Can work place stress affect productivity ?

Working full-time and having to deal with competition, work hours and the urge of performing better is a trigger for stress nowadays, it is also a major handicapping factor to productivity. Employees are often faced with the need of overcoming stress and maintaining a good level of productivity. According to Investopedia, an American encyclopedic website that focuses on investing education and financial news, productivity, which is defined as the «economic measure of output per unit of input», is a fundamental pillar in the economy and enhancing it comes «from technology advances (…) supply chain and logistics improvement and increased skill levels within the workforce».

Empowering workers and employees is a way of maintaining productivity; however, it could also a result on additional stress being put on them. Contacted by Yabiladi, Said Azza, an educational psychologist, stated that «the main reason behind workplace stress is perfection», he explained that every employee is trying to fulfill his or her work without having a realistic and logical plan. «It is primordial to any worker to know exactly the tasks assigned to him and know the time he is supposed to spend on every one of these», Azza argues. Being overwhelmed with work and trying to do everything at once is not healthy since it triggers the feelings behind stress.

Know your obligations 

«To perform better, an employee is always in the need of having a work plan, a detailed one with all the projects and objectives set for that week», the coach advised. He points out that working on easy, short-term and basic projects is the key to having an organized and stress-free work day. «When you are doing everything at once things get messy, you feel that you have a lot of work and you struggle to finish these objectives», Azza indicates.

Feeling constantly subject to stress and unproductive at work is not always linked to the employee’s way of handling obligations and tasks but it can also be partly your boss' responsibility. «Recognition and acknowledgment is important for maintaining a healthy workplace», Azza explained, «Every employee needs to be encouraged and lauded for his or her efforts». Verbal acknowledgment nourishes motivation and galvanizes the workers to do more and feel satisfied about their contributions. «When your boss sees the work you do from a negative point of view concentrating only on your mistakes without seeing the glass half full, things get worse for you and you automatically get stressed», the specialist points out.

Taib Aiss, an economist and financial expert, couldn’t agree more. He declared to Yabiladi that «not having a concrete and clear idea about the tasks assigned to you in a company or firm affects your productivity and elevates your stress». Aiss concluded that a productive firm with productive employees «should put forward a set of strategies to help the workers operate in a safe environment away from pressure and stress».