Have your company’s employees seemed a little more on edge lately? If your most recent HR Assessment revealed unusually high levels of stress or complaints of burdensome pressure, you may want to ask your HR department to start focusing in on tackling workplace stress. The role of HR in stress management is critical, since HR departments are usually well equipped to track complaints and issues, identify core problems and propose employee-centric solutions. If your business has been struggling with workplace stress problems, here’s what your human resources department can do to help mitigate the issue.
Focus on Fostering a Friendly and Trusting Workplace Environment
In order for employees to feel little stress at work, it’s critical for the work environment to be friendly, welcoming and trusting. To accomplish this, you’ll need to foster a strong company culture and good employee relationships. Your HR department may be interested in:
- Starting a wellness program or gym membership subscription for employees
- Running trust-building team exercises
- Holding company retreats to build camaraderie between workers
- Establishing clear standards for workplace respect
- Encouraging employees to get to know each other
Ensure High-Level Managers Know the Signs of Stress To Look Out For
Your HR department may not be able to oversee daily operations throughout your company, but high-level managers can. That’s why it may help for your HR personnel to craft a list of guidelines that your managers can then use to spot high-pressure situations and diffuse them before further issues arise. You may want to instruct managers to:
- Keep an eye out in the office for higher levels of stress among employees than usual
- Take note of instances where workers snap, burn out or fail to complete their work
- Keep close track of employee complaints that mention high-pressure environments and undue burdens in the workplace
Consider Offering Workers More Flexibility and More Greater Autonomy
Finally, consider whether offering your workers a higher degree of autonomy and flexibility would help relieve some of their stress. Depending on your business model, you may be able to offer one or all of the following choices without harming your bottom line.
- More flexible or hybrid work options
- The choice to work remotely
- Less micro-management
- More opportunities to gain new professional skills
- More opportunities to climb the workplace ladder
If your business’s last HR Assessment pointed to less than ideal data on levels of stress throughout your workplace, you can ask your human resources department to tackle the issue by taking a number of strategic steps. Make sure your HR helps foster a healthy work environment, equips managers with the tools to identify potential high-stress situations and encourages providing workers with greater flexibility in order to dial down the pressure. These steps could produce a low-stress but high-productivity environment at your company.
About The Hilb Group
Deciding what coverage you need and what limits and deductibles make the most sense can be tricky. Founded in 2009, the Hilb Group has been helping clients to make sense of their options and make the smartest choices for their circumstances. Whether you need Warehouse Insurance or any other type of business or personal coverage, we encourage you to contact our friendly, experienced, and capable team today. Call us at (800) 776-3078 for a consultation.