Job Issues

Read through the Quick Assessment to the right to see if you might have some common symptoms associated with Job Stress.

Americans are busy people. We have multiple demands placed upon us and thus being pulled in many directions can be exhausting.  Almost one third of employees in the United States feels overworked, or overwhelmed by the amount of work they have to do. Being overworked is a psychological state that has the potential to affect attitudes, behavior, social relationships, and health both on and off the job.

Stress symptoms include fatigue, irritability, crying, anxiety attacks, and loss of appetite or weight gain due to lack of exercise or overeating in reaction to stress. Less obvious symptoms are teeth grinding or increased drug, alcohol, and tobacco use, insomnia, nightmares, forgetfulness, low productivity, and an inability to concentrate.

These physical symptoms can have very serious effects on your health. According to the American Psychological Association, if allowed to progress, burnout can result in depression, anxiety, and physical illness. Drugs or alcohol are often a problem. After an extended period of time burnout can cause physical and mental breakdowns, which include suicide, stroke, or heart attack.

Before burnout gets to the point of causing severe mental and health problems, it will affect how you do your job. Absenteeism and lateness are two of the effects. The cost of burnout is high, both to workers and to employers. So, it's time to start exploring ways to keep burnout from progressing.

There are solutions that may help resolve those issues. Of course an obvious solution would be to reduce the number of hours at work. Even if you think it isn't possible, you may want to give it a try. There are alternate work options that are more flexible than typical forty hours per week schedules.

Unrealistic expectations, especially in the time of corporate reorganizations, which, sometimes, puts unhealthy and unreasonable pressures on the employee, can be a tremendous source of stress and suffering. Increased workload, extremely long work hours and intense pressure to perform at peak levels all the time for the same pay, can actually leave an employees physically and emotionally drained. Excessive travel and too much time away from family also contribute to an employee’s stressors. 

Develop positive attitudes towards stressful situations in life. Give up negative mental traits such as fear, anger and revengeful attitudes, which actually germinate stress. Try to revert to holistic relaxation and personal growth techniques such as meditation, breathing and exercises, to remodel your lifestyles.

Attempt to blend in with the workplace culture. Maladjustment to workplace cultures may lead to subtle conflicts with colleagues or even with superiors. It is less stressful to go with the flow than it is to swim against the current.

Charge your batteries. The first things to be removed from our agenda when under stress are the rejuvenating activities in our lives. We tend to see things, such as going to the gym or watching a movie as “non-productive.” Yet, these are the activities that charge our batteries and allow us to handle to difficult tasks with more efficiency. Spend some quality time with your family and place a priority on enjoyable activities, it with make the difficult stuff easier.

Let go of perfectionism and getting obsessed about every minute detail. No one of us is perfect. Just focus on delivering your best. Leave the perfection on god. Another most important thing is to avoid having unrealistic expectations. Having unrealistic expectation on the job makes you feel excessively stressed. It may also set you up for failure.

Keep away from negativism and avoid the company of negative people. Always have a positive attitude. Learn to celebrate even your small accomplishments. And remember, nothing is more important than your health, whether it is the job, your boss or the employer. Identify the job stress situations and causes and try to fix them as soon as possible. By adopting these job success strategies, you will find yourself in good physical and mental health and thrive at work.

If the symptoms of your stress persist or seem to be getting worse, give our office a call to set up a confidential appointment with one of our counselors.