Hi, I am Nikhil Mallah, I am persuing my MBA third Semester. I want some information (article) on stress management
From India, Mumbai
From India, Mumbai
Destress Softly!
The Corporate World is working harder than ever to reduce employee stress on the job. However, the pressure at the office is increasing -- too much to do and too few hours to do it in. It's the 24x7 culture: Perform or perish.
Stress is the "wear and tear" which bodies experience as employees adjust to the continually changing environment .It has physical and emotional effects on employees and can create positive or negative feelings. As a positive influence, stress can help compel employees to action; it can result in a new awareness and an exciting new perspective. As a negative influence, it can result in feelings of distrust, rejection, anger, and depression, which in turn can lead to health problems such as headaches, upset stomach, rashes, insomnia, ulcers, high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke.
Silicon Graphics is discovering that its sabbatical programme has an unintended benefit: it's just as stimulating for those who remain at work. Each employee gets a six-week sabbatical every four years. Almost everyone takes it, which means that about 15% of the company employees are on sabbatical at any given time. Instead of feeling overworked, employees feel recharged by trying out new assignments. Taking on new challenges helps them avoid burnout.
Last March Denise Espinoza made a permanent job switch from payroll manager in the finance department to compensation analyst in the HR department. The move was virtually risk free: she had spent the previous year filling vacancies in the HR department left by a maternity leave and three sabbaticals. By the time she was transferred for good, she knew the job was right for her.
One of the primary challenges in optimising performance under stress is emotional resilience. For many employees, reactive emotions, such as anger and fear, undermine productivity. For Jagan, 47, a senior executive at Esteem Associates who runs the company's professional-development programmes, using LGE's rituals to deal with physical and emotional stress has proved especially valuable.
HR professionals should ensure that employees are always kind and gentle with themselves. They should also ensure that employees use different stress relieving tools/systems like the LGE's Performance Systems to reduce their on-job-stress and improve performance at the same time.
If you need more information do let me know.
Cheers
Archna
From India, Delhi
113The Corporate World is working harder than ever to reduce employee stress on the job. However, the pressure at the office is increasing -- too much to do and too few hours to do it in. It's the 24x7 culture: Perform or perish.
Stress is the "wear and tear" which bodies experience as employees adjust to the continually changing environment .It has physical and emotional effects on employees and can create positive or negative feelings. As a positive influence, stress can help compel employees to action; it can result in a new awareness and an exciting new perspective. As a negative influence, it can result in feelings of distrust, rejection, anger, and depression, which in turn can lead to health problems such as headaches, upset stomach, rashes, insomnia, ulcers, high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke.
Silicon Graphics is discovering that its sabbatical programme has an unintended benefit: it's just as stimulating for those who remain at work. Each employee gets a six-week sabbatical every four years. Almost everyone takes it, which means that about 15% of the company employees are on sabbatical at any given time. Instead of feeling overworked, employees feel recharged by trying out new assignments. Taking on new challenges helps them avoid burnout.
Last March Denise Espinoza made a permanent job switch from payroll manager in the finance department to compensation analyst in the HR department. The move was virtually risk free: she had spent the previous year filling vacancies in the HR department left by a maternity leave and three sabbaticals. By the time she was transferred for good, she knew the job was right for her.
One of the primary challenges in optimising performance under stress is emotional resilience. For many employees, reactive emotions, such as anger and fear, undermine productivity. For Jagan, 47, a senior executive at Esteem Associates who runs the company's professional-development programmes, using LGE's rituals to deal with physical and emotional stress has proved especially valuable.
HR professionals should ensure that employees are always kind and gentle with themselves. They should also ensure that employees use different stress relieving tools/systems like the LGE's Performance Systems to reduce their on-job-stress and improve performance at the same time.
If you need more information do let me know.
Cheers
Archna
From India, Delhi
Here are some further thoughts:
A study released earlier in 2003 shows that stress is still regarded as a taboo subject in today's workplace. Despite the huge costs and high risks associated with work-related stress, many working environments are still chiefly characterised by high pressure and heavy workloads. Moreover, susceptibility to stress is very much considered to be a weakness that employees cannot afford to highlight without fear of repercussions.
These findings come from Hot under the collar: how stress is impacting on the 21st century business environment completed by Cubiks, a specialist HR consultancy. Specific findings include:
* Complaining of stress will damage your career prospects - 76% of survey respondents thought that their career prospects would be damaged if they complained of stress, and managers confirmed that they are right to think this. 79% of managers said they would be less likely to employ a candidate if they suspected that they were prone to stress and 87% would be less likely to promote an existing employee if they had doubts over their ability to handle stress
* Stress levels are rising and will get higher - One in four said that their average stress levels at work were either high or very high and almost half expect these levels to increase in the next 12 months
* The economic downturn is influencing stress levels - Only 9% considered poor compensation and benefits to be a major concern, which indicates that those who have not been affected by redundancy or restructuring are grateful to be in employment. Job insecurity was stated as being a cause of stress for almost half of all respondents.
