7 things that make your employees super stressed
Conflicting requests
One manager asks for one thing, and another manager asks for another. This style of working is bound to make your employees feel confused, frustrated and stressed. To resolve this, ensure that all managers are clear on what they want with each other before ANY tasks get handed to a staff member.
Managers with short tempers
Work can be stressful enough without having to walk on eggshells around a manager who loses their cool at the slightest thing. If you are managing a moody boss, keep a record of their mood swings and outbursts for a week and then call them into a meeting and explain what you have seen. If you see them getting angry, pull them to the side and discuss the problem with them, you can then explain that there isn't any need for them to get so irate and that it will have a negative effect on your employees.
Lots of demands with little information
Employees can feel unnecessarily over-whelmed and stressed when you quickly demand they do a task but fail to give them clear directions. It can leave them pondering questions for hours, which you could have cleared up in 10 minutes if you just explained your requests better. Next time you want something done, take time to explain as if you are explaining to a ten-year-old, then ask if they have any questions. This will always ensure that your staff understand.
Feeling guilty for using their holiday
In order to be productive at work, employees need an adequate amount of time off to recharge. However, some workplaces think it's acceptable to make employees feel guilty for wanting to take time off. You can avoid this by actively asking your staff members when they are going to use their holiday and reminding them when they need to use it by.
Never leaving on time
Some employers have a finish time that no one ever keeps to. This could be due to shaming staff if they actually leave on time or scheduling work or deadlines for times which you know aren't achievable in their normal working hours. Always make it clear that you want employees to leave on time by saying things like "we'll finish this tomorrow" or " shouldn't you be leaving now". Ensure you always make an effort to work out an achievable time frame for work and deadlines, make this clear to your employees so they don't work through their own time.
Always being interrupted
This one ruins productivity and makes employee's brains frazzle and burn out. For example, your employee is in the middle of serving the tea trolley on the ward, and a manager keeps stopping them to tell them jobs they need to do after or the next day. Naturally, the person is going to lose focus and probably not remember half of the things they were asked to do anyway. To resolve this write your requests down and ask the employee once they have finished what they are doing. If you are not sure if they are in the middle of a task, ask them and if they are, ask when a good time would be to speak.
No feedback
Anxiety and stress can increase when staff are doing their job but they aren't aware of how they are doing. The fear of the unknown can make them feel uptight and uneasy, staff can get worked up that their manager isn't happy with their performance. Feedback is important to do regularly and not just on the one-off. Ensure you give clear feedback about once a month so employees know exactly where they stand with you.
