If HR teams are to stay on top, or even better, ahead, of workplace stress, then they must become more adept at opening or facilitating conversations between their teams. Rachael forsberg offers six tips to help you get started.
You’ll understand how damaging it can be for your wellbeing and your work if you’ve ever worked in a high-stress team environment. The rise in workplace stress means that more people than ever will have experienced this feeling.
According to the Health and Safety Executive’s latest annual report, stress, anxiety, and depression account for almost half of all cases of work-related illness.
Nearly half of the cases were also new, which shows a dramatic rise in stress at work.
Even in small amounts, stress is bad for us. We all think that a small amount of pressure will help us meet our targets and meet deadlines, but this can quickly snowball into overwhelming situations.
Stress affects the brain’s focus, ability to make decisions, and creativity. It is also linked to burnout, absenceeeism, and presenteeism.
Human Resources teams must act now to meet the growing expectations of society and regulators. Otherwise, they will face a high level of turnover, as well as reputational issues and even legal consequences.
Workshops and group meetings
Stress affects the brain’s ability for focus, to make good decisions, and to work creatively. It is also linked to burnout and absenteeism.
It is important to have a discussion amongst the different teams in a workplace. This can be done through a workshop or group meeting to identify each team’s unique stressors and to work together to find ways to combat them.
The earlier you have the conversation, the less entrenched people’s views are. Also, if the difficult conversation is handled well, it will encourage repeated action and build trust.
Unfortunately, many organizations struggle to have this conversation. Senior leadership teams often don’t give mental health the attention it deserves, as they view it more as an issue of individuals than a systemic problem.
Managers may not know how to handle these conversations because they are a part of a culture where psychological safety isn’t consciously and carefully incorporated.
Six easy steps
Here are six easy steps you can take to ensure that these conversations between different teams go well:
1. To build trust, it is important to establish safety and trust. It is about creating an environment in which your employees can express their vulnerabilities, voice concerns and confess challenges without feeling judged or facing professional consequences. Leaders set the tone, and a lot of it comes from them. HR must first get the employees on board.
Leaders must demonstrate genuine curiosity, active listening and empathy. Normalising conversations about stress, mental illness, and professional challenges. Transparent communication, sharing of challenges and regular opportunities for meaningful dialogue.
2. Prepare your team for sensitive discussions by letting them know in advance. Send a clear message outlining the topic, duration and any preparations you would like your team to make.
You can prepare everyone by providing them with guiding questions and a loose schedule in advance.
It can help reduce anxiety and show respect for the person’s emotional and professional experiences. You can prepare everyone mentally and emotionally by providing them with a loose schedule or guiding questions in advance.
3. Establish ground rules for your workshop or meeting. Make sure that everyone has an opportunity to participate. It may be necessary to use techniques such as round-robin sharing, or structured facilitation methods in order to prevent dominant personalities from overshadowing the quieter members of your team.
Consider using tools like time limits for speaking and guidelines on respectful dialogue. These frameworks instill a feeling of safety by demonstrating the value of every perspective.
4. To ensure everyone is involved, complement direct conversations with diverse feedback mechanisms. You could use anonymous surveys, digital platforms for feedback, or suggestion boxes.
5. You may need to seek support. These conversations require specialized expertise from teams that are trained in emotional safety, workplace dynamics, and psychological intelligence. If your HR team is unable to handle this, consider working with an expert third party team.
6. Focus your attention on accountability and action. Build a tangible organisational transformation to show that stress management is a company commitment.
Establish clear action plans that have measurable results after collecting feedback and insights at your workshop or meeting. Regular follow-up sessions are needed to review and evaluate the effectiveness of changes implemented.
Stress Awareness Month has passed. Stress Awareness Month in April has now passed.
The HR team must take the lead and initiate these conversations. Then, perhaps we can start to reverse the trend of increasing stress in the workplace.
Subscribe to our weekly HR news and guidance
Every Wednesday, receive the Personnel Today Direct newsletter.
Personnel Today has the latest HR job openings.
Browse Human Resources Jobs
