FDC2022 Speaker Preview: Workplace Stress

workplace stress:

facts and fictions

By Jen Butler

Heavy workloads, team conflicts, miscommunications, struggles to balance work and home, and job insecurity — it’s no wonder that we’ve come to believe that workplace stress is inevitable. That first fiction, that workplace stress is inevitable, leads us to a second: Stress is something we simply have to live with. In fact, if we want to rise in our jobs, we want to learn how to handle stress like the CEOs do. Finally, if we don’t want to live with stress, countless enthusiasts insist they have the one true cure for stress — and if we don’t like that cure, we’re doomed.

The Truth about Stress

With so many myths circulating about stress, it’s time to look at a few hard facts:

•Stress is not inevitable, but it is increasing. COVID-19 plunged us into fears around a new disease, unemployment and food insecurity. A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention compared similar populations from June 2019 and June 2020 for symptoms of anxiety, depression and strain. Anxiety disorders rose from 8.1% in 2019 to 25.5% in 2020; depressive disorders tripled from 6.5% to 24.3%; and mental strain rose from 30.9% to 40.9%.1

•Workplace stress is life-altering at all levels of an organization. According to a recent Yale School of Management study, high exposure to incredibly stressful situations reduced a CEO’s lifespan by at least 10 years.2 Moreover, 80% of second-level executives identify themselves as burned out.

Finally, a 2018 survey by Wrike found that in both small and large companies, the major contributor to employee stress was poor communication.3

•Workplace stress is too costly to ignore. According to the American Psychological Association, stress causes U.S. businesses $450 billion a year at a minimum, a figure that would certainly be revised upward during crises like the Boeing 737 Max airplane failure or the pandemic.4 A Gallup poll found that 51% of stressed employees are disengaged;5 and a Colonial Life poll found that 41% are less productive.6 Stress compromises customer service, causes distractions that lead to costly errors, increases absenteeism and hurts the company image among future employees and customers.

The Individuality of Stress

One size does not fit all. We are each susceptible to different triggers for stress. One person may shrug off a friend’s insensitive joke or the failure of a pet project or even a “happy” event like a promotion; another finds it intolerable. Our go-to responses to stress also vary wildly, through every stage from total withdrawal to anger and even violence.

Stress itself has three components. It may be psychological, the stress we put on ourselves by our way of thinking; physiological, those things we do to our body that are unhealthy (such as sitting at a desk for hours without a break); and situational, brought on by events, activities and situations in our daily life (such as interpersonal conflict). It may be triggered by any one or any combination of those components, or all three together.

The Options Available

The same stress-reduction techniques may make perfect sense for some of us and only add to the stress of the rest. Many socalled team-building events have that effect — not everyone bonds happily over bungee jumping. Moreover, we all learn at a different pace and need time to absorb, practice and embrace new ways of responding to stress. The options for dealing with stress fall broadly into four categories:

“Mindfulness brings us back to the here and now and to appreciation and gratitude for what we have. It breaks the stress of always thinking about what might have been, what might happen and what we cannot have. „

1. Health. When we exercise too much or too little, sleep too much or too little, and fail to take opportunities to rest and relax, we put stress upon our health. A failure to protect our health also may be a clue to underlying problems. For example, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, teeth grinding, arthritic pain and allergies may all interfere with sleep. By staying within healthy parameters, we give our bodies time to repair and rejuvenate and our minds a chance to make creative connections that fizzle out among the constant interruptions and challenges of daily life. Restoring health begins with a visit to a physician, followed by learning specific techniques to overcome physical and emotional challenges.

2. Habits. Self-medicating and self-soothing behaviors often emerge when we are stressed. Cigarettes, alcohol, drugs and sugar are among the items we turn to when we ignore stress or refuse to deal with it. The stress trigger becomes a cue (“I can’t think straight”), which leads to a routine (“I have to get away from here”) and provides the soothing reward (“I’ll go out for a smoke”). Habits may be broken and rebuilt when we understand that cue-routine-reward cycle and how to make the cycle work to our benefit.