* It's not just emotive tasks such as dismissing staff or announcing redundancies that cause stress for managers - A large proportion of managers said that core people management tasks such as handling performance appraisals or conducting the recruitment interview were a significant source of stress for them. This suggests that managers are not receiving the training needed to perform in their role
* Few organisations provide facilities for stressed employees - Only one third (34%) of respondents said that stress was recognised as an issue in their workplace and just 31% of respondents said that personal counselling services were available to them. Fewer still (27%) said that their organisation has any formal process for handling grievances or concerns relating to stress.
Commenting on the report, Barry Spence, CEO of Cubiks, said:
"It has been well established for some time now that high employee stress levels can have a major negative impact on both individual and organisational performance. Given that this is the case, I'm surprised that so many employers seem to be taking such a cavalier attitude to the way stress is perceived and handled in their workplace.
"Some pressure can, of course, play an important motivational role and actually serve to enhance productivity. However, when it isn't managed carefully it can quickly spiral out of control leading to increased absenteeism, higher rates of staff turnover, early retirements and, in the worst cases, expensive litigation. Stress can affect all of us so employees shouldn't be made to feel as if they should suffer in silence.
"I can only conclude from these findings that employers either don't yet fully appreciate the risks associated with stress or are taking a calculated gamble that stress won't affect them. Whatever the case, the situation needs to be remedied. Today, management needs to know where stress exists in an organisation and how it is manifesting itself. They should be open to what a stress audit might find as this could turn out to be surprisingly positive."
Although 49% of respondents did think that their line-manager would be concerned or sympathetic if they complained of stress, a quarter (24%) believed that their line managers would become irritated or annoyed if they raised stress as an issue. Almost half said that their relationship with their superiors was a considerable or major cause of concern for them and one in four (23%) complained that they were suffering from harassment or bullying.
Barry Spence went on to comment:
"There is a lot of evidence in this survey to suggest that people across industry are being asked to take on responsibility for managing restructuring projects, but are not being equipped to handle this aspect of their role. Perhaps they are not being given the training to make this important step-up, or maybe they are having difficulty in pin-pointing what they need to do and how they should adapt to manage change. Whatever the case, it is worrying to see so many people becoming anxious over the more basic tasks such as interviewing or managing development needs. These are core managerial skills, and without them both they and their teams will suffer."
According to Matt Dean, employment lawyer and Head of Employment Law Training (ELT) at international law firm Simmons & Simmons:
"Providing counselling for employees is an important tool in managing stress. Employers have a duty to provide a safe working environment. The Court of Appeal last year indicated that employers offering a confidential counselling service with appropriate referrals are "unlikely to be in breach of duty". Even with counselling, employers cannot afford to ignore warning signs that an employee is suffering stress. Training for managers in how to recognise warning signs and how to manage this issue is key to limit legal liability and improve morale."
A report from the Industrial Society, Occupational Stress, published earlier in 2001 showed that almost 70% of people surveyed cited difficulty in balancing work and home demands as a significant contributing factor to occupational stress. Nearly 50% reported unrealistic deadlines and the consequent time pressure as a factor. More than 40% identified poor communications as a factor in raising stress levels.
Other findings:
* 86% of respondents considered that stress was a problem in their organisation - 36% rating it as being significantly so.
* 79% identified increased absence as the main symptom of stress in an employee.
* 53% regard stress as something an organisation can address proactively.
* 95% view supportive managers as the workplace factor most likely to help employees cope with stress.
Pat McGuinness, an occupational health expert, said, "Employees need to feel they can talk about stress without fear of recrimination. In this way companies get a more accurate picture of negative processes, practices and bad job design which compromise employee performance. Successfully identifying and removing causes of negative stress brings real benefits."
The following were identified as positive measures for reducing stress:
- good employee communication (68%)
- realistic deadlines (53%)
- empowering staff (32%)
- a 'no blame culture' (45%)
- flexible working arrangements (44%)
- promoting a family
Interestingly, organisational and technological change seemed to feature as a major background with almost two thirds reporting that their organisation had undergone change programmes in the past year with 55% stating that their organisations had introduced new technology.
Pat McGuiness commented, "The pace of change in organisations is not being matched by the development of employee well-being safety nets such as effective stress policies and good job design. Having a comprehensive stress policy, which is part of the organisational fabric and develops with the organisation, can help reduce the likelihood of individuals experiencing occupational stress, improve productivity levels and so benefit the bottom line."
If you need further clarifications please feel free to contact me.
Prof.Lakshman
From Sri Lanka, Kolonnawa
A study released earlier in 2003 shows that stress is still regarded as a taboo subject in today's workplace. Despite the huge costs and high risks associated with work-related stress, many working environments are still chiefly characterised by high pressure and heavy workloads. Moreover, susceptibility to stress is very much considered to be a weakness that employees cannot afford to highlight without fear of repercussions.
