I have been teaching leadership courses to first-line managers for nearly 10 years and I see a worrying trend. When I look at NZ and overseas statistics on stress the trend adds to my concern. As a facilitator, I hear a lot about stress. One of my course participants reached out to me recently to say she was stuck regarding how to answer a question within her assessment. We arranged a time for a phone call. I greeted her on the call and asked how she was. She said she was working in health and had not had any time off for two months.
Workplace Stress in New Zealand
I thought Wow! That must be tough but that was not my main concern. As we discussed her assessment it soon became apparent that she was not quite making sense. She was so tired she could not think. I offered her an extension but she declined. We resolved her obstacle and the phone call ended positively but it left me feeling concerned.
The sad fact is that I have too many of these calls. Life stress is increasing in the lives of my learners. I recently published a book called The Mindful Manager. In the course of my writing, I looked for data on stress. Here is some of what I found;
Workplace stress statistics in NZ
A 2019 survey by the Mental Health Foundation found that 45% of New Zealand workers reported feeling stressed at work.
The same survey found that stress was the leading cause of work-related absences, with 1.4 million working days lost due to stress in 2018.
A 2020 study by the University of Auckland found that workplace stress can spread from one person to another through social interactions. The study found that people who worked with stressed colleagues were more likely to report feeling stressed themselves.
The study also found that the impact of workplace stress can be cumulative. This means that the more stressed people are, the more likely they are to experience negative health consequences.
Managing Stress and Fatigue in the Workplace.
How stressed are you and what is the impact on your health and relationships? What are you doing about your stress or the stress that exists in your team?
Managing Stress and Emotions in the Workplace
There are scientifically proven things we can do for ourselves and for our teams. It does not take much time each day, but first, we need to educate ourselves. How much do you really know about emotional intelligence from the perspective of a manager? Are you looking to become a more mindful manager? If so then emotional intelligence is an important skill to have when it comes to managing people. With The Mindful Manager, you can learn how to apply the principles of emotional intelligence to the workplace. From understanding the difference between empathy and sympathy to building trust and maintaining relationships, The Mindful Manager covers all the basics of emotional intelligence. Get ready to
become the mindful manager you’ve always wanted to be!