What are the common causes of excessive workplace stress? How you will manage it by taking care of yourself?

Certain factors tend to go hand-in-hand with work-related stress. Some common workplace stressors are:

·         Low salaries

·         Excessive workloads

·         Few opportunities for growth or advancement

·         Work that isn't engaging or challenging

·         Lack of social support

·         Not having enough control over job-related decisions

·         Conflicting demands or unclear performance expectations

The countermeasures to cope stress as follow:

·         Track your stressors. Keep a journal for a week or two to identify which situations create the most stress and how you respond to them. Record your thoughts, feelings and information about the environment, including the people and circumstances involved, the physical setting and how you reacted. Did you raise your voice? Get a snack from the vending machine? Go for a walk? Taking notes can help you find patterns among your stressors and your reactions to them.

·         Develop healthy responses. Instead of attempting to fight stress with fast food or alcohol, do your best to make healthy choices when you feel the tension rise. Exercise is a great stress-buster. Yoga can be an excellent choice, but any form of physical activity is beneficial. Also make time for hobbies and favorite activities. Whether it's reading a novel, going to concerts or playing games with your family, make sure to set aside time for the things that bring you pleasure. Getting enough good-quality sleep is also important for effective stress management. Build healthy sleep habits by limiting your caffeine intake late in the day and minimizing stimulating activities, such as computer and television use, at night.

·         Establish boundaries. In today's digital world, it's easy to feel pressure to be available 24 hours a day. Establish some work-life boundaries for yourself. That might mean making a rule not to check email from home in the evening, or not answering the phone during dinner. Although people have different preferences when it comes to how much they blend their work and home life, creating some clear boundaries between these realms can reduce the potential for work-life conflict and the stress that goes with it.

·         Take time to recharge. To avoid the negative effects of chronic stress and burnout, we need time to replenish and return to our pre-stress level of functioning. This recovery process requires “switching off” from work by having periods of time when you are neither engaging in work-related activities, nor thinking about work. That's why it's critical that you disconnect from time to time, in a way that fits your needs and preferences. Don't let your vacation days go to waste. When possible, take time off to relax and unwind, so you come back to work feeling reinvigorated and ready to perform at your best. When you're not able to take time off, get a quick boost by turning off your smartphone and focusing your attention on non-work activities for a while.

·         Learn how to relax. Techniques such as meditation, deep breathing exercises and mindfulness (a state in which you actively observe present experiences and thoughts without judging them) can help melt away stress. Start by taking a few minutes each day to focus on a simple activity like breathing, walking or enjoying a meal. The skill of being able to focus purposefully on a single activity without distraction will get stronger with practice and you'll find that you can apply it to many different aspects of your life.

·         Talk to your supervisor. Healthy employees are typically more productive, so your boss has an incentive to create a work environment that promotes employee well-being. Start by having an open conversation with your supervisor. The purpose of this isn't to lay out a list of complaints, but rather to come up with an effective plan for managing the stressors you've identified, so you can perform at your best on the job. While some parts of the plan may be designed to help you improve your skills in areas such as time management, other elements might include identifying employer-sponsored wellness resources you can tap into, clarifying what's expected of you, getting necessary resources or support from colleagues, enriching your job to include more challenging or meaningful tasks, or making changes to your physical workspace to make it more comfortable and reduce strain.

·         Get some support. Accepting help from trusted friends and family members can improve your ability to manage stress. Your employer may also have stress management resources available through an employee assistance program (EAP), including online information, available counseling and referral to mental health professionals, if needed. If you continue to feel overwhelmed by work stress, you may want to talk to a psychologist, who can help you better manage stress and change unhealthy behavior.

The increase in the tasks and duties entrusted to the person as much more than it has available capacity and the potential psychological imbalance occurs within the individual and the high level of stress among staff.A quantitative burden: many tasks assigned to the individual in less time.(B) the burden of two types: assigning tasks require the skills and abilities of the individual are not available.More people are exposed to pressure supervisors and department managers who require them to spend more time to respond to calls and hold meetings and meet the public.

These people may resort to unload this psychological feeling by addiction to stimulants, smoking or isolationism.The same pressure can occur in the case of low quantity and type of work to feel bored and monotony.

The researchers believe that a lot of the physical working conditions cause stress for individuals such as noise, sound, heat and machinery in the organization and design offices.

