How do I know if an employee is suffering from stress ?

Stress affects people in many different ways.

Firstly, an employee’s performance will start to deteriorate – these are some of the signs:

Forgetfulness, making mistakes, fidgeting and restlessness during a meeting, excitability, unreasonable irritation or anger, inability to concentrate, forgetfulness, rushing about, missing deadlines, deterioration in control of work, intolerance, less motivation and commitment, loss of normally reliable judgment, withdrawal from social contact and unusually bad time-keeping. They may also complain of headaches, migraines, IBS, upset stomachs, sickness, dizziness, back ache, shoulder and neck pains and skin problems such as eczema and psoriasis. Watch out if they start to get listless or anxious – they are on their way to becoming depressed and could suddenly hit “Burn Out”.

Invite the person into a private meeting with you and say that you are concerned about their performance and behaviour lately – point out any obvious symptoms – and ask whether there is anything you can do to help?

Sometimes the solution is easy – it may be environmental or simply overwork. Changing the workplace position or reassigning some of the workload may help. Be supportive and let the employee know that staff counselling is available if they don’t want to talk with you.

WorkScales can provide your employees with a completely confidential one-to-one diagnostic assessment of your employee’s stress status. Feedback will be given to you only with the employee’s consent and a few further sessions of counselling are usually recommended. Generally speaking, most employees need only four to six hours of continual counselling over a few weeks after the initial two hour assessment and are usually able to return to work very quickly if they are off sick.