How to Make Your Workplace Less Stressful

Studies have shown that a happy, peaceful work environment will increase productivity, encourage greater creativity, promote team building, improve communication, and foster better health among employees.

Any one of these benefits provides ample reason to help reduce stress at work.

Here are three ways to make your workplace less stressful.

Encourage Breaks

The best workplaces promote a healthy work/life balance. Not only do these businesses encourage breaks, but they require them.

Many of the best companies also encourage their workers to take vacation days and offer paid holidays.

Make sure that you know your state’s rules regarding breaks. Around half of the states in the U.S. require that employers allow for a meal break.

Often, the rules are even more stringent for minors.

Keep it Cleaned and Organized

Cleanliness isn’t just about aesthetics. When your workplace is clean and organized, you reduce the chances of accidents occurring.

Debris on the floor and protruding objects lead to slips, trips, and falls. Another reason for cleanliness is the time you save not having to search all over the place every time you need something.

With an organized system, everything you need is always right where it should be. Organization and cleanliness are also known to promote better emotional health and improved moods.

Finally, maintaining a clean workspace helps encourage employees to be more focused and productive.

Allow for Uninterrupted Work Time

A lot of stress accrues when employees are so busy participating in team-building activities, receiving training, and over-scheduled with meetings that they don’t have alone time to get their work done.

Think about limiting meetings and providing private work spaces where employees can work uninterrupted. People need uninterrupted time in order to think and work effectively. This state of total absorption in a task is referred to as flow.

Studies suggest that team members in a flow state are twice as productive as those who continue to be interrupted. Flow is also known to significantly improve people’s work performance.

Additionally, flow leads to greater satisfaction at work. And yet, the time that employees spend in flow is pitifully low. Some researchers agree that the average time spent in flow at the workplace is a measly 5%.

To reach a flow state, workers need at least two hours of uninterrupted time each day.

Look for ways that you can reduce stress at work. Any measures you can take to foster a more peaceful, happier workplace will be well worth the investment.

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