According to NHS, an estimated 10 million days are lost each year as a result of work related stress, depression and anxiety. This is despite businesses spending enormous amount of money on employee health care. Many small business owners feel like there is no end in sight to this vicious cycle of rising healthcare cost for their businesses, increasing stress for their employees and reducing productivity and profit resulting from both.
While the situation may appear dire at times, there are some simple and effective ways by which businesses can help their employees reduce daily stress, and in turn reduce their health care cost and improve business productivity. The key is to take these steps before the situation warrants immediate attention and make them part of your and employees’ daily routine. Below we provide some tips to do just that.
Small Breaks
Research has shown that taking small (5-10 minutes) breaks from work at regular intervals can relieve stress and improve effectiveness of your work. The breaks can be in the form of a walk around the building, a small chat with fellow employees or just having a quiet time for you. No matter, how you do it these breaks can result in improved productivity and employee morale.
Water Cooler Moments
Water cooler sometimes receives bad reputation due to its connection to office politics and gossip. However, it does serve another serious purpose implied by its name. By keeping employees hydrated throughout the day water cooler can improve concentration level and keep them healthy. Going to the water cooler allows you to take a small break, which, as already mentioned, is necessary to reduce the stress level.
Management Chat Sessions
On a given day an average employee spends more time with his manager and fellow employees than with his family, if you take out the time spent in sleeping and other chores. If the office environment is stressful with tension between management and employees and employees feeling like their voice is not being heard, it can have significant impact on the employee productivity and business results. The solution is to schedule regular management catch-up sessions lasting 10-15 minutes where employees can raise any issues bothering them.
Exercise
It may seem counterintuitive, but exercise can make you feel less tired and more rejuvenated, resulting in less stress at the end. Short bursts of even moderate exercise can help reset your mind and build up energy level throughout the day. You don’t need to take an hour-long exercise break to get these results. Taking a small break to do simple stretches can do the trick.
Fun Environment
There is a reason Google and other start-ups place so much emphasis on having office with ping-pong table, slides and other seemingly silly items. These items help create an office environment that doesn’t feel like “office.” When you are having so much fun at the office with your colleagues how can you feel stressed out? Taking a short break for a game of ping-pong with a colleague can not only relieve stress, but help improve office camaraderie and work collaboration leading to higher output.
Keeping your staff stress-free is a great way to keep your employees healthy and improve business productivity. These simple, yet effective techniques can help reduce stress and diffuse tension in the office. After all, happy employees lead to better business.
Nathan Harper has extensive experience as a HR manager. He now consults and enjoys sharing his knowledge through blogging, he recommends you to check out his writings on Health Assured.
I agree. Small breaks are to be given to employees. In my country, giving regular short breaks is already in our labor law. It is useful to make workers stress-free and continuously productive.
Entreb – It’s interesting that there are laws regarding breaks. Could you share additional details. Which country are you talking about? How long are the breaks and after how many hours of work?
I’m from the Philippines. Aside from a lunch break, rest periods or coffee breaks running from five (5) to twenty (20) minutes which are considered as compensable working time, are mandated by our labor code here in our country. I’m not just sure if all employers here are aware of that and are obeying this law. 🙂
Nathan, thanks for this nice piece. I actually traced you down here from Bizsugar. The health of the employee should be treated with all seriousness it deserves. Every business that wishes to do well and make more profit must consider how the employees’ welfare are handled.
Yes, stress is counter-productive, and the time spent off the job as a result of stress directly or indirectly impacts on the finance of the company. If an employee falls sick or goes off the job for sometime due to stress, the company runs at a loss.
All the points you have mentioned are nice ways to relieve stress. I should also say that playing computer games like scrabble, card games, puzzles, etc could help out.
Besides, taking a nap for about 20 to 30 minutes could help to relax the brain and bring about some level of freshness. This in turn helps to relieve stress and improve productivity.