Urgent: Stress and Anxiety at the Workplace

Remember the kid who got picked last in kickball? Perhaps it was you standing there feeling the anxiety of others being scooped up to a team while you hang out there in social purgatory. It’s a recipe for a core memory that you’d prefer not to have.

Fast forward 15-20 years and here we are at the workplace. Kickball teams are still being picked. It may not be as formal or as obvious as recess protocols, but sides are picked, nonetheless. We want to believe that we’ve moved on from that. We want to believe that we are grown up and that we treat people better. And here we are with anxiety as the top issue workers are facing.

It is totally understandable that some of the anxiety is unavoidable. Job performance metrics tied to compensation or promotion, difficult clients or customers, grueling industries that operate seven days a week…these factors and more can cause a fair bit of stress and anxiety. An organization cannot apologize for these truths (unless it’s causing them!) but rather work transparently to inform those interested in coming into the company or moving forward with it as to what the realities are. Then, those candidates/employees can assess their capability to handle such stress.

But what happens when the organization itself is the direct cause of anxiety? I mean, we’ve heard of those places. Maybe you’ve even worked in those places. In the movie, Wanted, James McAvoy’s character, Wesley, deals with deep stress and has a frustratingly anxious life at work. Between Janice and Barry, Wesley finds himself sick and at a crossroads. Now, while we could never condone verbally lashing out and physical violence at work, we do find ourselves cheering Wesley on as he tells Janice where to go and smacks Barry (Chris Pratt) with a face full of keyboard. Scenes like this resonate with us because we have either been through hell at a workplace or, at least, have observed others dealing with it.

And lest you think anxiety is down due to those jobs that can work exclusively from home or elsewhere, online bullying and taunting is as high as it’s ever been. Communication channels like Slack and Teams are filled with “private” chats and groups that passively address those employees “not pulling their weight” or who don’t show themselves to be a “team player” or “good fit.” Those talked-about employees have a sense it’s happening, even if they don’t have the screenshots to prove it. Staff who think they are getting away with it, or worse, couch it as “I don’t want to hurt their feelings,” should know that those feelings are already tenuous at best.

Anxiety can be clinical in diagnosis so be wary about overreaching in our Dr. Phil world. Staff moonlighting as psychiatrists or therapists should take a seat and be silent. Most are not trained to know how deep the stress-related response goes so to treat it trivially with an “oh, come on, it’s not too bad” motivating quip could cause more damage.

If your organization has an EAP, be sure to have those offerings shared, reshared, posted and reposted. You don’t know the day when that support will be just what an employee needs to see. If you are not large enough to have a carrier-supported EAP, use your local 211 or 988 hotline offerings for similar sharing. Accordingly to the BLS, approximately 20% of all workplace deaths of those 35 to 64 years of age are by suicide. That’s one in five. That number ought to show us the level and consistency of support needed.

Take seriously, too, those employees who share and show signs of anxiety and deep stress. When an employee is brave enough to verbally share such a state, it ought to be met with support. It should not be met merely with well wishes but activated resources.

Work with your leadership for a common approach to stress and anxiety in the workplace. There should be a known process for those in management – what should they do when they hear about or observe anxiety in staff? Reactive-only help does offer a level of support, but it is incomplete; at times, too much time has elapsed. The reality of stress should be met with proactive access to helpful resources. And those kickball-like constructs at the workplace need to be demolished before recess is over.