Stress management is an important topic in the workplace that impacts employees at every level. Typically, organizations tend to place more emphasis on steps employees can take to mitigate their own stressors so that it does not impact their work. However, sometimes managing personal stressors does not eliminate it completely in the workplace. The well-being of employees plays a vital role in productivity, which can improve or hinder organizational success. A recent study conducted regarding the hotel industry found that it is imperative that employee stressors are identified and that organizations maintain open communication to help support and reduce stressors (Wong et al., 2021). While it is essential that these types of strategies are offered to employees, it is equally as important that organizations look at the infrastructure of the company and organizational attributes to determine how stress can be handled throughout the workflow. Not only should organizations implement individual stress management techniques such as mindfulness training for example, but they should also adapt processes to help eliminate unnecessary issues in the workplace such as leadership tactics.
Stress management interventions seek to determine if key stressors need to be evaluated at the individual or organizational level, or some combination of the two (Werner, 2022). At the individual level, such topics include time management and goal setting. At the organizational level, however, topics to analyze would include job design, conditions of the workplace, and insufficient knowledge of working processes (Werner, 2022). By analyzing common factors that employees point out as stressors, organizations can begin to determine areas of management that might need to be improved, work processes that need to be reevaluated and clarified, or organizational strategies that need to be reconsidered. Once the best solutions to workplace stressors have been identified, whether that be at the individual or organizational level, workplace productivity can continue to grow.
Christians are called to take care of others. This is a reoccurring theme throughout Scripture, namely through Christ's teachings on the Golden Rule. As Jesus states in Luke 6:31, "And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise" ( King James Bible, 1769/2017). Leaders need to be aware of what is going on in their organization and put forth the effort that is necessary to create stress management solutions for its employees. In doing so, they are taking care of their employees in the same way that they themselves would want to be taken care of anywhere else.
References
King James Bible. (2017). King James Bible Online. (Original work published 1769).
Werner, J. M. (2022). Human resource development: Talent development (8th edition). Cengage Learning.
Wong, A. K. F., Kim, S., Kim, J., & Han, H. (2021). How the COVID-19 pandemic affected hotel employee stress: Employee perceptions of occupational stressors and their consequences. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 93.
