6 signs of stress in the workplace and how to help

In the first year of the pandemic, looking after employee mental health was a top priority for many employers. Two years on, the world is learning to live with Covid but the focus on employee wellbeing has slipped according to a recent CIPD report.

As you know, paying attention to and caring for your workers’ mental wellbeing is important for their health and your business. Spotting signs of stress early can allow you to offer the support your employees need to prevent the problem from escalating, especially if the cause of stress is work-related. The number of employees reporting work-related stress, depression or anxiety has shot up in recent years with absences costing the UK economy around £3.8 billion per year (HSE).

Stress can change how we feel – emotionally and physically – and how we behave but when you have teams in the workplace, at home or a mixture of the two, noticing stress in your employees can be difficult, so we’ve put together a short list of warning signs to look out for followed by suggestions of ways to help.

1 Lack of motivation

• When experiencing high levels of stress, it can lead to feelings of tiredness and overwhelm even from the most everyday activities and plans. It can all feel too much. A lot of energy is used up worrying about and keeping track of all the things that have to be done, leaving very little left to actually complete those tasks.
• The body’s reaction to an influx of the stress hormone, cortisol, is exhaustion, which can lead to a severe lack of motivation, and in turn can increase stress levels when progress is not being made. You may notice lower productivity than usual or missed deadlines in team members struggling with stress.

2 Easily angered

• If you notice or hear about an employee becoming quick to anger, easily irritated or finding themselves in arguments and confrontations, there is a chance that person is feeling stressed, especially if this tendency is new or heightened behaviour.

3 Increasingly anxious

• Anxiety and stress are closely linked. Stress is caused by an external factor, such as an important presentation or tight deadline, and often subsides when that situation has ended. Anxiety, on the other hand, is a reaction to a type of stress and has internal origins. So, it follows that anxiety often comes hand in hand with stress. A team member may be showing increased levels of anxiety from stress if they become jittery, fidgety, quick to startle, hesitant or unsure of themselves.

4 Difficulty concentrating 

• Stress can make concentrating very difficult due partly to the sheer number of thoughts being processed at the same time, an increased heart rate and the sense that everything needs doing now. This inability to concentrate can lead to lower productivity and higher procrastination levels.

5 Feelings of sadness and emptiness

• Stress is also closely linked to depression. Having too much to do, a fraught situation to deal with or a big decision to make are just three example scenarios that might make a person stressed. If left in a state of stress for too long, they might start to feel disconnected and disinterested in their work or other people. Feeling sad, empty and lonely are all symptoms of depression and can be difficult to spot in a co-worker, especially if they’re working from home.

6 Increasing physical ailments

• Stress can take a heavy toll on your body, with some people experiencing headaches, chest pains, heartburn, blurred eyesight, and sudden weight gain or loss, among other things. You might find an employee is taking more sick leave than usual to recover from such symptoms or, conversely, perhaps they’re showing up to work ill (presenteeism) for fear of missing a deadline or similar. Both behaviours could be signs that your co-worker is suffering from stress.

How can you help an employee who is showing signs of stress?

As with most illnesses, prevention is better than cure. Creating a culture of support and open communication both in the work environment and with remote workers is important in preventing mental health problems and in encouraging employees to feel comfortable sharing their struggles and seeking help.

You can do this by making sure that all members of staff know that they are always welcome to come and talk with their line manager or other member of personnel. You might also want to share wellbeing tips in internal emails or other communication channels, so that employees can see that talking about their own mental health is encouraged and so that co-workers are aware of the warning signs of someone struggling.

Spotting signs of burnout and stress might be more difficult with home workers. Training your managers to notice signs of stress, listening actively to what their staff are saying and handling requests to accommodate their needs with sensitivity are all important in creating a supportive working environment.

You might also want to consider offering free or subsidised lifestyle coaching sessions, counselling or mental health self-assessment tools. These would be easily made available to both workplace and home-based workers. In the workplace, you might want to create a dedicated quiet space for time out and relaxation away from the work area or have somewhere you could hold relaxation or mindfulness sessions.

Looking after your employees’ mental health will have positive ripples through their lives and will also boost productivity levels and staff retention.

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