The Solutions:

Frankness with others to discuss their problems and concernsHelp othersBuild a cooperative and harmonious working teamThe pursuit of justice among employeesProvide good communication channelsThe provision of informal meetingsSome individuals granted permission to feel their importance

Build a bridge of trust between you and your staffPromote the values of tolerance among the employees themselves and between them and managementTaking into account individual differences among employeesBalance in the use of punishment and rewardThe use of the principle of justiceThe use of regulatory methods to address the conflict in the work environment

Director must listen to the opinions of the demands and complaints of subordinates and share with them the feedback to clarify the roles and functions of this that would relieve subordinates and relaxes the director of a lot of stubbornness that leads to psychological stress expensive. Therefore, positive communication in all directions is vital and is required to relieve the pressures of work.

Causes of work-related stress according to University of Cambridge:

Research commissioned by the Health and Safety Executive has indicated that:

about half a million people in the UK experience work-related stress at a level they believe is making them ill

up to 5 million people in the UK feel ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ stressed by their work

stress-related illness is responsible for the loss of 6.5 million working days each year

costs society about £3.7 billion every year (at 1995/6 prices) (Cartwright and Cooper 2002)

In 2001, the Higher Education Funding Council of England (HEFCE) provided funds to the University of Plymouth for a three-year nationwide study of occupational stress in UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The primary aim of this study was to provide stress benchmarks for Higher Education, to enable comparisons with other professions and intra-sector comparisons with cognate HEIs (i.e. old versus new universities) (Tytherleigh, Webb, Cooper and Ricketts 2005). The main causes of stress identified in all HEI's were:

long hours

job security, particularly in relation to terms of employment and stress levels

work relationships

resources and communications

These issues are explored in more detail below.

Work-related stressors

Overload

This is the extent to which individuals feel that the demands of their workload and the associated time pressures are a source of pressure, for example:

unrealistic deadlines and expectations, often as a result of super achievement by the most talented

technology overload

unmanageable workloads

under recruitment of staff for work already timetabled

Control

The experience of pressure is strongly linked to perceptions of control. Lack of influence and consultation in the way in which work is organized and performed can be a potential source of pressure, for example:

lack of control over aspects of the job

lack of involvement in decision making

account not taken of staff ideas/suggestions about the job

lack of influence over performance targets

lack of time

Work relationships

Many jobs demand regular contact with other people at work. Poor or unsupportive relationships with colleagues and/or supervisors can be a potential source of pressure. In addition, pressure can occur if individuals feel isolated or unfairly treated.

Poor work relationships can be a result of:

aggressive management style

lack of support from others

isolation at work

aversive behaviour, e.g. bullying and harassment

lack of understanding and leadership

manager forever finding fault

others not pulling their weight

others take credit for personal achievements

poor relationships with colleagues

Job security

This is the extent to which lack of job security and job changes are a source of pressure, for example:

job insecurity

lack of job permanence, e.g. temporary/fixed term contracts

future job change

fear of skill redundancy

Work-life balance

The demands of work have the potential to spill over and affect personal and home life and so put a strain on relationships outside work, for example:

long hours: being expected to or having to work additional hours at home to the detriment of personal, partner and family relationships

over-demanding and inflexible work schedules

unsocial hours

excessive travel time

work interfering with home/personal life

Resources and communication

To perform a job effectively, individuals need to feel that they have appropriate training, equipment and resources. They also need to feel that they are adequately informed and that they are valued. Stress may result from lack of:

information about what is going on in the organisation

feedback on performance

adequate training to do the job

equipment/resources to do the job

Pays and benefits

The financial rewards associated with a job are important in terms of lifestyle. They are also often perceived to be an indication of an individual's worth and value to the organisation. Although financial reward may not be a prime motivator, it could become a factor if there are other negative aspects of the job.

Aspects of the job

These are potential sources of stress that relate to the fundamental nature of the job itself. Factors such as the physical working conditions, type of tasks and the amount of satisfaction derived from the job.

job is unlikely to change in the next 5–10 years

poor physical working conditions

fear of physical violence

work performance closely monitored

organisation changes for change's sake

dull and repetitive work

dealing with difficult customers/clients

lack of enjoyment of job

 Mr. Khalid Gaffar has detailed the argument professionally. Thanks

Taking a vacation if possible or a personal day once in a while, forget about work for a weekend and travel to a near place. 

A comprehensive answer was given by Mr. Khaled. I'd like to add one point: One of the major reasons for work-related stress is the inefficient managing of one's time and the lack of setting priorities on both a daily and weekly basis. If one masters this skills of time and task management, it will take away a lot of the stress generated at the workplace.

As of the solutions, besides what was mentioned before, I suggest three things:

1. Effective breathing - deep breathing and stress relieving breathing for few minutes every hour

2. Drinking a lot of water: 3 liters of water a day with a ph of 7 or above

3. Moving regularly throughout the day - at least for 2 minutes every one hour. Changing the physiology changes the mood and reduces the stress level. 

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