10 Causes of Workplace Stress
Stress at Work
10 Causes of Workplace Stress: Workplace stress is on the rise and costing employers a lot of money. But, equally important, workplace stress affects employees, every day of the week, and every hour of the work day! Prolonged chronic stress causes burnout and affects your health and well-being. And serious stress related illnesses can develop over time.
Many people have difficulty with criticism or they fear their boss.
Understanding workplace survival will give you an edge...
Here are 10 very common reasons that employees are often feeling overworked and overstressed at work:
1. Time
Have you ever heard that "time is money"? The concept of time always seems to put pressure on us. The need to achieve and do more in a day puts pressure on us. From early childhood, we’ve watched our parents commit to time constraints as they head out to work exactly at 7:10 am or say to us "hurry up, we’re running out of time". During our busy we lives we forget to balance our lifestyle. As an occupational therapist, I learned that we all need a balance in our lives of work, rest, play, and sleep. Most of us are neglecting at least one of these important areas! Our work, career, family responsibilities, household duties and studies consume more of our time than our social life, hobbies, relaxation or down time.
2. Deadlines
One of the causes of workplace stress can be the pressure of a deadline. You have only so much "time" to complete your tasks and present the final copy to your boss. Tension and stress build as the deadline nears. Some people prefer to work with deadlines because it motivates them. It all depends on how you perceive deadlines, how much "time" you have and how large a work load you have.
3. Workload
Too much or too little of a workload can increase your stress levels. We feel motivated when we feel competent with an optimal level of challenge, to satisfy our needs. Being over challenged in the workplace puts pressure on us and produces frustration and stress. But being under challenged makes us feel unworthy, unneeded and, begin to not care about our work.
4. Control
We loose motivation and suffer from stress when we feel as though we have no control over our actions. We desire choice and decision-making options in our workplace. When we perceive as though we have a choice about decisions we feel good. When this freedom is taken away from us by a controlling boss or upper management then we start to become frustrated and ‘stressed out’ in the workplace.
5. Responsibilities
How do you delegate responsibilities and workload in your workplace? Stress levels increase if your workload is too much and there is no one to help. Also, you must be willing to ask for help if you have too many jobs to complete. You have the responsibility to balance out your responsibilities! Some Causes of workplace stress occur when you do not take time to relax and unwind.
6. Communication
Workplace stress is often caused by poor communication and office politics. Management must have clear policies that employees understand. But, lack of communication between employees can also cause strife when completing jobs and working toward deadlines. In addition, employees and employers who know how to "read body language" or have an
understanding of office politics
have an advantage over those who don't. Learn the art of non verbal communication and how to decode your co-workers, employees and even Your boss's body language.
7. Job Insecurity
If you are uncertain about whether your job is secure, it causes a lot of stress both in the workplace and at home. Job ambiguity brings a feeling of being out of control, unworthiness and helplessness. Worries and anxiety can build if you are also pressured by upholding financial responsibilities.
8. Being Too Ambitious
Being ambitious is considered to be a good thing. But too much ambition and not enough time for relaxation can cause detrimental effects on your health and body. Don’t set your ambitions too high. Take small, repetitious steps towards your goals. Be more specific about your goals and set easy to reach targets that will eventually lead to your success. Keep in mind, if you burn yourself out – you may never get there!
9. Feedback
Feedback is a positive type of extrinsic motivation. It gives us guidelines and positive incentives to perform goal-directed behaviors. Feedback, as positive criticism, motivates us to correct our actions in order to improve in our work environment. Lack of feedback and direction is one of the causes of workplace stress and can make us feel lost and confused and increase our levels of stress at work. Some people require more direct feedback than others to keep them motivated. Some people particularly seek out feedback to find out their levels of progress.
10. Employee Conflict
It's very unusual to get along with every single person in your workplace. Let's face it. You don't choose the people that you work with! A clash of personalities at work is definitely one of the causes of workplace stress. Bad attitudes, mistrust, unfairness, bullying and harassment are definite stressors that should be dealt with. Build trust with your employer and fellow employees.
Learn effective communication and workplace survival skills
to build trust and avoid a misunderstanding.
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