A problem that HR professionals have been tackling aggressively in recent years is the issue of work place stress and the issues it causes for employees that damages the overall business. However HR Grapevine article recently has questioned whether some moderate stress levels are actually good for productivity and achievement. Continue reading to find out more…
A report from the University of California found that short periods of stress can actually help stimulate cell growth, which in turn results in new brain cells. After monitoring rats, which were placed in stressful situations, researchers found that a few weeks later their alertness, learning and memory had improved.
However, that’s not to say that HR should be promoting stress in the office – but rather monitoring how stress affects different employees in different ways. A study from Leadership IQ, titled ‘Does Your Job Require High or Low Emotional Intelligence?’, found that just over half (51%) of employees admit that they always or frequently have to ‘act’ or ‘put on a show’ with their emotions at work. This in turn can lead to anxiety, or at the very least dismay.
As for dealing with workplace stress, Dr Christian Jessen, Doctor and TV Presenter of the BAFTA award-winning ‘Embarrassing Bodies’, revealed to us how the pressure of presenteeism is affecting our mental health as well as our work-life balance.
“The fact that we don’t really know how to do nothing is something I find rather sad,” he says. “We always feel like we should be doing something – we feel guilty about sitting and watching television; we feel guilty about reading a book for an hour; we think that we need to be emptying the dishwasher or putting another wash on.
“But, we need to get over that guilt if we want to fully encompass all arms of our health. Eastern medicine has been doing this for a long time, whilst in the West, we’ve been ignoring it – and look who is suffering more.”
For advice & guidance to improve your business policies & practices then get in touch with HPC. We are a UK leading specialist in Employment law, HR and Health and Safety Services. You can get in touch via the form below or by calling us directly on 0844 800 5932.
To read the HR Grapevine article on their website, please follow this link.