Job Stress Management

The rat race tacitly suggests that survival of the fittest is the name of the game. In order to become victorious in every challenge that might be posed on us, we should be ready to face all the pressures that our job demands. Therefore we must be ready to handle all sort of stress that we will experience in the workplace.

The workplace is never without stress because even in the emergence of modern technologies the prevalence of stress did not diminish it but rather heightened its existence. This fact alone is threatening the health of the employee and the employer as well. In short, even in the workplace we are all exposed to different types of stressors. In a report of World Health Organization in 1996, it considered stress as a “worldwide epidemic.” It is estimated that more than US$300 billion each year has been spent to compensate stress-related incidences like unsatisfactory employee performance, tardiness or absenteeism, and health-related costs. Hence job stress management is now one of the top concerns in the workplace.

One might ask what really triggers job stress and how should employer and employees come up with job stress management plan?

According to Helpguide, an online resource on job stress management, job stress happens when we think that our job’s demands are becoming too excessive, the workplace gives so much pressure more than the employees can handle them, and most of all job stress is more apparent when the thought of satisfaction is slowly becoming frustration or exhaustion. When all these become heavier for the employees to bear, the early signs of stress start to manifest like simple case of flu, cold, cough, headache, and stomach upset.

Other signs include over fatigue, cramps muscles, anxiety and anger. Job stress management must be able to address these concerns before they become debilitating and disturbing.

HelpGuide enumerated different source of job stress and these are: specific work conditions, physical environment, organizational culture, changes in the workplace, and working relations. For the specific work conditions it include too much workload, insignificant assignments or tasks, long working hours with low pay, irregular rest breaks, unfair demands on performance. Overcrowding and noise, poor ventilation, problems on ergonomics, and occupational health hazards are what comprised the physical environment job stressors.

For employees to better cope with stress that might be generated through the existing company culture which includes; ambiguous definition of responsibilities, unmet expectations, and too many bosses; employers should address this concerns. Likewise other issues like fear losing a job due to downsizing and unavailability of opportunities for career advancement should also be addressed if it’s the only way to alleviate stress.

Job stress management should be given due importance in order to maximize the potential of the employees. After all, human resource is still the best resource any business can have.