When it comes to considering the strength of your workplace, it's easy to look at the hard numbers. That means hours worked, employee efficiency, and so forth. What's easier to forget to consider is the more invisible elements, such as morale and employee happiness.
Naturally, you should want your employees to be happy and to have a high quality of life (or, at least you should!). But at the end of the day, a happy and healthy employee is a better employee too. A comfortable and high-morale office environment will provide better work from your entire staff, as many studies have shown.
Keeping your employees happy means ensuring that stress is low in the workplace. Do you know how to reduce anxiety at work? Read on and we'll walk you through what you need to know.
Encourage Exercise
There's no bigger mood-booster out there than a good bit of exercise. There have been many studies that have linked aerobic activity with increased wellness of mind and improved mood.
This is because exercise releases endorphins and improves one's mood and state of mind as a result. In addition, the focus that exercise requires can create a state of active meditation that can be soothing to both the mind and the body in the long run.
How can you encourage exercise in your office? Many workplaces have initiated wellness challenges, where the work community strives to hit certain fitness goals together outside of work hours. You can even reward top performers within your office and promote some healthy competition.
Another idea is to include a gym membership as a complementary part of your employee's work benefits. This commitment to your employee's wellness is sure to make them feel seen and cared for. Also, the more your employees take you up on this complimentary benefit, the better mood and state of mind they're likely to be in.
Some offices even are including showers in the office to help encourage workers to break for a quick run or bike before work or during lunch.
Open Lines of Communication
Stress and anxiety build up over time. If an employee doesn't have an outlet for these feelings, they're likely to either explode or burn out at some point in time. That's going to be a not fun situation for that employee and for your business overall.
It's best to avoid that. While it may not always be possible to prevent stressful situations from arising in the workplace, you can control the way in which employees navigate and talk about these situations.
As the boss, you need to be the best leader you can. That means keeping the lines of communication between yourself and your employees as clear as possible. There are many ways to do this.
You can do one-on-one check-ins with your team on a semi-regular basis, touching on where they are in their work and how they are personally feeling. You can also do these check-ins at once as a group.
Often, an employee might just need an outlet to express their stress or anxiety to better cope with it. Just speaking and allowing your team to communicate with you and with each other can help to keep anxiety low.
Of course, for this to work it's important that you emphasize openness, honesty, and understanding. There's no point in having these kinds of discussions if employees feel as if they can't speak up.
Create a Comforting Office Environment
What can you do to help create a more zen environment in your workplace? The more comfortable and livable an office space feels, the more likely your employees will be able to destress and manage anxiety.
One great way to do this is to bring some plant life inside. The sight of growing greenery can be comforting and encouraging. Some offices even go as far as implementing a herb garden of sorts, to help create a more pleasant workplace.
Promoting overall cleanliness can also help to keep things fresh and keep spirits bright. Hiring a business cleaning team doesn't have to break the bank and the benefits that it can provide to your employees can be priceless.
Have Some Fun as an Office
Efficiency is important, but so is letting your team take a break every now and again. After all, if you stretch your team too thin, they're likely to snap.
Instead, make sure you're taking the time to celebrate your achievements and allowing your team to grow as companions and friends. Having a party once a month or when specific goals are reached could be a good idea.
You could allow casual Fridays if you work in a non-casual workplace, or have some themed dress-up days if you don't. Anything to mix the normal routine up can be a good way to keep things fresh and fun.
You can bring outside help in as well. Many offices hire a masseuse to come in and provide massages to employees. This treat is fun for all and has the added benefit of being a natural stress reliever.
Alternatively, you could take your team out of the office. Company retreats are a great way to promote team bonding and to help mitigate some of the anxiety of a busy workplace.
How To Reduce Anxiety at Work
It can be difficult to know how to reduce anxiety at work if you've never faced this kind of issue before. The above tips can be exactly what you need to fight stress and create a more enjoyable workplace.
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