It’s almost impossible to separate stress from work perhaps they can both be referred to as synonyms. A little amount of stress is not that bad although this kind of stress is referred to as pressure. What is then the difference between pressure and stress?

Stress is defined as the reactional measures or responses to too much pressure. The little amount of pressure in the workplace is needed to increase workers’ motivation, stay focused and energetic, test their resilience to challenges and leave a positive mark on their total performance.

Excessive stress or burnout tends to mar workers’ emotional and physical health, performance and productivity, and ultimately, their work-life balance. This is a more reason why it is pertinent to recognise the stress signs as early as possible.

What are the ways to identify stress signs in the workplace?

Having to pinpoint stress signs may be difficult because its manifestation differs from people. Likewise, identifying stress signs in various organizations are different across boards.

However, there are common grounds for individuals and organizations vis-à-vis recognizing the telltale signs of stress. The signs indicating the workforce stress are as follows: having employees work for long hours, time deadlines, constantly increasing demands, reduced efficiency, and productivity, increased sickness levels and absenteeism.

The following are the ways to identify workplace stress:

• Safety and health data: When safety reports are made available, it’s going to help raise issues related to the rate of workers absence especially due to sickness. This helps to identify the patterns whenever such signs are spotted quickly.
• Non-compliance to safety measures: When workplace safety and procedures are made available but do not adhere to the way it ought to be followed.

How can these stress factors be reduced to the barest minimum?

Irrespective of the kind of job your organisation is into, we’ve been able to identify the four ways to reduce workplace stress. They are as follows:

• Be a positive role model: It’s discovered that employees are affected positively by the manner in which their managers or employers manage stress. Deadlines that seem so near before will eventually appear far away.
• Have a close discussion with your employees: It’s said that a problem shared is a problem half-solved. When employees can speak their minds about the situation that they’re facing, it’s going to douse the tension. Henceforth, cases of absenteeism will be reduced because they’ll be eager and motivated to come to work every day.
• Raising workplace stress issues in safety and health committee meetings: This makes everyone informed about the potential problem that’s likely to befall the business if all measures are not taken into Hence, it gives every stakeholder in the company the assurance that the problem will be addressed.

It’s clear from the above that the workplace shouldn’t be a place where faces appear dull or tensions are always on the high side because of all stress factors that have been highlighted. To make your employees work in a good mood coupled with high motivation, then ensure that stress should be given a positive narrative.

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