For many of us, most of our stress is encountered in the workplace because we spend so much time there. A lot depends on our ability to financially support ourselves and our families and to achieve success in the eyes of the world. Therefore it is important to develop tools for managing on-the-job stress.
According to Dean Sunseri, individuals who do not manage their work-related stress have a higher level of absenteeism, decreased work performance, and emotional instability at their jobs. In their personal lives, this inability to manage stress leads to relationship problems, emotional isolation, substance abuse, verbal/physical violence, and increased high-risk behaviors such as alcoholism.
A recent study by Drs. Nicole A. Roberts and Robert W. Levenson of U.C. Berkeley, published in the Journal of Marriage and Family, shows that high levels of on-the-job stress seem to play a significant role in marital problems and could potentially lead to divorce if the stress isn’t acknowledged and managed. “These influences of job stress were found regardless of couples’ marital satisfaction, husbands’ work shift, and couples’ parenthood status,” the authors wrote. They went on to suggest that when job stress levels become highest, couples should make an extra effort to be attuned to themselves so that they could find ways to handle their stress in a constructive manner. “This may include employing stress management techniques, making an effort to infuse positive emotions into marital conversations, and finding ways to talk about job stress rather than avoiding it.”
This is often easier said than done. According to a recent article in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, job stress can sneak up on you so gradually that you don’t even realize it. Many employees entering the workforce are young and single with ample time for leisure activities, exercise, rest, and sports. As they grow older, marry, have children, and acquire a mortgage and other major responsibilities, their stress load will build and their productivity levels drop. Add to this the fact that many companies lay off employees during times of economic recession, burdening those who remain with an increased workload and even greater stress.
Recently I saw a dramatic example of this when a shipping company called me to inquire about my corporate program. Their top salesperson, a middle-aged man named Arnold, had serious physical problems. Arnold was 400 pounds, had a fifty-two-inch waist, and had a blood sugar level of 126, which made him diabetic. Arnold hadn’t been this heavy or this sick when he first went to work for them. But the stresses of his workload and the amount of constant traveling he had to do had brought him to this point. Arnold was a prime candidate to drop dead of a heart attack. And if he had, his company would have been in serious trouble. Fortunately, Arnold is thrilled with the program and has already lost twenty-five pounds.
Dee Edington, director of Michigan’s Health Management Research Center, has spent twenty-five years researching how major corporations have saved literally millions of dollars in health care costs by offering services to their employees such as wellness programs, onsite gyms and fitness programs, and health newsletters. What Edington stresses, however, is that companies should not focus on just those employees whose stress loads and health needs are the greatest. There are tremendous long-term benefits in retaining relatively healthy employees who eat right, exercise regularly, and manage their stress healthfully. “It is much easier to help a low-risk person remain low-risk than to try to change a high-risk person to low-risk,” Edington says.
Unfortunately, most corporations do not take responsibility for their employees’ health. Even if you are fairly healthy, you cannot count on your workplace to take responsibility to help you maintain your health and emotional well-being. Ultimately, that responsibility falls squarely on your shoulders.
In this fast-paced, stress-filled world, the only answer is to develop your own stress management skills. I have found the following stress management techniques to be tremendously effective. I suggest that you experiment with one or a combination of these until you find what works best for you.
A recent study by Drs. Nicole A. Roberts and Robert W. Levenson of U.C. Berkeley, published in the Journal of Marriage and Family, shows that high levels of on-the-job stress seem to play a significant role in marital problems and could potentially lead to divorce if the stress isn’t acknowledged and managed. “These influences of job stress were found regardless of couples’ marital satisfaction, husbands’ work shift, and couples’ parenthood status,” the authors wrote. They went on to suggest that when job stress levels become highest, couples should make an extra effort to be attuned to themselves so that they could find ways to handle their stress in a constructive manner. “This may include employing stress management techniques, making an effort to infuse positive emotions into marital conversations, and finding ways to talk about job stress rather than avoiding it.”
This is often easier said than done. According to a recent article in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, job stress can sneak up on you so gradually that you don’t even realize it. Many employees entering the workforce are young and single with ample time for leisure activities, exercise, rest, and sports. As they grow older, marry, have children, and acquire a mortgage and other major responsibilities, their stress load will build and their productivity levels drop. Add to this the fact that many companies lay off employees during times of economic recession, burdening those who remain with an increased workload and even greater stress.
Recently I saw a dramatic example of this when a shipping company called me to inquire about my corporate program. Their top salesperson, a middle-aged man named Arnold, had serious physical problems. Arnold was 400 pounds, had a fifty-two-inch waist, and had a blood sugar level of 126, which made him diabetic. Arnold hadn’t been this heavy or this sick when he first went to work for them. But the stresses of his workload and the amount of constant traveling he had to do had brought him to this point. Arnold was a prime candidate to drop dead of a heart attack. And if he had, his company would have been in serious trouble. Fortunately, Arnold is thrilled with the program and has already lost twenty-five pounds.
Dee Edington, director of Michigan’s Health Management Research Center, has spent twenty-five years researching how major corporations have saved literally millions of dollars in health care costs by offering services to their employees such as wellness programs, onsite gyms and fitness programs, and health newsletters. What Edington stresses, however, is that companies should not focus on just those employees whose stress loads and health needs are the greatest. There are tremendous long-term benefits in retaining relatively healthy employees who eat right, exercise regularly, and manage their stress healthfully. “It is much easier to help a low-risk person remain low-risk than to try to change a high-risk person to low-risk,” Edington says.
Unfortunately, most corporations do not take responsibility for their employees’ health. Even if you are fairly healthy, you cannot count on your workplace to take responsibility to help you maintain your health and emotional well-being. Ultimately, that responsibility falls squarely on your shoulders.
In this fast-paced, stress-filled world, the only answer is to develop your own stress management skills. I have found the following stress management techniques to be tremendously effective. I suggest that you experiment with one or a combination of these until you find what works best for you.
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