Rethinking Managing Positive and Negative Stress in the Workplace
Leaders who understand and identify how stress can have good and bad influences on people are often better equipped to manage more resilient teams. Amy Freshman, senior director of global HR for ADP, explores some of the ways leaders can approach stress in the workplace.
Stress in the workplace is often considered negative. However, stress is actually a complicated motivator, and it may not always be a bad thing.
'Distress,' the negative side of stress, can wear down employees, interfering with their health, outlook, and productivity. At the same time, 'eustress,' the positive version of stress, helps some people navigate challenges. According to research published in PLoS One, good stress can increase an employee's focus, motivation and performance.
Stress can be difficult to analyze because different employees may respond to the same stressors differently. Where one employee sees constant deadlines as energizing, another might find them draining. So, when distinguishing distress and eustress, look at how people respond to stress through things like body language, energy level or effort, rather than labeling a stress factor itself as either bad or good.
The ADP Research Institute's December 2023 Today at Work report found that employees who thrive in times of stress are more likely to be engaged, resilient, motivated and productive. In contrast, those who feel overloaded are less likely to describe themselves as motivated and are more likely to look for a new job.
As company leaders, we have the opportunity to help employees recognize and balance stress better by building excitement around good stress and attempting to mitigate bad stress where possible.
Recognizing stress in the workplace
Each employee's ability to withstand stress varies and is based on personality, disposition and their own personal life situations. Current and past experiences, both personally and professionally, influence how well people manage stress in their daily work. The workplace environment also plays a huge role in how well they handle pressure and those stressors, including both eustress and distress.
By checking in with team members early and often, we can help identify stress before it takes a toll. Good managers recognize typical body language, engagement, tone, partnership and work product. If something feels "off," it just might be.
Leaders should note when workplace stress has the potential to increase. When a team faces a challenge, such as a product launch or acquisition, the change and uncertainty may bring both positive and negative pressure.
Whether employees feel stress from personal or professional causes or both, managers should be prepared with support resources. If leaders can't recognize the stress, they can't help address it head-on.
Hiring the right candidates for high-pressure positions
Some jobs, like those in the military, law enforcement and health care, are inherently stressful. But other jobs can also be stressful, especially if employees face long hours, heavy workloads, tight deadlines and significant responsibilities.
To successfully fill these jobs and retain employees, recruiters need to be able to identify candidates who handle stress well. Behavioral-based interviewing has long been effective by asking candidates to share specific examples of high-pressure times and the strategies they used to handle them. The interview itself might be high-pressure, so observing a candidate's body language, speech and eye contact gives clues about whether they view the event as eustress or distress.
Learning how to identify positive stress at work
Leaders can help teams approach stress by highlighting its positive attributes. Build excitement by making programs and deadlines fun and creating healthy competition. Leaders can also talk openly about challenges and obstacles while highlighting the positive outcomes, such as higher revenues or better client satisfaction.
Senior leaders can encourage employees already motivated by positive stress by sending the message to take risks and be bold. Direct leaders can talk openly with employees and spur those motivated by eustress to lead and get more involved. As more employees join in, the tolerance for stress builds across the team. You may even find opportunities for some employees who see something as distress to move into eustress moments.
To help employees manage negative stress, leaders can be open and transparent and make time to ask employees questions and talk through problems. When possible, remove obstacles that cause stress and get in the way of success. Adjusting work schedules or locations, redistributing responsibilities and providing resources, including an employee assistance program, are just some ways leaders can be responsive to employees who are experiencing negative stress.
An ongoing need to manage stress in the workplace
Some degree of stress in the workplace, both positive and negative, is inevitable. However, leaders can help employees handle both types of stress better by understanding the benefits that good stress can provide and addressing the roots of negative stress.
Understanding individual employees' diverse experiences, triggers and motivations and making adjustments that help them either cope or be challenged is a part of how leaders develop resilient teams.
Helping employees manage stress in and out of the office will continue to be a focus of workplace wellness. Companies that do well in this endeavor often look beyond the benefits package offering and instead, consider how to support employees' whole selves with strong leadership and management. This is yet another opportunity for leaders to lead by example in how they manage their day-to-day stressors and how they show up with their team.
When you have data-backed workforce insights, you can better spot the influences of positive and negative stress. From increasing engagement to predicting flight risk, find out how ADP's tools can help you build your best teams.
