Combat Stress In The Workplace

Work can be stressful! No matter how much employees are properly trained, love their jobs, and feel a sense of purpose in what they do, situations arise (often daily) that can cause stress and hamper your employees’ satisfaction and happiness. Whether it’s an irate customer, a vendor who delivers late, a coworker who didn’t complete their piece of a project on time, or just tech frustration, stress happens.
Thankfully, there is good news.
Having fun at work can help combat those stressful feelings and return your employees to the happy, productive team members they are.
A 2022 research study out of the Otto Beisheim School of Management showed that “Short positivity interventions can help employees make the best of their day and that employers and employees should consider incorporating more positivity into the workday!”
Stressful experiences cause employees to “struggle with self-control, which hampers their engagement, creativity, and behavior toward their colleagues.” If you’ve ever watched a normally pleasant team member snap at a coworker or even a customer, you know this is true. This harmful interaction will travel through the workplace, negatively impacting everyone’s moods.
Including some positivity or fun throughout the day helps reset their resources. Ready for the best part of this study? They aren’t suggesting that you have to turn your office into a carnival 40 hours a week. Short bursts of fun will do the trick!
How To Incorporate a Bit of Positivity Each Day
Have you ever been to a baseball game? During the seventh-inning stretch, fans are encouraged to stand up, stretch, walk around, and grab a snack. This is their way of “resetting” after hours of sitting and focusing (and maybe stressing about the outcome of the game). While you don’t have to demand your employees stand up at a specific time during the day to exercise, you can recreate this concept in your workplace. Here are a few ideas:
• Create an internal webpage where employees can find humorous, feel-good stories that can be consumed in under 10 minutes.
• Send out a daily joke (keep it appropriate!) or a recommended video at the same time each day.
• Create a break room where employees can “play.” This could look like having arcade games, a small trampoline, a ping pong table, or anything else your team might enjoy.
• Incorporate outdoor areas where employees can soak up a few minutes of nature before returning to work.
• Encourage employees to take breaks. This is the most important suggestion. In order for any of these ideas to work, you need to create a culture where your team members aren’t afraid to take a few minutes off. When you take a few minutes out of each day for fun, they will follow your example.
No one can be productive ALL the time. Giving your team members time to kick back and release some steam will help them return to work refreshed and ready to rock their jobs. For more tips on how to turn up your employees’ happiness and productivity in 2024, visit https://marvellessmark.com.