Stress is a factor that everybody has to contend with on a daily basis both in the work and non-work spheres of life. Since the body has only a limited capacity to respond to stress, it is important for individuals to optimally manage their stress level to operate as fully functioning human beings.
There are several ways in which stress can be handled so that the dysfunctional consequences of stress can be reduced. Some of them are:
Role Analysis Technique (RAT)
The Role Analysis Technique helps both the manager and the employee to analyze the requirements and expectations from the job. Breaking-down the job into various components clarifies the role of the job for the entire system. This also helps to eliminate reduction of work and thus lowering down the stress level.
Job Relocation
Job relocation assistance is offered to employees who are transferred, by finding alternative employment for the spouses of the transferred employees and getting admissions in schools for their children in the new place. These arrangements help to reduce the anxiety and stress for the moving family.
Recreational Program
Providing recreational facilities, arranging group meditation programs, help to reduce the stress levels of the employees.
Employee Assistance Program
Another widely used strategy is the employee assistance Programs, which offer a variety of assistance to employees. These include counseling employees who seek assistance on how to deal with alcohol and drug abuse, handling conflicts at the work place, dealing with marital and other family problems.
Career Counseling
Career Counseling helps the employee to obtain professional advice regarding career that would help the individual to achieve personal goals. It also makes the employees aware of what additional educational qualifications or specialized technical training, if any, (hat they should acquire. By becoming knowledgeable about the possible avenues for advancement, the employees who consider their careers to be important can reduce their stress levels by becoming more realistic about their options and can start preparing themselves for it.
Time Management
Another way of coping with stress is to manage time more effectively. People can learn to get better organized so that they can do their work more efficiently.
Delegation
Another way of coping with job stress is to delegate some responsibilities to others. Delegation can directly decrease workload upon the manager and helps to reduce the stress. !
More Information and Help
Some new employees have to spend more time on a job than necessary because they are not sure what they are doing. So it is necessary that some help should be provided before doing the work that would lead to much efficient, effective work. It would also reduce anxiety and stress among the employees.
Health Maintenance
Probably the most frequently used organizational stress management program is health maintenance. Many companies invest large sum of money in gym and sport facilities for maintaining the health of the employees.
Supervisor Training
Another type of stress management Program that organizations are experimenting with is supervisor training. The emphasis on supervisory training Program is how to prevent job stress. Managers are trained to give better performance appraisals, to listen to employees’ problems more effectively, and to communicate job assignments and instructions more clearly.
Individual Stress Reduction Workshops
Some organizations have also sponsored individual stress reduction workshops for their employees. These programs include biofeedback, meditation to career counseling, time management and interpersonal skills workshops. In lectures and seminars, participants are given a basic understanding of the causes of stress and its consequences. Then, participants are given materials to help them identify the major sources of stress in their own lives, and some strategies for dealing with that stress more effectively.
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