Stress in the Workplace, Its Signs; the Key Areas of Employee Stress in the Workplace and Work-Life Balance - Essay Example

Stress in workplace Stress in the place of work is a major concern in many organizations, in the current world. Stressed employees may not be able to perform to their very best level thus; organizations may observe low performance and decrease in productivity. There are several causes of stress in the workplace that may result to poor performance and other negative impacts in workplace (Bratton, 2010 p. 367). These may include employees facing conditions of overwork, low levels of job satisfaction, job insecurity, and lack of autonomy and/or harassment in the course of work. Workplace stress has detrimental effects on the well-being of employees as well as an effect on health. Work life balance refer to the policies that aim at achieving a greater complementary and equality or balance between work and various home responsibilities (Syrek et al., 2013 p. 252). The policies apply to all workers whether parenting or not. Lack of these policies would result to different forms of stress in the working environment. Failure to meet the work life balance may result to stress in employees and may affect organizational performance. Individuals and organizations should be able to identify the stressors in workplace and design amicable solution to combat the issue. If there is an early address on potential stressors, individuals and organizations may be able to alleviate the negative effects associated with stress. To handle the menace well, employees need to identify signs and possible stressors (Adair, 2009 p. 68). On the other hand, managers need awareness on the effects of stress to employees and general performance of the company in terms of output. It is necessary as an individual to learn how keep away from stress as it is necessary too for employers. Signs of stress A person who is subject to stress may show various signs. These signs may be inward or outward depending on the different people. Inward signs may consist of immediate body changes such as change in heart rate, nausea, or vomiting. Other internal signs may include feel of anger, protest, frustration, guilt, embarrassment, memory loss, prolonged sleeplessness, and strange dreams. These indicate stress and require attention before affecting work and personal life. Outward signs are noticeable by colleagues and those in the managerial sector. They include increased smoking, alcohol consumption, and drug taking. Reduced performance, irritability, absenteeism, complaints about ill health and deteriorating relationship with colleagues may indicate stress (Schermerhorn et al., 2012). The key areas of employee stress in workplace and work-life balance There are various key areas of employee stress in work place. Difficult job requirements affect everyone in a different way. Different challenging events to a person can reflect problems to other employees. In the workplace, doing a boring or repetitive job may result to stress (Dalton, 2010 p. 488). Same effect may result if one does too little job with much time or too much with little time. To handle this kind of stressor it is important for managers to change ways of doing various jobs. It may also be necessary to consult various employees before moving them to different tasks. The move would give individuals more responsibility and increase the job scope. Another factor that may contribute to stress is having too much or little training and getting not getting support in accordance to work situations. This scene arises where an employee feels unequipped to handle a certain task in reference to skills possessed or the feel of doing a task that makes one feel demeaned. To handle the situation it is necessary for employers to design a framework that match individual jobs and increase the scope of jobs to those over trained (Adair, 2009 p. 72). Confusion over various priorities, standards, and timeframes may also be a source of stress in work place. According to Bratton (2010 p. 388), the scene arise where workers are no able to distinguish which task to prioritize and how much time to locate a certain task. To combat the situation, it is necessary for the supervisors to ensure that every employee has a clearly outlined objective that is achievable and responsibilities linked with the objectives of the organization. Dismissal, layoff, or demotion may also result to stress in the workplace. Employees left after dismissal of their colleagues may feel insecure or they may develop the survival guilt. Survival guilt arises where employees feel guilty of the fact that they have a job and their friends do not. To curb the stress, Armstrong & Stephens (2005 p. 230) advises that employers need to provide justifiable reasons for dismissals and give assurance to those left that they are safe in their positions. To those demoted it is important for them to receive counselling to help them cope. The issue of promotion, transfers, reclassification, and lack of other benefits associated with employment may be key triggers of stress in work. Employees have various expectations as years move during their service. Lack of employers to realize any positives in the employees and appreciate them may result to loss of morale, an effect of stress (Yukl, 2010 p 3). It is necessary for employers to lay out clear policies and procedures make employees learn their application. Employers also need to design means of recognizing best performers and to promote where applicable. Poor relationship with fellow colleagues may form grounds for stress in workplace (Dalton, 2010 p. 458). Human beings are social beings; any scene where one is not in a position to relate well with colleagues may result to stress. To avoid such cause of work-life stress, it is essential for employees to learn how to relate well with fellow members and learn how to iron out any disagreement early before moving to the worst. Employers also need to provide regular trainings on interpersonal skills and relationships in workplace (Bratton, 2010 p. 402). Any form of discrimination and the lack of communication or consultation between the managerial sector and the employees may be a source of stress. It is the nature of humans to get stress whenever they encounter discrimination. Discrimination in work may be evident from unfavourable treatment such as passive non-cooperation, refusal to renew employment contracts, or not listened. Odd culture based on blame for or denial of problems may create a work-life stress in employees. Together with some misguided jokes in the workplace, they may result to intimidation. To curb the situation employers need to find an amicable way of dealing with employee issues and set a suitable channel for communication (Dalton, 2010 p 503). Poor physical working conditions may contribute adversely on work-life stress (Cox and Leka, 2003). In normal life, employees should work in a physical environment that does not pose a challenge or cause any compromise. Employers need to provide suitable sites of work where employees do not strain to meet human requirements. Incidents such as past-armed robbery or some workplace fatalities may contribute to stress among employees. Shock suffered in such incident may result to work-life stress. It is necessary for the management to create adequate prevention and control measures to curb such incidences. It is also very important to organize