5 Ways a Manager Can Support a Stressed Employee

Workplace stress is an ever-present beast which doesn’t seem to want to go away. No matter how organised you are, there are always going to be times when you feel a little overwhelmed, when a conflict arises, or when your workload just seems a little too much.

Most of the time, stress can be overcome naturally but there may be situations when chronic stress creeps in and causes problems. As a manager, you need to be sensitive to the issue of workplace stress and you need to know how you can support your employees should they come to you feeling stressed.  

There is still an unfortunate stigma attached to stress and as a result, many employees try and push through it and make things worse, rather than speak out and get help. A quality manager makes it very clear that if anyone is struggling, they should knock on the door and have a chat, without judgement. 

Day in day out, there is a lot of stress to be had at an office desk and if you want to be the best manager you can be, you need to help your employees. Here are five ways you can do just that.

1. Always be available – Whilst you don’t have to drop everything the second someone knocks at your door, you do need to be available as much as you can. That means having an open door policy and letting your employees know that you’re approachable. 
2. Listen properly – There is a real difference been active listening and just allowing words to float into your brain. Really tune in to what your employee is telling you and look at their body language to understand more. By doing so, you’ll find ways to help them and they’ll feel reassured that you’re really listening and paying attention to them. Sometimes that’s all it takes for someone to feel better.
3. Put yourself in their position – A good manager has empathy and that means putting yourself in the position of your employee and appreciating how they feel. By doing so, you’ll be able to understand far better. 
4. Offer counselling if necessary – Some businesses offer confidential counselling services to employees who are struggling with issues that are either not work-related or which are causing a problem with work. If your business can offer this, talk to your employee about it and see how they feel. 
5. Make necessary adjustments to their workload – If they’re overloaded, try and take some work away from them and delegate it, until they feel more in control. You can also help give them some guidance on time management methods which may help them. 

Workplace stress is not something to be ignored and whilst it’s a good idea to encourage employees to help one another, there may be times when a more personalised approach is better.