The increasing demands on the employees, downsizing of resources, constant increase in expectations to perform and meet the targets, pressure to ‘maximize profit’, and job insecurity are the common factors that are likely to give rise to anxiety at workplace.
The present-day employees are armed with technology, are enhanced with luxuries and are being paid a handsome salary on one hand but also being constantly pitted against the pressure to maximize profit and perform on the other hand. Hence, growing anxiety at the workplace is the reality of the modern-day jobs. This coupled with lack of a nurturing and encouraging environment is taking a toll on the mental well-being of employees which in turn is also impacting their physical health.
According to the WHO, workplace anxiety is the second largest reason for absenteeism and ill health.
With fewer and fewer opportunities being available as you climb up the corporate ladder, job insecurity increases. According to Psychologist Richard Lazarus, a pioneer in the study of emotion and stress in their relation to cognition has stated that “Anxiety is a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives that demands made upon a person exceeds the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize”. Workplace anxiety according to the WHO is “the response people may have when presented with work demands and pressures that are not matched to their knowledge and abilities and which challenge their ability to cope”
Around 46% of Indians suffer from workplace anxiety and the break up of the same is as follows:
300 million people globally suffer from workplace-related depression and 260 million suffer from anxiety disorders. Some live with both conditions. Another report suggests around 50 percent of with depression are untreated.
Demanding pace of work, fewer resources, cost-cutting, and constant pressures of increasing productivity are some of the factors that become the root cause of workplace stress or anxiety.
These along with behavioural challenges of peers and seniors, growing competitiveness, long and odd working hours, as well as fear of embarrassment, humiliation, rebuke, and failure are some of the other major factors that affect mental health badly.
- Increase socialization and people skills It is important to have positive and nurturing behaviour with our co-workers and seniors at the workplace. Reach out to people and seek help. Sharing your frustration and challenges with a trusted colleague helps in easing out. Socialization helps increase a happy chemical oxytocin in your body. This chemical oxytocin reduces when we suppress emotions. Hence having a ‘good cry’ helps increase oxytocin. It is also linked with networking, bonding and empathy. Also, speak-up for better workplace practices with your employer and suggest solutions for managing work.
- Increase exercise and physical activity. This is one area that is getting severely neglected especially in today’s world where we are all hard pressed for time and follow a sedentary work life. Many studies have shown that exercise and engaging in a physical activity like a sport increases happy hormones such as dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins, while decreasing stress hormone cortical. It also helps push more oxygen in the circulation system.
- Put those idiot boxes away: as a part and parcel of the technology boom comes the long hours of screen time which is proving a bane for mankind. We are hooked onto the screen most hours in a day. This exhausts the eyes as well as the brain. Though using technology is inevitable at the work place, one can minimize screen time after work hours. Spending time with the family, going for a walk, pursuing a sport activity or any other hobby or listening to music for that matter is a better idea.
- Get ample rest: Human body needs a minimum of 6-7 hours of sleep. Also, the more difficult your role is, the more your brain and body needs rest. It is estimated that around 60 to 80 percent of accidents on the job is due to stress-related distraction and sleepiness. Despite our hectic lifestyle, it is essential to rest the body and mind which helps one rejuvenate back into action. Meditation helps in easing the mind and is another resting tool.
- Counselling. Professional counselling via an organizational and occupational psychiatrist can play a big role in reducing workplace stress and anxiety and fostering healthy workplace environment. The discussions can help find solutions to work management challenges as well as help one counter individual problems which are affecting productivity or efficiency of the employees. Counselling helps in reducing short-term absence, improves workplace morale, helps the organization by aiding employee retention, helps understand and address the pain areas of the employees.
- Give psychological health and safety at work place enough priority: Psychological health and psychological safety needs to be given priority at the work place. Having a strong HR policy regarding the same is extremely important and need of the hour. This policy can ensure a healthy workplace environment and ensure zero tolerance towards gender, class, religion, or caste discrimination. It is the implementation of these policies that promote flexibility and work-life balance.
Taking care of the workplace anxiety is a team work and not a single person’s job. The workplace anxiety is seen to go down considerably when the management gets involved and takes this issue up seriously. In a country where an estimated 66 percent CEOs in India are stressed and 11 percent find the challenges at hand too much to handle, there is a definite need for a revamped and more focused mental health policy program at our workplaces.