counselling to the affected members to help them clear the scenes in their mind and concentrate on work (Schermerhorn et al., 2012). Inflexible work schedules and working in unpredictable hours may be a key factor of stress in work place (Bratton, 2010 p. 399). These conditions may result to working pressure that may not be healthy in work and personal life. In addition, organizational change, for example, restructuring may cause stress among employees. Managers need to have an understanding and open attitude towards those who emerge and admit to being under pressure. They should also establish open and non-judgmental way of communication to help identify these cases. To respond on working conditions, managers need to provide a scope for variable and flexible working conditions to create a sense of ownership to the job that a person does. Bratton, (2010 p. 399) asserts that to prevent stress emanating from changes occurring from restructures, it is necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of various changes put in place and check, what is reviewable. Definition of key terms in stress and work/life balance WLB: work life balance refer to the policies that aim at achieving a greater complementary and equality or balance between work and various home responsibilities. The policies apply to all workers whether parenting or not. Lack of these policies would result to different forms of stress in the working environment (Syrek et al., 2013 p. 258). E working is a term used to describe a situation of flexible working where one can work at any location using available technologies. These include the use of laptops, mobile phones and wireless internet to perform certain duties as agreed with the employer. The concept is also known as teleworking. The technique may be useful for employees who have difficulties commuting to workplace thus reduction of commuting stress. Zero hours contract, it is a very flexible contract does not postulate the amount of time a worker would spend in a year on the employment (Syrek et al., 2013 p. 260). It leaves the contract open on demand. The contract is essential for those workers whom the management of work obligations and personal life proves a headache. Stress management refers to the efforts, techniques and therapies aimed at controlling and the prevention stress in an individual or the workplace (Adair, 2009 p. 104). Stress management in relation to work-life balance entails creating policies that would strike balance between domestic commitments and employment thus alleviating stress in employees. Reasons why employee stress is an area of concern in management Employees stress is a major concern the management of every organization. Employees are the foundation to success of any business or organization and thus any factor-affecting employees would affect the organization. According to Bratton (2010 p 423), stressed employees may not be able to deliver at their very best. As a result, it would mean the organization might not be able to meet its goals in terms of productivity. There are various impacts to an organization associated to stress in employees. High employee turnover may be a sign of employees running away from a certain stress in work (Cox and Leka, 2003). It may be due to low salaries or intolerable working conditions resulting to employees considering other options. The inability to balance work requirements and personal needs may be a stressing factor. It would imply poor performance due to poor staffing in organization, a scene that would call for outcry from other employees or the public. Increased absenteeism would signal stress in the employees and the inability to balance home duties and those at work (Armstrong & Stephens, 2005 p. 201). Absenteeism would mean that various duties stay unattended something that would affect negatively the general output of an organization. Another effect of absenteeism would be inability to serve customers as required and this may result to loss of the customer base. Stress in employees if not well addressed, can lead to organizational sabotage (Yukl, 2010 p 2). For example, where employees have a feeling of discrimination or mistreatment, stress may mount and finally result to incitements. As a result, the duties of the organization would stop. This would imply irresponsibility in the management and loss of trust to the public. Morale keeps employees performance high all the time (Adair, 2009 p. 127). Any issue affecting employees’ morale would adversely affect the productivity of an organization. These would reflect on reduction in outputs, decline in product qualities, and a general decrease in service delivery. It is necessary for the management to address key stressors in the workplace to combat them before affecting the organization performance. Impacts of unequal work/life balance In order to perform maximally workers need to have an environment that enables them to balance duties at work and those at their homes. To produce efficiently, they need to be in sober mind and should be in a position to observe that no sacrifice of duty for the other. The inability to meet work demands may contribute to stress in work (Schermerhorn et al., 2012). On the other hand, failure to accomplish family obligations and requirements would also constitute to family/life stress. Unequal work-life balance would decrease personal performance of employees both in work and at home. The human nature of sociality dictates that the time one spends with family members is very important (Cox and Leka, 2003). Lack of such time due to work obligations may result to stress and other personal implications. It is, therefore, important on individual grounds to adjust and balance the work requirements and those at home. This would also help combat stress arising from an imbalance. In organizations, the unequal work/life balance may have a negative impact on the organizational activities and productivity (Yukl, 2010 p 3). Thus, it is necessary for management to put forth measures the checks on employee issues in relation to work and home requirements. For example, a lactating mother needs special treatment in the duties she performs in an organization. This would tackle on stress related to various parental constraints thus creating a sense of recognition and care from the management. References Adair, J 2009, Leadership and Motivation the Fifty-Fifty Rule and the Eight Key Principles of Motivating Others. Kogan Page, London Armstrong, M. & Stephens, T 2005, A Handbook to Management and Leadership: A Guide to Managing Results, Kogan Page, London Bratton, J 2010, Work & Organizational Behaviour. Palgrave Mcmillan, Basingstoke Dalton, K. 2010, Leadership and management development: developing tomorrow's managers, Prentice Hall/Financial Times, Harlow, England, Schermerhorn J.R., Osborn R.N, & Hunt J.G. 2012, Organizational Behaviour, Wiley Syrek, C. J., Apostel, E., & Antoni, C. H 2013, Stress in highly demanding IT jobs: Transformational leadership moderates the impact of time pressure on exhaustion and work/life balance, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, Vol.18, No.3, pp.252-261. Yukl, G 2010, Leadership in Organisations. Pearson p 1-4 Cox, T. And Leka, S. 2003 “Work organization and stress: systematic problem approaches for employers, managers and trade union representatives,” Protecting workers health series, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 1-26 Read More