The Negative Effects of Stress in the Workplace
We all experience stress from time to time, whether it’s at home or work. For some people this can be beneficial, motivating them to work harder and be more productive. But even those who thrive on a little bit of stress will agree that too much stress can have the exact opposite effect.
Stress refers to the adverse reaction someone has to high pressure or demand placed on them. While we all handle stress differently and have different responses to it, extreme stress often has the same outcome. People who are highly stressed are typically demotivated, burnt out, and less productive. If the stress is related to work, this can cause people to quit their jobs – workplace stress can lead to a 35% increase in employee turnover.
This is why as an employer or manager, it’s critical to understand the impact of stress on employees, and how to spot the signs of high staff stress, so you can take action. Not only because it’ll benefit your business performance, but most importantly because it’s your responsibility to look after your employees!
To help you navigate workplace stress, we’re going to explore the causes and signs so you can identify them early and put the right tools, programmes and initiatives in place to help your people thrive. So without further ado, let’s get started!
Causes of employee stress
To be able to support your employees and reduce workplace stress, you need to understand the main causes. Below we’ve highlighted the five main reasons people experience stress at work to help you identify them and put measures in place to alleviate them.
The top five causes of stress in the workplace are:
- Workplace politics and difficult relationships with colleagues
- Lack of communication within teams or from leadership
- Not enough support from management
- High, unmanageable workloads
- Bullying, harassment or discrimination
As you can see this isn’t an extensive list, but it should help you focus on factors that are likely to cause employee stress. It’s also important to remember that factors in people’s personal lives, such as poor health and financial issues, can exacerbate work-related stress. So, just because you can’t see a stressor, doesn’t mean it isn’t there!
Stress in the workplace: Signs and symptoms
Understanding the causes of stress is only half the issue. As mentioned earlier, everyone reacts to pressure differently, and the impact of stress in the workplace can present itself emotionally, physically, psychologically or behaviourally.
For this reason, it’s important for everyone in your business, from colleagues and managers to HR professionals, to be able to recognise when someone is experiencing company stress. That way they can help that person get the support they need.
There are lots of signs and symptoms of stress, some much more subtle or seemingly unrelated than others. To help you and your team better spot when someone is struggling with stress, we’ve shared some of the most prevalent ones. Take a look!
Emotional signs
Long-term stress increases the likelihood of developing mental health issues like anxiety and depression. But even shorter bouts of pressure can result in people experiencing low mood that impacts them personally and professionally. Stress can also cause people to feel overwhelmed and respond to situations differently, displaying various characteristics such as:
- Emotional withdrawal
- Loss of self-confidence
- Intense emotional reactions
- Anxiety and irritability
- Depression
Physical signs
Stress hormones impact the heart and circulatory system which can cause a variety of other physical symptoms such as dizziness and fatigue. When people are highly stressed or anxious, it can also trigger their fight-or-flight mode, resulting in their heart rate increasing and their body producing more sweat. While these are natural responses to internal and external triggers, the outcome can be particularly unpleasant for people experiencing them. So, here’s what you can look out for:
- Tiredness and fatigue
- Headaches, digestive problems and other health-related issues
- Muscle aches and pains
- Sweating and dizziness
- Panic attacks
Psychological signs
Not to delve too deeply into the topic of psychology here, but our brains are made up of ‘units’ each performing a different function. When people are stressed, the amygdala (the part of the brain that’s responsible for fight-or-flight mode) often takes over, reducing energy in other parts of the brain that deal with important cognitive functions like memory and decision-making. This can result in people exhibiting behaviours like these:
- Loss of concentration and memory
- Poor decision-making skills
- Jumping to conclusions and worst-case scenarios
- Maximising problems
- Turning positives into negatives
Behavioural signs
Without healthy coping mechanisms and support in place, people often end up turning to unhelpful strategies to deal with stress. Interestingly, people’s behavioural response to pressure can also be a result of factors such as previous experiences and even genetics. But regardless of the reasons, it’s important to recognise when someone’s struggling with stress. So, here are some behavioural signs you can look out for:
- Avoidance and isolation
- Decline in productivity and performance
- Nervous habits such as nail biting or teeth grinding
- Inappropriate displays of behaviour
- Substance abuse
What are the effects of stress in the workplace?
