Stress Management in the Workplace

Stress-related disorders, including certain headaches, stomach disorders, chronic muscular pain, cardiac and respiratory conditions, and psychosomatic complaints have been linked to a large percentage of doctor's office visits and hospital tests and admissions. One goal of stress management programs is to provide alternate ways to respond to stress, to prevent potential disorders, and ultimately to reduce health costs.

Stress level has been found to be linked to worker productivity. Stress in moderate amounts, such as from reasonable deadlines, a focus on quality, rational performance rating systems, a system of accountability, often motivates performance. When stress rises to higher levels and a number of stressors are affecting the individual, performance deteriorates. At times of high stress, an individual is not as effective in solving problems, and on-the-job performance is negatively affected. The goal of stress management programs in this case is to provide ways in which employees can cope better with increasing stress and continue to perform well on the job.
Stress management programs are usually popular with employees. Attendance at talks and workshops shows that the topic is a popular one. Many companies decide to implement these programs as morale boosters because they "can't hurt anything."

Stress management has become an integral part of most preventive medicine programs. These programs attempt to include education and training in a variety of ways so that the employees can safeguard their health.

Programs are offered in a variety of formats, depending on the amount of time made available for the program and the number of employees able to participate in the programs. The 3 standard formats include lunch-time talks, half-day programs, and full-day programs.
The lunch-time talks usually occur in no more than an hour's time. They are presented to any size group and are designed to fit into an easily accessible hour of the employees' time. The goal of these programs is to educate employees on a single topic. There is typically not enough time for interaction between the presenter and audience, so the programs take the form of lectures and demonstrations. Topics often include: "what is the stress response?"; "how do we contribute to our own stress?"; "coping with deadlines"; "coping with too much work"; and other similar topics.

The workshops in half-day programs usually occur in three to four hours' time. They are designed to present basic ideas in stress management and allow time for the group to practice and interact around these ideas. Topics usually include relaxation exercises, time management techniques, identifying stressors, identifying the body's stress response, identifying thinking patterns that contribute to stress reaction, and better problem-solving and crisis-handling techniques.

These programs are most effective when they are provided over several months' time with the same group of employees participating in each of the workshops. The intervening time between the workshops provides employees time to practice some of the techniques that were learned. They can receive additional feedback on them when they reconvene. The half-day format appears to be one of the most effective ways in which to deliver stress management programs inside the company.

In the full-day format, the program is put into a single full day or several consecutive days for an intensified experience. The advantage of this program is that the employees who meet together are better able to interact freely and overcome their inhibitions about discussing their stress-related issues in the group. Another advantage to this format is that the ideas can be presented and practiced immediately, with each level of stress training building on previous levels. The disadvantage is that so many ideas are presented over the course of the day(s) that the employee may not be able to retain much of the information given. There is also no opportunity for follow-up after the program unless the employee seeks it out individually.
The "media" program is typically not included in descriptions of stress management workshops, but it has many of the benefits of the lunch-time talk series. A media program includes articles in the company's local newsletter, posters describing certain facts or information, announcements of stress management programs that may be appearing on TV or radio in the viewing and listening area of the employees and their families, and literature on local agencies that provide stress management programs in the area. One of the most useful tools in the media program is the local newsletter. Articles that focus on a single topic and provide some sort of self-checklist or "do you believe..." type of assessment that is currently being used in stress management programs provide the employees with information about themselves that might motivate further interest and exploration.

The program must provide information on the physical consequences of stress and allow participants to assess their own physical response to stress. The content should, help participants understand the physical stress reaction and decide if they need to seek medical advice and treatment.