ADDRESSING THE “STRESS FACTOR” CAN
IMPROVE EMPLOYEE TOTAL HEALTH AND
PERFORMANCE, AND PREVENT BURNOUT
Stress has become a major health concern within Canadian work-places.
In recent years, rates of stress have increased and, as a
result, are affecting employees’ physical and mental health, engage-ment
and productivity. In a new white paper, Morneau Shepell
found that how employees react to stress is more important than
the stress itself.
The stress factor and its impact on employees’ mental and physical
health, by Dr. Bill Howatt, chief research and development officer,
Workforce Productivity with Morneau Shepell, provides insight
into understanding the “stress factor,” or the overall negative im-pact
that stress, when left alone, can have on employees’ mental
and physical wellbeing. Howatt explains how a better understand-ing
of the “stress factor” and more thoughtful reactions to stress
would help employees and employers lift the burden of stress and
prevent burnout.
BREAKING DOWN THE “STRESS FACTOR”
Understanding the “stress factor” and encouraging healthier reac-tions
to stress is top of mind for most of the country’s population.
In fact, the Your Life at Work study, conducted by Morneau Shepell
and The Globe and Mail, found that 60 per cent of Canadians go to
work daily feeling some form of stress. In this white paper, Howatt
highlighted how the origins of physical, emotional and mental ex-haustion
– known as “burnout” – is traced back to employees not
having the positive habits and coping mechanisms to break the cy-cle
of stress.
Howatt says that how a person responds to stress is largely
shaped by their environment. He separated employee reactions to
stress into two categories: mindful response and autopilot.
Mindful responses to stress allow employees to take control of
their behaviour, thinking and emotions, and focus on what they
can control as a result of both positive and negative stimuli. These
employees are able to better react to and cope with positive or neg-ative
news. In contrast, those on autopilot – those who feel they
have no control and take no responsibility for their behaviour
– are more at risk of allowing their environment to shape their
reactions, and in turn, activate the “fight or flight” response. This
encourages passive reactions that cloud coping skills and put em-ployees
at a greater risk of burnout.
“Stress itself is not something that is good or bad – it is merely
a demand on physical or mental energy,” said Howatt. “It’s impor-tant
that we shift our thinking to better understand the many ways
in which an individual can use stress positively, simply by changing
their perspective. Ensuring that employees are taking a thought-ful
approach to stress, and focusing on what they can control, can
have positive effects on mental and physical health, resulting in in-creased
engagement and productivity.”
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INVESTING IN COPING MECHANISMS TO
BUILD A HEALTHY WORKPLACE
According to the white paper, no two employees evaluate or re-act
to stressors in the same way. Recognizing the differences when
identifying and addressing these stressors is important for both
employees and employers in order to establish mindful reactions
and prevent burnout.
“It is not the amount of stress that employees endure that de-termines
their stress level, it is how they are able to cope,” said
Howatt. “Reacting to stress occurs in three stages: the alarm
phase, the resistance phase and the exhaustion phase. The resis-tance
phase can often be the most dangerous, because it is during
this period that bodies prepare themselves physiologically to adapt
to stressors. The more time employees spend in this phase, the
more at risk they are to develop stress-related illnesses, ultimate-ly
leading to exhaustion. The better we understand how we react
to and adapt to stress, the more likely they will be able to cope in
a healthy manner.”
Employees and employers play a role in changing the way orga-nizations
understand and deal with employee stress. To maintain
a positive, healthy work environment, employees should identify
their current reactions to stress and evaluate whether they can be
improved, take ownership over how stress is handled and take the
appropriate steps to maintain mental and physical health.
For employers, it is essential that they take steps to understand
the concepts and signs of stress to better help their employees’
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