Recognising workplace stress

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Life in the modern Ireland has become increasingly stressful. Stress, for example, recently overtook back pain as the single biggest cause of absenteeism in the Irish workplace.
For employers that’s a big thing. The Irish Small Firms Association (SFA) recently estimated that staff absenteeism alone could be costing small businesses in this country more than €800 million every year – pointing out that it was a conservative estimate and that the actual figure could top €1 billion. Stress also decreases the productivity of employees who make it in to work – so employers are hit by a double whammy.
For the individual employee increasing levels of stress in the workplace is also bad news. Although some stress at work is inevitable – even desirable, because the resulting adrenalin helps to keep us focussed, motivated and performing at our peak – too much stress has the opposite effect, and productivity tends to plummet. Another worrying aspect of stress is that it can, if left unmanaged, have far reaching implications not just for your performance at work, but also for your long term mental health.

Stress in the workplace

Some jobs, of course, are more stressful than others by their very nature. Doctors and nurses, for example, routinely deal with highly stressful situations where human life hangs in the balance; Gardai frequently have to deal with potentially violent situations and fire-fighters put their lives on the line at work every day. By and large though this type of stress can be anticipated as a normal part of the job; it tends to come in short bursts and results in significant emotional, if not financial, reward when it’s over.

Much more damaging is the stress we don’t anticipate as a natural part of our job – stress that builds gradually without us noticing it, stress that results from trying to live up to the unrealistic expectations of ourselves and of others. It’s the sort of stress that comes from trying to accomplish too much when we really don’t have the resources to deliver.

Warning signs

Stress is an insidious enemy. Many people don’t even realise that they’re getting stressed until it starts to become a serious problem. But there are warning signs and it pays to look out for them.
Some of the more common indicators of stress include:

• Generally feeling more irritable, anxious or angry than usual
• Poor concentration and difficulty making decisions
• Headaches, muscle tension, chest pain and digestive discomfort
• Problems falling asleep or waking too early in the morning
• Increased reliance on caffeine, cigarettes or alcohol
• Habitual actions like biting nails or other sign of anxiety

There are many more, and anything out of the ordinary that could indicate an increased level of subconscious anxiety should set off your warning bells. The trick then is to isolate what’s causing that anxiety, and to manage it effectively before it becomes a more serious problem.

Read about how to manage workplace stress here….