June 2010

Managing Stress in a “Do More with Less” Economy

Recent research, although on the surface unrelated, with a closer look waves a red flag about the level of stress American workers are struggling to manage.

• A recent survey by Right Management, a branch of Manpower, found that just over three-quarters of employees said that their workloads increased as a result of layoffs at their company. 57% of surveyed employees believe their workloads have grown “a lot.”
• A survey of human resources executives by the Human Capital Institute found that only 14% of respondents see their mid-level managers as fully engaged; 46% of respondents think their mid-levels are either noticeably or substantially less engaged than before the Great Recession began; and 75% of respondents are concerned or very concerned about retaining high performing mid-levels.
• According to researchers at Brandeis University and Catalyst, by not adapting to the needs of working parents, U.S. employers might be losing as much as $300 billion a year in lost productivity. In their survey of 1,755 working parents nationwide, one in 20 said they were severely impacted by concerns about after-school childcare. The level of stress they feel at work can manifest itself in everything from minor workplace disruptions to lower job satisfaction, and can be toxic to employee attitudes, work performance, and well-being.
• According to a report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research The United States is the only advanced economy in the world that does not guarantee its workers any paid vacation time. As a result, 1 in 4 private-sector workers in the U.S. do not receive any paid vacation or paid holidays. In companies that do offer paid time off, the average American has just nine days of vacation a year. And another survey shows only 10% take a full two weeks off.

If workloads are consistently increasing, engagement and productivity are decreasing, and workers are taking little or no time off, it seems likely that a stress bubble is building in corporate America. Before it bursts, business leaders need to observe how the rampant “do more with less” culture is affecting their employees—and, in turn, the bottom line. Employees themselves, especially mid-level managers who are pulled in two directions between their bosses and staff, need to take a proactive approach to setting boundaries, building stronger teams, and managing their own stress. Perhaps a shift in philosophy to “do better with less” is in order.

Put it into Practice:

If your corporate culture isn’t supporting your efforts to manage stress, you need to be proactive by taking yourself on a mini-vacation. You may be familiar with the term “the relaxation response.” This concept was developed decades ago by Herbert Benson, M.D., from Harvard Medical School. He found that people can continue to perform well under some stress; however, beyond a certain threshold, productivity plummets.

Purely speaking, before you reach these thresholds, Dr. Benson recommends a prescribed 10-20 minutes of deep breathing and relaxation to rejuvenate your attitude and performance. His research also showed that other options may be just as beneficial.

Here’s how it works: if you are experiencing a great deal of stress and need to get relief, perform an activity that removes you physically and mentally from the source of that stress. A half-hour walk may be a good choice, as long as you’re not ruminating over your stressors during the walk! The results are most significant when practiced regularly.

Perform at Your Peak:

Learn to better manage your stress—along with all of your other responsibilities—and gain support from peers in other Baltimore-area organizations. Join the inaugural class of the Mid-Level Alliance. By enrolling, you’ll help ensure that that your organization is developing you into a engaged leader who has the fine-tuned skills necessary to drive visionary strategy, as well as maximize daily performance.

Ovations Inc. is a firm that offers corporate communications consulting, training and team-building programs. Contact us to find out how we can help take your organization to the top.

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