These findings come from Hot under the collar: how stress is impacting on the 21st century business environment completed by Cubiks, a specialist HR consultancy. Specific findings include:
* Complaining of stress will damage your career prospects - 76% of survey respondents thought that their career prospects would be damaged if they complained of stress, and managers confirmed that they are right to think this. 79% of managers said they would be less likely to employ a candidate if they suspected that they were prone to stress and 87% would be less likely to promote an existing employee if they had doubts over their ability to handle stress
* Stress levels are rising and will get higher - One in four said that their average stress levels at work were either high or very high and almost half expect these levels to increase in the next 12 months
* The economic downturn is influencing stress levels - Only 9% considered poor compensation and benefits to be a major concern, which indicates that those who have not been affected by redundancy or restructuring are grateful to be in employment. Job insecurity was stated as being a cause of stress for almost half of all respondents.
* It's not just emotive tasks such as dismissing staff or announcing redundancies that cause stress for managers - A large proportion of managers said that core people management tasks such as handling performance appraisals or conducting the recruitment interview were a significant source of stress for them. This suggests that managers are not receiving the training needed to perform in their role
* Few organisations provide facilities for stressed employees - Only one third (34%) of respondents said that stress was recognised as an issue in their workplace and just 31% of respondents said that personal counselling services were available to them. Fewer still (27%) said that their organisation has any formal process for handling grievances or concerns relating to stress.
Commenting on the report, Barry Spence, CEO of Cubiks, said:
"It has been well established for some time now that high employee stress levels can have a major negative impact on both individual and organisational performance. Given that this is the case, I'm surprised that so many employers seem to be taking such a cavalier attitude to the way stress is perceived and handled in their workplace.
"Some pressure can, of course, play an important motivational role and actually serve to enhance productivity. However, when it isn't managed carefully it can quickly spiral out of control leading to increased absenteeism, higher rates of staff turnover, early retirements and, in the worst cases, expensive litigation. Stress can affect all of us so employees shouldn't be made to feel as if they should suffer in silence.
"I can only conclude from these findings that employers either don't yet fully appreciate the risks associated with stress or are taking a calculated gamble that stress won't affect them. Whatever the case, the situation needs to be remedied. Today, management needs to know where stress exists in an organisation and how it is manifesting itself. They should be open to what a stress audit might find as this could turn out to be surprisingly positive."
Although 49% of respondents did think that their line-manager would be concerned or sympathetic if they complained of stress, a quarter (24%) believed that their line managers would become irritated or annoyed if they raised stress as an issue. Almost half said that their relationship with their superiors was a considerable or major cause of concern for them and one in four (23%) complained that they were suffering from harassment or bullying.
Barry Spence went on to comment:
"There is a lot of evidence in this survey to suggest that people across industry are being asked to take on responsibility for managing restructuring projects, but are not being equipped to handle this aspect of their role. Perhaps they are not being given the training to make this important step-up, or maybe they are having difficulty in pin-pointing what they need to do and how they should adapt to manage change. Whatever the case, it is worrying to see so many people becoming anxious over the more basic tasks such as interviewing or managing development needs. These are core managerial skills, and without them both they and their teams will suffer."
According to Matt Dean, employment lawyer and Head of Employment Law Training (ELT) at international law firm Simmons & Simmons:
"Providing counselling for employees is an important tool in managing stress. Employers have a duty to provide a safe working environment. The Court of Appeal last year indicated that employers offering a confidential counselling service with appropriate referrals are "unlikely to be in breach of duty". Even with counselling, employers cannot afford to ignore warning signs that an employee is suffering stress. Training for managers in how to recognise warning signs and how to manage this issue is key to limit legal liability and improve morale."
A report from the Industrial Society, Occupational Stress, published earlier in 2001 showed that almost 70% of people surveyed cited difficulty in balancing work and home demands as a significant contributing factor to occupational stress. Nearly 50% reported unrealistic deadlines and the consequent time pressure as a factor. More than 40% identified poor communications as a factor in raising stress levels.
Other findings:
* 86% of respondents considered that stress was a problem in their organisation - 36% rating it as being significantly so.
* 79% identified increased absence as the main symptom of stress in an employee.
* 53% regard stress as something an organisation can address proactively.
* 95% view supportive managers as the workplace factor most likely to help employees cope with stress.
Pat McGuinness, an occupational health expert, said, "Employees need to feel they can talk about stress without fear of recrimination. In this way companies get a more accurate picture of negative processes, practices and bad job design which compromise employee performance. Successfully identifying and removing causes of negative stress brings real benefits."
The following were identified as positive measures for reducing stress:
- good employee communication (68%)
- realistic deadlines (53%)
- empowering staff (32%)
- a 'no blame culture' (45%)
- flexible working arrangements (44%)
- promoting a family
Interestingly, organisational and technological change seemed to feature as a major background with almost two thirds reporting that their organisation had undergone change programmes in the past year with 55% stating that their organisations had introduced new technology.
Pat McGuiness commented, "The pace of change in organisations is not being matched by the development of employee well-being safety nets such as effective stress policies and good job design. Having a comprehensive stress policy, which is part of the organisational fabric and develops with the organisation, can help reduce the likelihood of individuals experiencing occupational stress, improve productivity levels and so benefit the bottom line."
If you need further clarifications please feel free to contact me.
Prof.Lakshman
From Sri Lanka, Kolonnawa
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