likely to leave their jobs more rapidly (Kumar & Kumar, 2014). Stress reduction strategies improve employees’ lives, while also allowing them to enjoy their free time and even to have a more enjoyable time at the office.
As shown above, different types of factors may increase stress in the workplace, and they all contribute to creating a highly stressful environment where a person cannot function properly. However a particularly important stress factor is violence, which occurs very often in the workplace. Open conflicts can emerge in situations of high pressure, when anger and anxiety over problems at work can lead to unintended violence. Furthermore, bullying can also affect certain individuals, if they are insecure, or part of a minority group or even for no obvious reason at all. Moreover, the cases of sexual aggression at the workplace continue to represent an issue in today’s society (Hoel, Sparks & Cooper 2001). In this respect, Hoel, Sparks & Cooper (2001) showed that, “strong links exists between stress on the one hand, and various types of violence on the other, with violent behaviour of any kind being a common antecedent of stress” (p.24). Therefore, eliminating violence from a working environment is a first very important step in reducing the stress for all the employees, including the victims, witnesses, and superiors.
Stress reduction interventions have been used by different companies in which the negative effect of stress on productivity has been noticed. Hoel Sparks & Cooper (2001) have explained that these interventions may be divided into three categories, namely primary, secondary & tertiary interventions. Primary interventions are concerned directly with stress reduction, while secondary intervention looks at the way in which employees may learn how to deal with stressors, and finally, tertiary interventions involve the rehabilitation of the persons who have been subject to great stress. While secondary and tertiary interventions are important and should not be neglected, it is primary intervention which is most important and also, it is less often addressed by companies (Hoel, Sarks & Cooper, 2001). With respect to the reduction of violence in the workplace, Hoel, Sparks & Cooper (2001) showed the following elements are crucial to the success of an intervention: management commitment terms of resources and time allocated to the intervention, workplace analysis of incident records, hazard prevention and control as well as safety training.
Spirituality can represent a means of reducing stress in the workplace, and also, it may encourage peaceful interactions among coworkers. In their article, Kumar & Kumar (2014) examine the role of spirituality as a coping strategy. One effective coping strategy, as proposed by Kumar & Kumar (2014), is supporting and enhancing employees’ spirituality in the workplace. Thus, as the authors show, spirituality can workplace spirituality moderates the effects of stress on health because individuals who are highly spiritual, and whose spirituality is encouraged in the workplace, are more likely to display lower stress levels. The authors further argue that, “spirituality acts as an alternative coping mechanism during threatening situations, thereby helping employees to deal with different work stressors as an intrinsic resource” (Kumar & Kumar, 2014, p. 349). From this point of view, stress is perceived as an inner resource which may be used as a coping strategy in stressful situations.
However, while using spiritual resources may work for spiritual or secure individuals, other coping strategies may be necessary in order to assist insecure individuals, who are also more likely to experience stress frequently, and thus require specific attention. Johnstone & Freenay (2015) looked at the way in which attachment theory may be used in order to understand how different types of appraisal are perceived by employees. After conducting a study on 22 students, the authors found that attachment insecurities have a pervasive effect on aspects related to stress and coping, and assisting insecure individuals to cope with different types of stressors consequently have beneficial effects on their productivity and health (Jonstone and Freenay, 2015). Thus, in what primary appraisal is concerned, “helping anxious individuals to appraise potential stressors as less threatening and overwhelming should promote constructive coping behavior” Johnstone and Freenay (2015, p. 421) explained. Supervisors should be instructed to detect problems related to insecurity, and should promote a secure collegial environment, where anxious individuals may encounter less stressors, due to reduced perceived threat. In this respect, supervisors should act as mediators and should promote strict rules against discrimination, bullying and other forms of aggression, and should promote iteam work and mutual support.
Furthermore, employees may also help each other to reduce the stress in their working environment. In this respect, Johnstone and Freenay (2015) explained that, concerning secondary appraisal, social support and self-efficacy may become important coping resources for insecure individuals. The support that insecure adults must receive in the workplace must be consistent and significant in order to be perceived as adequate by employees who need it the most. Johnstone & Freenay (2015) even explained that, “since avoidant adults are often reluctant to seek and utilize support, supervisors and colleagues should be tactful in their support efforts, and may need to show continued interest despite initial rejections of support” (p.421). Such support must be focused not only at providing direct positive feedback and showing a positive attitude towards insecure employees, but it must also help them to increase self-efficacy and confidence by demonstrating constant confidence in their capacities to cope with different situations. One example provided by the authors is increasing the perception of the workers’ own ability to deal with major change at the workplace, or job insecurity (Johnstone & Freenay, 2015).
Efficient strategies for stress management and reduction are necessary in order to ensure that employees have a high quality of life, and the company enjoys maximum productivity from this point of view. Reducing violence in the workplace is extremely important, because a violent working environment is a major source of stress from everyone involved. Different strategies for reducing stress associated with violence involve the commitment of management to eliminating violence from the working environment, and using safety training to help the employees avoid conflict situations. Furthermore, encouraging spirituality at the workplace, and using appraisals to support insecure individuals, and to foster a supportive working environment are important strategies for reducing different types of stressors, which are likely to occur in a workplace.
References
Hoel, H., Sparks, K., & Cooper, C. L. (2001). The cost of violence/stress at work and the benefits of a violence/stress-free working environment. Geneva: International Labour Organization.
Johnstone, M., & Feeney, J. A. (2015). Individual differences in responses to workplace stress: the contribution of attachment theory. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 45(7), 412-424.
Kumar, V., & Kumar, S. (2014). Workplace spirituality as a moderator in relation between stress and health: An exploratory empirical assessment. International Review of Psychiatry, 26(3), 344-351.
