Stress in the workplace


After taking the stress inventory test, I have come to appreciate that I am in a fairly stable place in my life right now with fairly few major stressors. Looking at the stress management test, I was fairly surprised that my score was only 48. If I reflect more on it though, I can see a trend where I tend to shut down when I feel too overwhelmed instead of taking the actions needed to get me out of the situation. I can handle fairly high demands in life without becoming too stressed but, once I do, I don’t really know how to cope with it well. I also thought the Type A personality test results were pretty interesting as I got a 49. Though I have never considered myself as a Type A kind of person, I see now why this is accurate. While I am generally kind and understanding and empathetic towards others, I hold myself to very high standards and constantly expect myself to be able to do more and better than those around me.

Since my personality is going to constantly drive me into situations that will be stressful, I need to learn how to cope with it better. In his article for entrepreneur.com, John Rampton provided four ways to deal with stress without shutting down. First, remind yourself that this too shall pass. Next, find a way to increase oxygen to your brain, generally through exercise. Once you have calmed down some, you should prioritize what needs to get done first and delegate some of the tasks if possible. Finally, you can try to shift your focus using tools like meditation or repetitive actions.

As we saw this week, one side effect of stress that has a major impact on organizations is the negative physical consequences of stress. These physical consequences drive up healthcare costs for companies and decrease productivity. One way some companies have started to deal with this is by offering wellness programs for their employees. These programs help employees improve health conditions that are caused by all kinds of factors including stress. The result is dramatically lower health care costs. One example was Johnson & Johnson whose wellness programs “have cumulatively saved the company $250 million on health care costs over the past decade” (Berry)

Berry, Leonard L., et al. “What’s the Hard Return on Employee Wellness Programs?” Harvard Business Review, vol. 88, no. 12, 2010, pp. 104–42.

Rampton, John. “4 Proven Ways to Deal with Stress without Shutting Down, Giving up or Taking Meds.” Entrepreneur, 25 Aug. 2017, www.entrepreneur.com/living/4-proven-ways-to-deal-with-stress-without-shutting-down/299225. Accessed 22 Nov. 2022.

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