Health/Wellness
Counsellors offer strategies to deal with strains of downsizing, new technology, shift workGiving stress a restBattling workplace stress and depression is all about maintaining control, advises Roberta Neault, president of Life Strategies Ltd. in Coquitlam, B.C. TIMOTHY LE RICHE |
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 [ 2007-01-13 ] |
It's no wonder that employees are feeling pressured in today's corporate environment, said Neault, a counsellor and a career management specialist.
"We've created a recipe for increased stress and depression in the workplace just through the series of events that happened: lots of change; increased responsibility; less clear job descriptions and boundaries. All those together fuel stress and burnout.
"That describes what's happened in the workplace in the last 10 to 15 years. We went through restructuring, downsizing, adding new technology."
One of the biggest contributors to stress is the failure of management to properly match skills and resources to challenges, said Neault.
And certainly shift workers have an added burden, she said.
"Often a shift worker has put in a full day of other activities before they report to work.
"They don't establish the same routine as somebody who goes to work nine-to-five every day."
Neault encourages employers to look at workplace factors that could be contributing to stress. In some cases, the answer is as simple as getting people outside for a little while, just to get some fresh air or activity.
"Sometimes that's a hard thing to get a depressed person to do," she said.
Ann Frost, a professor at the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, said employers can help stressed-out workers by making work schedules more flexible.
Frost said flexible start times or 12-hour shifts followed by more full days off could help workers cope with their family duties.
Giving staff more personal and family leave days could also help them manage their lives and avoid a crisis, said Frost.
Some strategies in point form:
- Match skills/resources to challenges.
- Resolve conflict: team building, supportive supervision.
- Set boundaries and realistic goals.
- One change at a time: don't dump it all down all at once.
- Improve training.
- Flexible work schedules.
- Sleep: seven to eight hours each day.
- Get outside: breathe; suntan; exercise.
"If changes can't be addressed in the workplace, in terms of bringing on extra resources or recognizing that the tasks on somebody's plate are just truly not doable, then it may be that the person needs to look for another job," said Neault.
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