Last week, November 12 to 15, was work stress week. During this week extra attention is paid to work stress. This year the focus is on preventing work stress and increasing job satisfaction. In this blog we discuss work stress and provide tips for greater job satisfaction.

How common is work stress?

Stress in the workplace is the most common occupational disease. More than a million people are at risk of burnout or other work-related mental illness every year. Figures from ArboNed, a national occupational health and safety service, show that the number of employees who are at home for long periods of time due to psychological complaints is increasing. 34 percent of long-term sick people are now at home due to psychological complaints, while two years ago this was “only” 30 percent. Prolonged illness is a period longer than six weeks. Not only are more employees sick at home due to psychological complaints, they also take longer to return to work. In 2016, the average psychological absence lasted almost 5,5 months (167 days), but now a burnout lasts an average of more than 7 months (220 days).

To what extent do you experience work stress?

How is your work stress? How much work stress do you experience? It is important that you discuss work stress. If this is discussed earlier in the workplace, you can prevent work stress. For example, does an employee have lower productivity? Or are you more irritated than normal? Is an employee sick more often? These are some signs that work stress may be present. Do you want to prevent work stress? Then read on for some tips:

Give appreciation

Show appreciation for the work your employees do. For example, give a compliment or thank them for doing a certain task. People get energy from this and feel appreciated. Participation in decisions also plays an important role in the extent to which employees feel valued.

Offer flexibility

Give your employees the opportunity to work with flexible working hours (if this is possible). By offering flexible working hours, employees can better combine their job with their private lives and thus cope better with the workload. Flexibility in how employees approach their work also plays an important role in preventing work stress.

Look for a solution together

If you or an employee experiences stress, it is important to consider the cause. What causes the stress? What were the activities when things were still going well? What gives you energy? And what exactly is an energy guzzler? Talk to someone within your company about this to find out these answers. It is important that you look for a solution together. Because by looking for a solution together, you notice that you are not alone. And together you are stronger than alone and you come up with better solutions.

Coaching

Do you want to break certain patterns that lead to work stress? But are you unable to break these patterns? Of coaching we hold a mirror up to you and help you reduce work stress. Together we will look at how we can increase your job satisfaction.