Understanding and managing workplace stress

What Causes the Most Stress at Work? Top 5 Causes of Stress in the Workplace

Workplace stress can stem from a variety of sources, including environment, relationships with coworkers, workload, or the nature of the job itself. The level of stress an individual feels at work depends on both the workplace and their personal circumstances. 

Here are some of the top reasons for workplace stress:

1. Interpersonal issues: Conflicts with coworkers, clients, or supervisors—whether due to differing work styles, poor communication, or clashing personalities—can create significant tension. Dealing with these challenges daily can amplify stress and impact your overall well-being.
2. Work environment: Environmental factors, such as a long commute, poor lighting, a cramped office space, or uncomfortable temperatures, can contribute to workplace stress. Remote work may also be stressful if it’s not your desired work style or environment. Feelings of isolation and communication challenges within remote teams can further exacerbate stress.
3. The nature of the job: Certain careers are inherently more stressful than others. Jobs in nursing, firefighting, social work, teaching, and managerial positions, often come with high-pressure demands that can lead to elevated stress. These positions frequently involve complex responsibilities, tight deadlines, or emotional labor, making them more taxing than less demanding roles.
4. Job security and compensation: Worries about job security, inconsistent pay, or unfair compensation can significantly increase stress levels.  Financial uncertainty outside of work often compounds this stress, making it harder to focus and perform effectively.
5. Work/life balance: Jobs that require heavy physical demands, long hours, or a high-pressure work environment can disrupt work-life balance. When employees lack time to rest and recharge, they are at greater risk of burnout from chronic stress.

Stress at work can also be heightened by outside stress in one’s life, either by making it harder to focus and complete necessary tasks or agitating existing conflicts and reducing the emotional ability to deal with them.

At its best, work can bring people a sense of purpose, mastery, and fulfillment, aligning with your personal work style, goals, and values. Not all of these will line up at every job, but the more that are present, the more fulfilling and motivating your job is likely to be. Conversely, when these elements are lacking, the workplace can become a source of ongoing stress and exhaustion.

Signs of Workplace Stress

Common signs that someone could be experiencing workplace stress include:

• No longer caring about the job
• Not wanting to go to work
• Decreased quality of work
• Feeling less fulfilled/lacking a sense of purpose
• Noticeable changes in sleep or appetite 
• Changes in behavior at work (not engaging, lashing out, isolating, withdrawing)

High levels of work stress can be difficult to notice. The idea that work is inherently stressful is a common mindset—people tend to minimize the amount of stress they’re under, even pushing themselves to work harder to seem like a valuable employee. However, there is a difference between challenging oneself and pushing through feelings of burnout. Balancing work and home life is an important part of maintaining good mental health.

When Is Work Stress Too Much?

Simply put, when your stress becomes noticeable—and you notice it consistently—this can indicate that your job is too stressful and it may be time to renegotiate your work-life boundaries with yourself.

When your stress gets to a point where it’s constantly present, it can be hard to build your energy and resiliency back up, so be kind to yourself as you manage your stress. Stress can be very impactful, and when you’re suffering from its negative effects, you might experience a recovery period before reaching your normal levels of productivity again.

When assessing and managing stress levels, it’s important to understand what specifically is causing your stress. Once you figure out what the source of the stress is, you can then address it effectively. Think about ways to decrease your stress at work, and consider talking to your boss or another higher-up about what you need to be successful, happy, and fulfilled in your job long-term.

How to Manage Stress at Work

Effective strategies for managing stress at work will depend on your work environment and who you work for. Some common strategies include:

• Leveraging support: Find understanding by making connections with coworkers or talking to your management or HR teams about how you’re feeling and possible solutions, such as task prioritization, workload adjustments, and the potential of taking time off.
• Creating boundaries: When the stress at work becomes too much, it’s vital to form firm and final boundaries regarding what you’re willing and able to do. Wherever you can, give no more than what you are paid to do and refrain from volunteering time to extra projects and tasks outside of your job scope. You can also consider delegating tasks to others to free up your time for other priorities.
• Finding support from friends and family: Getting outside support from those around you can help ease stress. Talking things out, coming up with a plan to help, or just doing something enjoyable with others are all ways to decrease stress.
• Track and manage energy levels: Is there a certain point in your day where you feel completely drained of energy? Track your energy drops and spikes throughout the day so that you can better manage your tasks, energy, and productivity. 
• Meeting with a mental health professional: If you are really struggling to find joy and purpose in work, consider seeing someone professionally. They can provide an outside perspective, give you effective coping tools, and help you explore what your relationship with work is and has been.
• Consider a more radical change: You may need to take bigger steps toward happiness if other strategies don’t work, such as a job or career change. Consider finding a new position at a company whose culture more closely aligns with your goals.

However you decide to manage your stress, it’s important to avoid shaming yourself for your productivity. Struggling to manage everything on your plate or feeling weighed down by stress doesn’t mean you’re not good at your job, or that you’re failing—sometimes, extra support and care are needed to help you succeed.

How to Create a Stress-Resilient Work Environment

Just as important as managing work stress is cultivating a stress-resilient work environment, or one that makes it easier to manage and bounce back from feeling stressed. Some simple ways to do create a stress-resilient work environment are:

• Make sure your work environment works for you. Get everything you need to do your job effectively, and organize it to make you feel as good as possible.
• Meet your basic needs outside of work. This includes getting enough sleep, eating well and regularly, and taking time for self-care activities. When things feel too overwhelming, consider recharging by taking time off work if you can.
• Have clear and firm boundaries: Aside from your workload, make sure to take a real lunch break and that any overtime is accounted for another day.
• Make friends: Connections at work can make coming to work much more enjoyable. Try to make at least one friend at work.
• If you have a project you are procrastinating on, ask for help. Help between teams goes both ways—if you are overwhelmed, see if another person has the capacity to take one of your tasks on.
• Divide environments: Ensure there’s a division between work and home. This is especially important for those working from home, but people who work in the office can benefit from this too—try not to bring work home with you and focus on being present. When you’re not working, do fun things that you enjoy to further separate work and home life.

At the end of the day, you are not your job. Even if you love your job, it’s healthy to have some separation from work and maintain a balanced home life. Jobs can be stressful, but they should also be fulfilling, or at least have manageable amounts of stress and still pay for the rest of your life. If your job is not giving you what you’re putting into it, these tools can help you manage the pressure you’re under and help make things more bearable.