What You Need To Know About Work-Related Stress
While going to work may give us income, structure, and a sense of pride, it can also cause a lot of worry and stress. We all need some pressure in our working lives, as it makes our work satisfying and helps us to meet deadlines, but too much pressure, without the chance to recover, causes stress. The primary cause of employee exercised sick leave is often work-related stress. In fact, studies have demonstrated that as many as one in six individuals indicated their jobs were exceedingly stressful.
You can have work-related stress due to unpredictable stress or a situation with a sudden onset. However, it can also be factors that take their toll over a long period of time. Lots of different factors can cause stress on the job, such as too much or too little responsibility, challenging working conditions, lack of job security, poor fit between your job and your skills and interests, difficult co-workers, and long hours at work.
Work-related stress is responsible for both physical and psychological health problems. Stress may cause physical symptoms such as digestive issues, sweating, headaches, difficulty sleeping, backaches, and tiredness. Psychological symptoms can include feelings that you cannot cope, irritability and mood swings, disturbed eating patterns, finding it hard to concentrate, feeling less motivated and a lower sex drive (libido).
You cannot just eliminate stress from work completely. You must learn to cope with your work-related stress appropriately and properly. If you are going to have a job, you will have stress. There are three basic approaches to dealing with stress:
- Alter your responses to the causes of stress
- Lower the impact on your body from stress
- Changing the way we cope with stress
If you cannot get your work-related stress alone, then you will need to see a professional, who may be able to find individualized methods for you to cope. Seeing a specialist is not a sign of weakness or an admission of defeat; it merely indicates that you realize that you have a situation that you want to improve. Your doctor will be able to spot the physical symptoms of work-related stress and they will also help you identify the causes of stress, give advice on relaxation techniques and / or refer you to a counselor.
Are you being harassed on the job? Is this causing you work-related stress? Is someone bullying you? If either of these situations is the root, then talk to someone in your personnel department or in your human resources office. Being victimized at work is something that no-one should have to face and the good news is that the vast majority of companies now have policies in place in order to deal with this type of problem. If your manager does not seem to be taking your complaint seriously, then you must press forward because you are legally protected. You do not need your manager to take action.
Next : Work Stress
