EPISODE 3 - STRESS AT WORK

Stress is part of living whether for good or for bad and no amount of lecture will completely remove it from anyone’s life. But it should have a limit otherwise it shorten one’s life or deprive organizations of the maximum benefit they can get from their workforce.

I took time to compute the cost of stress of a hypothetical overstressed manager to his company in one of my books on stress. And the summation is that for a manager on N100,000 per month who supervises five officers each of  whom earns N50,000 per month, the total loss on remuneration to the  company due to burn out is about N46,000.00per month

In this episode I will simply list out things that easily stress workers out and the early warning signs of burn out.

Typical causes of stress work

1.    Bulling or harassment

2.    Feeling powerless and uninvolved in determining one’s own responsibility

3.    Continuous unreasonable performance demands

4.    Lack of job security

5.    long working hours

6.    Excessive time away from home and family

7.    Office politics and conflict among staff

8.    A feeling that one’s reward is not commensurate with one’s responsibility

9.    Underlying personal problems

10.     Unfavorable work conditions

11.     Intoxicants-blatant or unobtrusive (radiation from computers, black lights for checking currency)

12.     Traffic congestion/transportation problems

EARLY WARNING SIGNS OF BURNOUT

Burnout is a debilitating physiological condition brought about by unrelieved stress and it lives people totally exhausted

1.    Chronic fatigue

2.    Anger at those making demands

3.    Self –criticism for putting up with the demands

4.    Cynicism, negativity and irritability

5.    A sense of being besieged

6. Exploding easily at seemingly inconsequential things

6.    Frequent headaches

7.    Gastrointestinal disturbances

8.    Weight loss or gain

9.    Sleeplessness and depression

10.      Shortness of breaths

11.   Suspicions

12.           Feeling of helplessness

13.           Increased degree of risk taking

All these are signs of serious stress situation that demands attention. Take some days of both official and personal assignment; constantly remind yourself that the world will certainly go on without you, and be determined to (a) switch off your phones for the greater part of the day(remind yourself that time it was when we didn't have access to phone), b) sleep longer than usual, eat what you like with emphasis on fruits and vegetables, take ginseng teas and other healthy herbal teas, watch movies; c) relocate temporarily to a more conducive place if your home cannot provide these necessities; d) pray a lot to re -energize self both physically and spiritually but don't dwell in vigils that will further stress your system, then e) detox your body and mind using the methods prescribed elsewhere in this blog.

For more information about coping with stress, check out "STRESS MANAGEMENT AND PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT" available in bookshops near you., maymaybooks at smarshwords.com  or write to askmay1@yahoo.com