How Leaders Can Decrease Anxiety In The Workplace

According to the recent stats, approximately 25 percent of Americans feel anxiety about going to work on a day-to-day basis. Whether it’s caused by disagreements with co-workers, the stress of the average workday, or something else entirely – it’s an issue that’s hampering the productivity of your entire team. As such, all of your leaders should be familiar with these nuances and ready to help reduce anxiety in the workplace.

Not only does anxiety take its toll on individual workers, but it can have a negative effect on your entire company. Anxiety disorders cause employees to miss out on nearly five workdays per month and cost employers billions of dollars every year in indirect costs.

Thankfully, anxiety in the workplace is one of the easiest issues to identify and diagnose with a trained eye. While some employees will approach your leadership for help, others require a specialized approach.

Signs Of Anxiety In The Workplace

The leaders of your company will likely be the first to identify, diagnose, and respond to anxiety in the workplace. With that in mind, it’s important that your managerial teams know exactly what they’re looking for when trying to spot anxiety.

Some common signs include:

• Frequently missed deadlines: Employees who often miss deadlines (or entire workdays) compromise the integrity of your whole team. If the issue only affects one or two of your staff members, anxiety is the likely culprit.
• High employee turnover: Some amount of turnover is expected among today’s professionals. For example, some industries – like technology – have turnover rates of more than 13 percent. Most companies fluctuate around 9 to 11 percent; if yours is trending higher, it might be time to take a serious look at the situation.
• Maliciousness toward your brand or image: Workers who suddenly show disinterest or maliciousness toward your brand, image or customers are a serious liability to your company. In some cases, their attitude is intentional. Most of the time, however, they are suffering from the direct effects of anxiety.

Now that you’re aware of the common indicators and warning signs of anxiety in the workplace, it’s time to put this knowledge to use and drive your staff members to new heights of productivity and efficiency.

How Leaders Can Encourage Their Staff

Employees are always influenced by their leaders – whether anyone realizes it or not. As such, there are several strategies one can use to encourage their staff and maximize their usefulness in the field.

• Understand what anxiety is like for different people: Keep in mind that the exact symptoms and causes of anxiety differ among individuals. Instead of using a generic approach to combating anxiety in the workplace, make sure to use a unique, customized strategy in every single case.
• Organize training sessions for support: If necessary, don’t hesitate to organize group-based training sessions to help your workers cope with anxiety.
• Respect work-life balance: Respect your employees’ work-life balance as much as possible. Try to work with them when scheduling shifts, approving vacations and assigning days off.
• Create a space for sharing: Establish a safe space in your building for sharing ideas, venting frustrations and airing grievances. Such an environment, when monitored and moderated effectively, can work wonders for alleviating stress and anxiety over a long-term basis.
• Encourage breaks during shifts: Frequent breaks are a great way to break up the grind of the average workday and help re-energize your workers in the process.
• Encourage monotasking: Although many workers excel when multitasking, monotasking – or the act of handling one task at a time – is much less stressful.
• Lead by example: Make sure your managers and supervisors are leading by example at every opportunity. Positioning them as positive role models for your staff is a great way to drive motivation and efficiency while fighting anxiety and stress.

For more information on relieving anxiety in the workplace, contact the professionals at HJR Global today. Not only can we help you revitalize your company, but we’ll also make sure that you have the proper leadership in place to maintain profitability for years to come. Contact our team today.

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