Plug and play the day away. Give yourself and your employees a good break by installing a video-game console in the break-room. A survey by Talent2 showed that 25 percent of employees would like to see this happen as it would give them a chance to zone out from their work for a short period of time and reduce stress.
Build the team. Oftentimes, feeling isolated can be a major contributor to stress-levels. Feeling as though there is no one else who can help with our tasks, or not wishing to, or being able to, delegate can make things that much more stressful. If you have a team of employees, build up team morale and team spirit. For example, make an executive decision to close the office early on Friday and take the team for lunch. If you have a bit more of a budget, go paintballing, for example.
Managing stress levels, both your own and those of employees is a job in itself. It is not easy to do, and that is why people spend entire careers learning how to do it, yet small business owners are expected to be experts at it, almost over night.
In reality, you can identify those who are stressed, you can do all of the stress-management techniques that you like, however the only sure-fire way to alleviate stress is to solve the root problems. Change your work processes, hire another employee if necessary or bring on a business-partner to alleviate the load. All of these are easier said than done, particularly when you are in the business of running your business.
Peter George is a behavioural psychologist with recruitment firm, Talent2.
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