Stress is a natural phenomenon and occurs at every workplace. When left unattended it can not only affect the productivity of your employees but can also wreak havoc on employee health.
Companies are slowly but consistently leading to enabling employees to pursue things beyond their key result areas at the workplace itself.
There are two types of stress, a healthy one which pushes the employees to rise to the workplace challenges.
The other is unhealthy stress which can have a negative impact on the performance of the employee.
There are various causes that can lead to employee stress. Work environment, increase in workload, team change, appraisal structures, unsympathetic management and lack of appropriate tools are some of them.
Another very important aspect of distressed employees is the growth of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA) of general conditions and situations.
An article in peoplematters.com states that there are two broad areas of destressing in the line of work-life integration.
* Work related: How does one deal with work related issues like work pressure, peer relationships, achieving targets etc? Allocated business human resources, off site activities, team outings and motivational events form a regular feature when it comes to managing work-related issues. Block leaves of 15 days to a month - a concept in banks which started as compliance practice but now has also been embraced as a great business practice to reduce employee distress.
* Life beyond work related - Fun at work, wellness-oriented initiatives, hobby clubs, buddy systems, sponsoring employee participating in contests around hobbies, concierge services, job customisation around maternity, leaves around parenting, work from home and facilities like ombudsman for counselling are some of the practices that can be brought in to motivate employees beyond work.
In a country like India where corporates still largely are dependent on their workforce, it is important to adopt an open approach. In addition to that when we deal with a generation that is emotionally mercurial it is important to play a key role in both their work and life beyond work.
An employer looks more attractive when one looks at beyond salaries and perks, one who shows eagerness to customise work to suit the skills of their employees and make them feel comfortable in their work environment, rather than just looking at ‘job roles’.
This leads to more comfortable employees, less stressed work and therefore increased productivity per person
