Take The Worry Out of Work
I saw a couple of shocking statistics recently.
Each year £26 billion is lost to British employers because of mental ill-health in the workplace.
And figures for 2008/9 say that over 11 million working days were lost because of stress, anxiety and depression.
In the UK we suffer particularly from a culture of long working hours, and as the recession continues general anxieties about changes in the workplace, restructuring and redundancies take their toll.
In my contacts with public and voluntary sector organisations working in social care, I've particularly noticed increased levels of anxiety and distress over the last twelve months of build up to major public spending restrictions.
None of this is likely to change any time soon, so what can you do to reduce stress levels at work? Here are five suggestions or techniques which anyone can implement, and which would be especially effective if implemented with team or even organisational support! 1.
Stop complaining The more you talk about what's wrong, what you don't like, what's likely to go wrong, what other people keep doing wrong, the more negative you'll feel.
Identify the things you do like, however small these may be.
Practice mentioning these to others and recognise what's going right - you'll be amazed how this can help you and your colleagues feel more supported and productive.
2.
Plan your use of time more effectively Most of what we do at work can be divided in 4 zones - Urgent and Not Urgent, Important and Not Important.
We tend to spend a lot of time on 'urgent' tasks whether or not they're important, very little time on the 'important' but 'not urgent' tasks like planning, preparation, relationship building, and a variable amount of time on 'not urgent' and 'not important' distractions like surfing the net - almost anything at times to avoid doing the really 'important' stuff which would actually reduce stress and anxiety.
3.
Take regular short breaks A good guideline is to work for an hour and a half, then take a 10 or 15 minute break to refresh yourself.
Get some fresh air, go for a walk, do a relaxation exercise.
This will help you recharge and be much more productive for the next hour and a half.
4.
Do something enjoyable with colleagues Taking some time out to develop better relationships with our work colleagues doesn't have to involve expensive team building exercises.
Going out for lunch or having an informal get together once a week can do wonders to reduce tensions and misunderstandings which fuel stress and anxiety.
There may even be the opportunity to find solutions to difficulties affecting everyone.
5.
Keep a diary If you're really finding it difficult not to get wound up and stressed at work, keep a note each day of what's affected you and how it made you feel.
Over a couple of weeks you'll probably see some kind of pattern, and this can help you come up with ideas to improve the situation, or to talk to someone else with evidence of how you've been feeling rather than just complaining.
Rather than allow worry, stress and anxiety to overwhelm us at work, there are measures such as the suggestions above which if practised regularly will really make a difference.
It won't change your job, but it will change the way you manage your work, help you to deal with changes and be better equipped to make the most of new opportunities too.
Each year £26 billion is lost to British employers because of mental ill-health in the workplace.
And figures for 2008/9 say that over 11 million working days were lost because of stress, anxiety and depression.
In the UK we suffer particularly from a culture of long working hours, and as the recession continues general anxieties about changes in the workplace, restructuring and redundancies take their toll.
In my contacts with public and voluntary sector organisations working in social care, I've particularly noticed increased levels of anxiety and distress over the last twelve months of build up to major public spending restrictions.
None of this is likely to change any time soon, so what can you do to reduce stress levels at work? Here are five suggestions or techniques which anyone can implement, and which would be especially effective if implemented with team or even organisational support! 1.
Stop complaining The more you talk about what's wrong, what you don't like, what's likely to go wrong, what other people keep doing wrong, the more negative you'll feel.
Identify the things you do like, however small these may be.
Practice mentioning these to others and recognise what's going right - you'll be amazed how this can help you and your colleagues feel more supported and productive.
2.
Plan your use of time more effectively Most of what we do at work can be divided in 4 zones - Urgent and Not Urgent, Important and Not Important.
We tend to spend a lot of time on 'urgent' tasks whether or not they're important, very little time on the 'important' but 'not urgent' tasks like planning, preparation, relationship building, and a variable amount of time on 'not urgent' and 'not important' distractions like surfing the net - almost anything at times to avoid doing the really 'important' stuff which would actually reduce stress and anxiety.
3.
Take regular short breaks A good guideline is to work for an hour and a half, then take a 10 or 15 minute break to refresh yourself.
Get some fresh air, go for a walk, do a relaxation exercise.
This will help you recharge and be much more productive for the next hour and a half.
4.
Do something enjoyable with colleagues Taking some time out to develop better relationships with our work colleagues doesn't have to involve expensive team building exercises.
Going out for lunch or having an informal get together once a week can do wonders to reduce tensions and misunderstandings which fuel stress and anxiety.
There may even be the opportunity to find solutions to difficulties affecting everyone.
5.
Keep a diary If you're really finding it difficult not to get wound up and stressed at work, keep a note each day of what's affected you and how it made you feel.
Over a couple of weeks you'll probably see some kind of pattern, and this can help you come up with ideas to improve the situation, or to talk to someone else with evidence of how you've been feeling rather than just complaining.
Rather than allow worry, stress and anxiety to overwhelm us at work, there are measures such as the suggestions above which if practised regularly will really make a difference.
It won't change your job, but it will change the way you manage your work, help you to deal with changes and be better equipped to make the most of new opportunities too.