The Big Three: Work Stressors Plaguing Our Offices

Read Time: 7 mins

Overview

When we broke our questionnaire into three buckets, we found that Workplace culture, workload, And feelings of Imposter Syndrome were mentioned the most. These are the big three workplace stressors, and we will be looking at how to approach each. Before we dive in, here’s an overview:

THE BIG THREE

1. Workplace Culture (30.43%)

2. Work Load (30.43%)

3. Feelings of Imposter Syndrome(39.14%)

(previous percentages based on a questionnaire administered by Leland Thompson Coaching 2020-2021)

QUICK STATS

According to our research,

• 67% of our clients faced workplace stress

• The average stress level is 6.194 out of 10

According to a Gallup Poll “State of the Global Workplace “ report

Employees were asked, “Did you experience the following feelings during A LOT OF THE DAY?”

• 57% of employees in the U.S. and Canada suffer from stress daily. 

• 48% of employees in the U.S and Canada suffer from worrying daily

Workplace Stress Statistics

Stress in the workplace is an unavoidable product of any work environment. The stress level, the reactions to stress, and the solutions for stress are all things we can manage and help ourselves and others overcome. 

In this section, we will be looking at two different studies. The first is our questionnaire sent out to clients and prospecting clients to help with the coaching process. Leland Thompson has administered this questionnaire for the past ten years, but for this, we will be looking at questionnaires received from 2020-2021.

The third study is Gallups 2021 “State of the Global Workplace Statistics,” a great resource to understand the current state of the workplace. It highlights many issues we face and breaks them down based on a few demographics. 

We found that within our community and clients, 67% of them are facing the big three workplace stressors.

To give you a good sense of scale, if a company has 150 employees, 100.5 employees are actively stressed by either workload, workplace culture, or feelings of imposter syndrome.

When asked what stress level is facing, we found an average stress level of 6.194 out of 10. 

Gallup

Gallup’s 2021 “State of the Global Workplace” survey found that 57% of employees in the U.S. and Canada experienced Stress Daily. 

85.5 out of 150 employees would be facing some form of daily stress. 

That does not include the 48% who suffer from daily worry.

What Causes Workplace Stress

When we had a look at our data, we saw that there were many causes for workplace stress, but the root of each was in one of the big three buckets. Here is a list of some of the individual workplace stressors we found.

1. Politics

2. Deadlines

3. Meetings

4. Multiple Large Projects

5. Knowledge Gaps

6. Keeping up with High Performing team

7. Fear of failing/making a mistake

Often, these stressors are entirely out of our control. We are not in a position to control politics, we cannot hire someone tomorrow, and we have to make that deadline. We can manage this stress and take the worry out of our work life, but first, we have to notice the signs.

7 Signs of Stress within the Workplace

Here are seven signs of stress to look out for when you are in the workplace. This list can help identify stress within yourself and others. When the following becomes a pattern, we must address them adequately. 

• Negative Performace Change

• Headaches

• Low Energy

• Increased frequency of sickness

• Anxiety

• Diminished Engagement

• High Irritability

To address these, we must reflect on the initial trigger, actions, reactions, and other triggers derived from our actions and others’ reactions (T.A.R.Ts). T.A.R.Ts focus on taking a look at the actions and reactions to identify all triggers in the process.

Trigger - Initial Trigger

Actions - How we react

Reactions - How others react

Triggers - What triggered those actions and reactions When we solely focus on the triggers, we miss the chance to reflect on how we manage ourselves in these situations. We cannot address the triggers without first addressing our actions towards them. 

How to Manage Workplace Stress

Workplace Culture

1. Politics

2. Lack of support

3. Aggressive environment

Tackling workplace culture can be very tricky. It is hard to change workplace politics or an aggressive environment by yourself unless you are in middle or upper management. The best way to tackle politics and an aggressive environment is to face the second item, lack of support. When we build support systems, it becomes easier to promote change and have someone to help face the aggressive environment. You are not the only one feeling the way you are, and we have the research to prove it. Begin making connections with those around you, and build trust over time. See if your company has any groups. Connecting with someone in another area can help bring insight or ignite change.