3. Mindfulness. Our minds are tricky — they may constantly ruminate about the past, worry about the future or shut down to find temporary relief. They are seldom here, in the moment. Mindfulness brings us back to the here and now and to appreciation and gratitude for what we have. It breaks the stress of always thinking about what might have been, what might happen and what we cannot have. Among mindfulness activities are visualization, focused breathing, practices like qigong and yoga, and distractions like counting your steps as you walk (rather than revisiting your anger once again, for example).

4. Skills. No one teaches us how to be a team member or leader at work, or a partner or parent at home. The skills that we need to communicate well, deal with conflict, avoid discriminatory behavior, foster productivity and engagement, and so on can be learned, and once learned they reduce our workplace stress considerably. Even mentor relationships benefit from professional advice on giving and receiving mentoring. “I know how to handle this” is a very satisfying feeling.

Overcoming Reluctance

With all the various techniques, programs and experts at our disposal, why do we hesitate to deal with stress? In addition to the belief that stress is inevitable, ignoring it is laudable and bowing to it is a moral failure, we face the stigma associated with any referral to a doctor, mental health practitioner or coach.

That stigma may find its roots in a desire to be perfect, harnessed to a secret conviction that we are far from perfect and, therefore, need to hide anything we consider a weakness. It also may arise from a desire to transform ourselves into something we aren’t — thinner, smarter, more successful, more in command — leading us to try paths that compromise our physical, mental and emotional health. We also may simply be afraid. What part of ourselves will we lose during meditation? How much respect will we lose if anyone finds out we are addicted to stimulants? What if we are expected to do more and be better when we are already struggling? t

This reluctance is a source of stress. However, there are practitioners out there who will meet us where we are, offer a range of options, and provide the time, resources and skills needed to deal with stress. We do need to deal with it. The personal, organizational and social costs of stress are simply way too high.

Ms. Butler is the CEO and founder of JB Partners, and brings a Master of Education degree, board certification as a coach, a fresh perspective and more than 30 years of experience to business consulting. A Diplomat of the American Institute of Stress, she helps businesses across the U.S. and Canada get back to enjoying their work — and the financial and lifestyle benefits of success.

Ms. Butler will be speaking at the 2022 Florida Dental Convention and presenting four courses. On Thursday, June 23, “People Who Drive You Crazy: Difficult People Made Easy” will be at 9 a.m. and “From Functional to OPTIMAL: Facing Realities of Stress and Kicking its A**” will be at 2 p.m. On Friday, June 24, “From Chaos to Cohesiveness: Five Foundations for Predictable, Repeatable and Scalable Success” will be at 9 a.m. and “Team Synergy: The Science Behind the Success of High-performing Teams” will be at 2 p.m.

References:

1. Czeisler MÉ , Lane RI, Petrosky E, et al. Mental Health, Substance Use, and Suicidal Ideation During the COVID-19 Pandemic — United States, June 24–30, 2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2020;69:1049–1057. dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr. mm6932a1

2. Borgschulte, Mark and Guenzel, Marius and Liu, Canyao and Malmendier, Ulrike, CEO Stress, Aging, and Death, June 2020. Available at SSRN: ssrn.com/ abstract=3638037

3. Hansen, Brianna. Crash and Burnout: Is Workplace Stress the New Normal?, September 6, 2018. wrike.com/blog/stress-epidemic-report-announcement/

4. stress.org/workplace-stress

5. Harter, Jim. U.S. Employee Engagement Reverts Back to Pre-Covid-19 Levels, October 16, 2020. gallup.com/workplace/321965/employee-engagement-reverts-back-pre-covid-levels.aspx

6. Colonial Life, Stressed workers costing employers billions, March 14, 2019. coloniallife.com/about/newsroom/2019/march/stressed-workers-costing-employers-billions

Read, Learn and Earn!

Visit floridadental.org/online-ce for this FREE, MEMBERS-ONLY BENEFIT. You will be given the opportunity to review the “Diagnostic Discussion” and its accompanying photos. Answer five multiple choice questions to earn one hour of CE.

Contact FDC Marketing Coordinator Brooke Martin at bmartin@floridadental.org or 800.877.9922.