It's always something, isn't it? You hoped the level of stress among your workers would diminish after the holidays. Then there were the anxiety-producing news reports about the economy. The super cold snaps. The flu outbreak in your community. Fears of downsizing. Concerns about enraged employees. Will it ever end?

Maybe not, but there's plenty you can do to help yourself, and your employees, learn about stress and fight against its negative effects.

Your employees face a stress double whammy. They suffer from on-the-job causes as well as those that come from home, like family, financial, legal or substance abuse problems. Too much stress is bad for business, bad for workers' health and bad for productivity.

It can cause employee burnout, diminished health and poor performance on the job. Some experts link stress to increases in ergonomic-related ailments. 

Fight or flight?
Stress is the body's nonspecific response to demands. Like our ancestors, we have the choice to run from a problem or decide to fight. But in modern times, sometimes neither choice is possible.

In those cases, the result can be distress -- the same feeling experienced by workers who report symptoms ranging from depression to back pain, stomach ailments, insomnia and heartburn.

If your workers have access to an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), you're already taking a step many experts consider among the most important in helping employees understand and manage stress. Employers are also looking at their own management styles and the degree of decision-making afforded to employees.

Health risk screenings, stress reduction workshops and on-site exercise opportunities are other beneficial strategies.

Organizational psychologist Dr. Stacey Kohler Moran favors conducting an employee survey to determine what the stress-related problems are and who needs help.

She suggests the following steps:
1. Define your purpose. A clearly defined objective will determine the type of survey needed and helps keeps efforts goal-directed.
2. Establish trust. Employees must feel safe about disclosing information and must be assured that management will protect their confidentiality.
3. Be committed. Let employees know in advance how survey results will be used. Give the process the attention it deserves, and follow up with action. 

You may wish to share the following list of stress reduction methods with your employees. It might make a good bulletin board posting or safety and health newsletter item.

A number of the tips have applicability both at home and at work. They include:
• Get organized. Put things where they belong so you won't get panicked looking for them.
• Live in the now. Try to take one day at a time and focus on what needs to be done at the moment. If your body is in the present, but your mind is in the past or future, the result can be hazardous.
• Help others. Looking outside yourself to others and their problems tends to diminish your own concerns.
• Laugh. Finding humor in a problem means you're on the road to solving it, the experts say.
• Let others "do their own thing." Realize at home and at work that not everyone will see things your way. If you see someone doing something seriously wrong, unsafe or unwise, help rather than condemn.
• Monitor the inner dialogue that goes on in your head. If your mind runs away with you and you begin to feel panicky or anxious, stop yourself and substitute more positive thoughts.
• Change your vocabulary. Instead of calling something a “problem,” consider it an “opportunity.” Create challenges out of hassles.
• Practice responding calmly. When a potentially stressful situation comes up, you have a choice to respond in a stressful or a calm manner. Try to stay in control of your responses.
• Treat yourself right. Eat well, exercise, get enough sleep, and carve out even a little bit of time each day for yourself and your interests. 

Stress management checklist
What causes stress for you?
• Routine hassles: long lines in stores, heavy traffic, telephone busy signals.
• Personal problems with family members, illnesses, financial difficulties.
• Job problems: new job or boss or procedures, deadlines or other pressures, layoffs.
• Major life changes, even positive ones: marriage, divorce, new baby, death of a loved one, new house, new job.
• Overload from personal, job, financial, and other problems coming all at once. 

Tactics to combat stress:
• Prepare for stress situations; try to be more calm and patient.
• Try to avoid small annoyances.
• Avoid planning several major lifestyle changes at once.
• Maintain a sense of humor.
• Take time to relax and unwind.
• Talk about your problems and worries with a family member, friend or professional counselor.
• Exercise to reduce muscle tension and improve your body's ability to combat stress.
• Eat a nutritious diet; cut back on alcohol, sugar and caffeine.
• Get enough sleep.
• Plan and set priorities. Get organized. Planning and setting priorities can help you feel less overwhelmed by your life.
• Work with, not against others.
• Think positively.
• Learn and practice relaxation exercises.
• Sit quietly and spend several minutes concentrating on a mental image of a pretty or favorite place or an enjoyable experience, something that makes you feel good.
• Deep breathing. Place hand on stomach. Take a deep breath in, feeling your stomach go out. Hold for a few seconds. Breathe out slowly through your mouth, feeling stomach go in. Repeat for a few minutes.
• Relax back. Lean forward and down in chair. Let head and neck hang down.
• Relax neck. Turn head slowly in circle, first in one direction, then the other. Keep shoulders still.
• Relax shoulders and arms. Stand with hands over head, palms facing up and fingers locked.
• Relax upper body. Stand with feet apart. Stretch one arm over head and reach to side, then do the same with other arm.

Talk with a mental health professional if you are unable to control stress yourself.

TrainingOnline is a full-service learning content provider that specializes in Web-based training courses for the environmental, health, safety and human resources markets. Visit its Web site at www.trainingonline.com. 

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