Office life has its ups and downs. During slow season, you might be able to enjoy your workday without a rush and relax a little. Another time, however, the high pressure and overwhelming demand at the workplace during busy days can be stressful. The truth is, stress is a normal response to increasing demands of work. A low level of stress can even help you stay focused, energetic, and ready to meet new challenges in the workplace.

Things will be more complicated when you are unable to control your stress level that it ends up hampering your performance at work. An unhappy and distressed employee will find it difficult to do their task properly. It will get worse when your stress begins to  affect your mental health and causes some mental health related disease such as heart attack, hypertension, and other disorder.

According to a research, more than half workers (53.2 percent) surveyed in the study reported that stress is an issue in their current workplace. Unfortunately, despite the alarming statistic, 61.9 percent believe that their employer looks down on workers who get stress, while 57.4 percent respondents think that their manager does not offer support to help them to manage stress at work.

There is no smoke without fire. If you want to solve a problem, first thing to do is find the roots of the problem. You will be able to use the right strategy by knowing the causes. Then, what should you do to manage your stress level? Based on the previous research, here are some causes that stress you at the workplace and how to beat it:

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Heavy workloads

Tight deadlines always become employee’s enemy. One task unfinished yet but you already got a new one coming. Such heavy workloads can negatively affect employees’ psychological wellbeing. The research revealed that one in three employees (34.1 percent) feels that heavy workloads causes stress to them. To solve this, a good time management is needed to accomplish all the tasks. But what if the workload itself is overwhelming and does not make sense? Then the best solution is to go see your supervisor and let him know how you feel about the assignment.

Long working hours

Some employees can work for more than 8 hours a day – studies found that 40 hours a week is the proper working hour for optimum productivity – and not get overwhelmed with it. But for some others, having long working hours can cause a stress and even reduce their productivity. According to the study, 29.3 percent respondents agree that long working hours increase their stress level at the workplace. If you consistently work for long hours, you will find difficulty to concentrate in finishing your job well and start falling behind. Even worse, sometimes you have to spend more hours to fix your task and work overtime.

Low morale within the workplace

More than 38 percent respondents believe that low morale in the workplace is a cause of stress at work. There are many reasons that make employees dissatisfied with their job and crush their morale. One of them is due to managers who treat employees poorly. For example, a manager fails to pay respect or appreciate his subordinate’s work and even think that as though an employee is lucky to even have a job will not be respected by his team members. Therefore, it is important to communicate openly to make sure employees have clear development plans that establish their expectation and grow their morale.

Unfriendly colleagues

As we know, every single human has their own unique personality and  it can be stressful when it comes to dealing with difficult coworker. These unfriendly colleagues are those who are wallowing in negativity, criticising or intimidating, as well as complaining every job they do. As much as 35.7 percent respondents said that these unfriendly colleagues cause a stress for them. Owing to this, you have to hone your communication skill for dealing with the difficult people.

Bad management

You might expect to have a great boss who will treat you well, ask nicely about your day, treat you a lunch, or even spend time with you to watch final champion together. But it turns out that your boss is just an intrusive, controlling, and annoying person. Facing such reality might make you feel frustrated, unhappy, and unmotivated. Bad management seems to be the most common cause of stress, as more than half (65 percent) respondents agree with the statement. To solve this, you need to deal with him directly. You are not the problem, but he is. Try to talk with him and tell him that his actions or words bring negative impacts on your performance.

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