Work Load 

1. Deadlines

2. Frequent Meetings

3. Multiple Large Projects

Deadlines, meetings, and multiple large projects are sometimes unavoidable, but we can do things to help remedy them. Our research finds that people often have trouble turning down a new project or sitting out of meetings that do not require their presence. They feel they will not be a high-performing team member when they do so, even though they have more than enough on their plate currently. 

 So how do we manage this form of stress in the workplace? If you are in a position to do so, delegate your work. Be sure you are not putting too much work on someone else, causing them stress. If you cannot delegate, asking for help on a project from a peer can help alleviate some of that stress. Another tip would be to finish your current projects. While doing so, avoid adding any big projects to your current workload. This will help you reach your current deadlines without the pressure of carrying multiple large projects. 

Frequent meetings can be handled in multiple ways. First, identify if the meetings are required for your department/role. Second, get the thoughts of others within those meetings on the frequency. If they feel the same, then you have the leverage to go to management and too hopefully, see the change made.  

Feelings of Imposter Syndrome

1. Knowledge Gaps

2. Keeping up with High Performing team

3. Fear of failing/making a mistake

Facing knowledge gaps often happens when starting with a new company or switching to a new functional area within your current company. These knowledge gaps usually are language, internal processes/function, and time spent in the role. These can easily trigger your imposter syndrome. If your moving from education to tech, there is a series of new terms to learn, the processes for the same function might be different, and there will be people who have been in the same role as you for longer. All of these come with time. We will not understand all of the terms of a particular industry our first week there. It will take time to identify each step of internal functions, and when there is someone that’s been there longer, it does not mean you are less qualified than they are. 

Keeping up with a high-performing team can seem like a daunting task, but you are most likely doing it and better than you think. When we compare ourselves to others, we usually only get one or two perspectives, our own and, on occasion, the perspective of the larger group. That person you are looking to “keep up with” could be looking right back at you in the same fashion. When we feel like we are keeping up with a high-performing team, we tend to overwork and go above and beyond until we burn out. Once we face burnout, we feel like failures who cannot keep up with the set pace. Not realizing we often turned that set pace up and held that pace for months. Our research found that the people who felt they struggled to keep up with High-performing teams were high performers themselves.  

Fear of failure and making mistakes is common but can stifle growth. When we do not share an idea that we feel has a slight chance of failure, we take away from the group. Your idea could be what sparks the following significant change. Even if only a piece of it was used, it made the larger conversation valuable. Making mistakes comes with life, and we must make mistakes to learn and grow. When we avoid making mistakes, we avoid taking risks and trying something new. Break these negative habits and patterns. If you want to learn more about facing imposter syndrome, click this link.

3 Ways Workplace Stress Affects a company

Workplace stress can affect employees in many ways, and these can vary by industry. Today we will look at three common effects stress can have on a company itself, increased absences, job dissatisfaction, and loss in revenue.

INCREASED ABSENCES 

Employees taking time off due to health issues, lack of energy, and anxiety about coming into work can greatly affect companies with high employee stress.

JOB DISSATISFACTION 

Employee engagement can lower when issues about stress are ignored or incorrectly addressed. This leads to companies having high employee turnover and looking less desirable to future employees.

LOSS IN REVENUE 

The combination of increased absences and job dissatisfaction can lead to a loss in revenue. When employee engagement decreases, the number of high-performing employees a company has begins to fall as more work gets put on high performers, their stress increases, only contributing to a negative cycle.

3 Solutions for Stress in the Workplace

1. Survey

   • Giving a company-wide survey to assess the level of stress and causes of stress among employees is a great data point to have. Once you acquire this information, you can develop ways to address each item and make employees feel heard.

2. Assess workload and employee capacity

   • If workload and deadlines are a prevalent form of stress, it would be good to assess each employee’s capacity to complete tasks.

3. Mental Health Days

   • Promoting employees to take mental health days can effectively reduce employee stress and dissatisfaction.

Tackling the big three work stressors plaguing our offices is a necessary task for both individuals and companies. If we do not face the underlying causes of our stress, we will struggle to find a position that does not cause high levels of stress or build a company with high-performing teams that can produce year-round. This will be a lengthy process, but it must be done. Take the time to do the work and adequately set new habits, processes, and systems to manage and reduce stress for yourself, your team, or your company.