The impact of stress on workers and business performance can be severe, especially if it’s not dealt with properly. Below, we’ve listed some of the main effects of company stress to give you a better idea of what you could be dealing with if you don’t put measures in place to reduce it.
Stress impacts our hormones and cognitive function, often resulting in people experiencing symptoms such as sleep disruption, short-term memory loss, mental fatigue and much more. When asked to imagine how high stress levels would impact their lives, 64% of people said it would affect sleep and 44% said it would impact their self-confidence.
1. Poor motivation
When employees are battling with these issues, they’re likely to become physically and emotionally exhausted which will reduce their motivation due to feeling overwhelmed. In turn, this can have a negative effect on their own work and productivity, but also on business performance and company culture.
People experiencing extreme stress are more likely to make mistakes at work, display lower productivity levels, miss deadlines and be absent due to poor mental or physical health. In a recent survey, one in five people admitted that high levels of stress or pressure reduced their productivity or performance, but that they didn’t alter their working hours or take time off. This only exacerbates the issue and causes people to be absent from work more in the long run. In fact, stress, depression or anxiety accounted for 16.4 million days lost due to work-related ill health in 2023-24 – this equates to an average of 21.1 days per individual
2. Reduced performance and productivity
When people are highly stressed, they often experience low self-esteem and emotional burnout from being overwhelmed and potentially underperforming at work. This then has a knock-on effect on morale and job satisfaction, as they find it harder to enjoy their role or company culture. Stress can also make people feel isolated from their peers, especially if they haven’t felt able to talk about their struggles. These factors all add up, often resulting in employees being unable to cope with heavy workloads, their office environment and current events taking place within their company.
3. Low morale and job satisfaction
A study by Unum UK revealed that stress is the primary factor causing UK employees to leave their jobs and that it would influence 78% of employees to quit. As we mentioned earlier stress can be caused by many different factors, which is why as an employer or HR professional you need to be able to identify the signs and give your people the best support possible. Otherwise, you risk losing your best employees and damaging your business’ finances by having to hire replacement team members.
4. High staff turnover
Typically, company stress doesn’t just affect individuals; it snowballs and affects those around them. When employees are stressed and unhappy in their roles, they’re more likely to argue and clash with others. This can lead to complaints and your company culture suffering, which will negatively impact the rest of your team. To avoid this, you need to have the right employee wellbeing tools and support in place ready to help your team and look after them before things spiral.
5. More conflict and employee complaints
When people are highly stressed and not getting the help they need, they’re likely to experience poor emotional and physical health, resulting in them needing to take sick leave. As a result of people being unable to carry out their jobs, overall business productivity and performance will be negatively impacted. Additionally, employee absences can put pressure on other team members who end up taking on extra work to make up for it. Again, this can lead to low morale and more workplace stress, creating a vicious circle!
6. Increased absenteeism
Benefits of reducing the impact of stress in the workplace
Now we’ve explored many negative effects of stress at work, it’s time to share some positives of reducing employee stress. By ensuring you have the right strategies and support in place to look after your people and manage workplace stress, your business and your team can benefit from the following:
- Improved physical and mental health of employees
- Reduced illness and absenteeism
- Lower staff turnover and better staff retention
- Greater job satisfaction and morale
- Higher motivation and productivity levels
- Better collaboration and cross-departmental relationships
- Reduced employer costs
- Healthier company culture
How Boostworks can help
Now you have a better understanding of the effects of stress in the workplace and why it’s so important to take employee wellbeing seriously, you can start to identify ways to better support your team so you can both enjoy the many benefits of reduced workplace stress.
But if you ask us, the best way to help your team thrive is to give them access to a tailored benefits platform like ours, which is designed to lift them up in as many areas of their lives as possible. Whether it’s employee wellbeing support from our trusted partners or corporate discounts that help people make their money go further and reduce financial stress, we can help you hand-pick the benefits, rewards, tools and resources that will genuinely make a positive difference.
Sound good? Why not book a demo today and chat with one of our fantastic people experts to find out more about how our solutions can help you boost your people. We look forward to finding out about your business and team!
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