5 Tips to Help Your Employees Beat Office Stress

Increasing stress levels amongst workers, especially Millennials who are in the earlier stages of their careers, should be a cause for concern amongst employers. According to the American Psychological Association, a total of 76 percent of American Millennials report work as a significant stressor. This is compared to 62 percent for Baby Boomers. We've put together five tips for helping your employees minimize stress levels while maximizing productivity.

1. Focus on your organizational culture. Clearly, and repeatedly articulate your culture and values.   Facebook, for example, has posters hanging throughout their offices with messages such as “Done is Better Than Perfect.”

2.  Set clear expectations on when you expect your employees to be reachable.  Senior leaders can alienate their staff by sending emails at 5 a.m.  Set expectations and adhere to them yourself.

3. Encourage fun, this downtime is often when the magic happens.  When employees are able to connect with each other on different levels, through a friendly game of Candy Crush or a beer after work, team productivity and congeniality also increases.

4. Offer flex time.  Younger generations, such as the Millennials, are more apt to work less during the day (arriving later and leaving earlier), and are more receptive to working after leaving the office. Offering a flexible work schedule, which appeals to workers of all ages, will increase morale while also increasing productivity.

5.  Offer health and wellness initiatives.  Focusing on employee wellness, by offering perks such as yoga classes held at the office after work, gives employees an outlet for built up stress.  Google is a great example, they provide employees with three wellness centers, basketball courts and even horseshoe pits.

While technology offers many benefits, such as giving us the ability to complete tasks more quickly and professionally, it has also produced expectations from employers that are becoming more and more difficult to keep up with.  It is clear that stress in the work place has increased, and is an issue that employers need to address.  If you are interested in learning more about increasing productivity in the work place, visit our website at www.inwardconsulting.com.