Building a stress free workplace

Is building a stress free workplace even possible in a fast pace environment?

Our answer is – absolutely!

First, let’s see how stress reactions affect specific parts of the body.

High levels of stress-induced hormones and nervous system arousal induce changes in the following bodily systems:

• Muscles. Stress causes chronic contraction and tightening of muscles, leading to muscular fatigue or headaches.
• Digestive system. Stress causes  difficulty with digestion, ineffective spastic contractions of intestines leading to diarrhea or constipation; excessive acid in stomach – neither can make your employee happy nor productive.
• Cardiovascular. Stress causes  increase in heart rate, in blood pressure, constriction of blood vessels and increased workload for heart of your precious team member.
• Skin. Stress causes decrease in skin temperature, increase in skin sensitivity.  Stress can lead to eczema (itchy skin eruption), acne, hair loss. All that will result in lowering ones self-esteem and absence of desire to interact with others.
• Endocrine (hormonal) system. Stress causes  increase in glucose, salt, and water retention; decrease in protein formation; decrease in immune resistance; muscle wasting.
• Brain. Stress causes increased emotional arousal, mood swings, irritability, fear, anger, and confusion. Difficulty concentrating and difficulty sleeping will also become an outcome. Doesn’t sound like a productive state, does it?

Contrary to common belief, your employees don’t need doctors, shrinks or a new job in a stress-free, slower-paced workplace.  All your employees need is to know that you care.  Success in the workplace is a team effort.  You all succeed together by aligning your goals.  Your team cares enough about your company’s bottom line.  Your company and your team work together to find a solution that helps each individual contributor to succeed in their own life.  So, yes, all your employees need is for you to call Teamwork Go!

How can you tell if your team members are under stress?

1. Your employees are always rushed and cannot take enough time to do things well or to get everything done.
2. Your employees complain that they can’t slow down and relax, even during lunch time, weekends or vacations.
3. Your employees are irritable or moody, get angry for no obvious reason.
4. During conversation with you they find it hard to concentrate or to pay attention.
5. They don’t seem to follow through on what they would not have forgotten a few months before.
6. Their minds are racing and they are talking to themselves beyond their normal goofing. They act as if they were up to their necks in details.  They are constantly thinking of more things to do, which makes it hard to focus attention on the problems in front of them. They are not fully “there” when other staff  members  talk to them.
7. Your guys become irritated at the minor inconveniences of life, such as standing in line at the corporate cafeteria, waiting for an elevator, or getting caught in traffic on the way to the office, and then complain about all above.

If you observe any of this behavior, or if this is happening more and more often then it’s time to call TeamWork Go!

Can your employees suffer from the stress of too many good things happening to them?

You would think, no. Or you might think that this is a good (harmless) type of stress.

You are about to promote your mid level managers? Or hold a recognition party for your employees? Or give a double-bonus for great performance. How can it be anything but a “good thing” for a stress-free environment?

Remember what we were sharing about physical reactions and hormonal changes caused by ANY type of stress? Please check again TWGo team building principles, so you understand that this would be a misconception.

Our bodies are well adapted to handle both types of stress (“positive” and “negative”) only if we then return to balance after mobilizing our physical reactions.

So, let Teamwork Go! be your employee well-being support partner.

The TWG PhysioEmoDynamics™ system focuses on identifying symptoms of body dysfunction in the early stages.  Our trainers spot emotional triggers, energetic obstacles, absence of physical chemistry and other PhysioEmoDynamical inhibitors to teamwork. We have designed a comprehensive tool kit that guarantees instant removal of major stress symptoms without digging into causes (yes, we are not shrinks, and we are proud of it). And what is really important, we do all the work in a fun, interactive environment. So, try it.

Please visit our team building programs to see what TeamWork Go! can do to create a stress free workplace for you.