How to Cope with Stress in the Workplace

If you look at any recent study, you will find that stress in the workplace is not only high, but it is also increasingly on the rise. Stress in the workplace can lead to a whole host of problems such as affecting your performance in work, to even having severe consequences on your health. As you can see, stress in the workplace is extremely common, but there are measures that you can take to make your time more enjoyable and less stressful. Here, we are taking you through some of our favourite stress management techniques that you can try the next time you are in the office...

Start As You Mean to Go On

As the old saying goes, start as you mean to go on! This simply means you should start your day off the right way and ensure that you are cool, calm and collected before getting to your workplace. If you are spending your mornings running around trying to get the kids ready for school, getting stuck in traffic jams, being overcome with road rage and swigging copious amounts of coffee before you have even sat down in your office chair, then this is, of course, not going to help managing your stress levels at work. This week, try to start off your day by getting up that little better earlier, planning your morning better and getting some healthy foods into your system before you get to the office. We promise you will definitely feel the benefits of adopting this positive attitude and workplace stresses are sure to roll off your back a lot easier.

Know Your Working Requirements

One of the main reasons why so many people burn out in their job is because they are unsure of what exactly is expected of them. When the requirements of your job are unclear, this then means you can become unnecessarily stressed over certain situations. If you are unsure of whether or not you are doing enough in the workplace, have a chat with your supervisor or manager to go over their expectations.

Don’t Get Involved in Workplace Conflict

Workplace conflict is just an unnecessary stress that no one really needs in their lives. Conflicts can take a toll on your both physically and emotionally and can add a lot of stress to your working environment. With co-workers, it can sometimes be quite difficult to escape this conflict, however, there are some steps that you can take to ensure that you are steering clear of it as much as you possibly can. This includes avoiding gossiping, keep personal opinions to yourself and don’t partake in the somewhat ‘colourful’ office humour that tends to be banded around.

Be Organised

We’ve all been there were a stressful situation in work has only been amplified because we have not been organised enough. Planning ahead is a key way to keep stress levels to a minimum in work and this will result in less time rushing around trying to get things done. One of the easiest ways that you can stay stress-free and organised in the office is to use a system such as Kanban. It is easy to understand how to use the Kanban board as essentially this is just a system that allows you to assign tasks and monitor the workflow to ensure that you are being as efficient as you possibly can. Being able to visually see your workload and organise who is doing what in the office so everyone has their own responsibilities is an easy way to ensure that you keep stress levels to a minimum.

Get Some Fresh Air

When we have a lot on our workplace plates, it can be easy to just sit all day long at your computer and hardly leave it. However, this can quickly cause more stress and negative side effects on your health doing this day in, day out. An easy way to combat this is to make sure that you are getting some fresh air. Going for a quick walk on your lunch break is enough and some short exercise breaks will help you to blow off steam, keep your mood uplifted and it’ll also help you get into better shape. It’s a win-win situation!

Listen to Music

We all know that music can be have a big impact on our mood, so if you are sitting at your office desk all day, why not put your headphones in and listen to some great uplifting playlists to keep your spirit high. This can help to combat a lot of the day’s stresses and you can also enjoy this music in your car on the way home from work too, to destress before you get in the door.