4 Tips to help your Employees Deal with Work Stress at Home

The Covid -19 pandemic. Stress is everywhere.  Peoples’ definitions of stress have been redefined. There definitely wasn’t a lack of stress before in our lives, but now it is rampant. Stress has managed to permeate into the safe space of the four walls of our homes and now, there’s even a faint line of separation within work and home. Stress has now drifted through age groups and even little children are being affected by the environment. 

This global situation was totally unforeseen and unanticipated. It has impacted individuals’ professional and personal environments, relationships, lifestyles, health, and economic circumstances. 

Needless to say, stress levels are through the roof. A global report on employee burnout reported that employee burnout was at 72% in August 2020. And, that this burnout was the most stressful aspect that had been experienced in 2020. According to Monster (the global employment platform), 69% of remote workers reported having experienced burnout symptoms as early as July 2020. 

A survey conducted by LinkedIn, India showed that almost 50% of India’s working women are experiencing increased stress and anxiety during the pandemic in 2020.  

Another survey on over 10,000 Indians conducted by Delhi-based The Center of Healing (TCOH), a preventive healthcare platform, reported that 74% of Indians are suffering from stress and 88% are experiencing anxiety. The major mental health issues that have been reported to have been associated with the COVID-19 pandemic are stress, anxiety, depressive symptoms, insomnia, denial, anger, and fear globally (Torales et al., 2020).

How do you identify stress and burnout?

1. Always tired/ late 

2. Negativity

3. Cynical or Critical of work

4. An increase in physical symptoms such as headache/ neck pain/ acidity 

5. Ineffectiveness 

Stress almost always harms the physical body. 

• Increased rates of chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, cancer, 

• Increased frequency of migraines, digestive issues, etc, 

• a compromised immune system

• Wear and tear on the brain and body

So how can you help your employees avoid stress related to work from home?

• Tip 1: Check in with your employees before they check out
• Regular communication, respecting working hours, setting clear deadlines, and showing that you care as a manager will go a long way during this stressful time
• Encourage learning about the new requirements of the employees – for example- what sort of working hours can they manage now, what sort of flexibility is needed, do they have young children/ elderly dependents living with them at home, does the employee need additional IT support? 
• Checking in regularly with your employees regularly will allow for the manager to detect any early, telltale signs of fatigue, burnout, and/ or anxiety.

• Tip 2: Encourage Healthy Behaviors:
• The pandemic has seen a rise in lifestyle disorders such as diabetes, hypertension, stress-related ailments such as migraine, digestive disorders, and sleep disorders to name a few. Addressing these issues, definitely aid in stress reduction.
• Encourage employees to step away from the screen by scheduling conventional phone calls as opposed to Zoom calls whenever possible.
• Setting aside time for exercise, practicing mindfulness activities such as meditation, or even time with the family.
• Ensure your employees aren’t working late hours and neither are you. Good quality sleep is needed to be able to function well and productively the next day.  
• Motivating employees to look after their physical and mental health through frequent scheduling online group sessions for exercise or even meditation at the END of a workday or workweek. 

• Tip 3: Let Employees know it’s OK to take time off (even if there’s no emergency)
• Work can wait, life won’t always wait. There have been enough and more casualties during this pandemic simply due to the stress caused by it.
• Encourage employees to take vacation days and ensure that you as manager respect that.
• Is there a family occasion coming up? Give the employee some space and private time. Let them spend it meaningfully with their families. 
• Keep tabs on the team during their time off. Make sure they have their full lunch hour. Make sure everyone on the team respects the time being taken off by the individual and most importantly the individual respects it themselves.

• Tip 4: Let Employees know that you're a Human too o Most importantly, remember that as a manager, you are a human too.
• Remember, that you too have days that you aren’t feeling your best and that you might need time off too. Ask your team to respect that time off.
• Equip them with the training and tools required to deal with a potential situation that might come their way during your absence. 
• Learn to communicate about yourself to the team too. They need to learn that you are a human being with feelings and emotions and sometimes have no answers to give them. 

And that's OK. For, after all, we’re all living in extraordinary circumstances and there’s no difference from one human to the other. 

 Sources: Int J Soc Psychiatry. 2020 Sep 1 : 0020764020950769., hrexchangenetwork.com, VirginPulse 2020, indianexpress.com, hbr.org