Stress Management
Recent surveys by the American Psychological Association show 65 percent of Americans have said work was stressful and one third have said that their worksite didn't provide information to help with stress.
Worksite stress management programs address stress through prevention, reduction, and treatment:
- Prevention programs target worksite policies, practices, and environments to identify stressors and remove them before they become a problem.
- Reduction plans resolve existing stress problems by teaching skills related to stress or anger management, offering counseling, and creating processes for solving conflict.
- Treatment efforts provide medical care to help workers who experience mental or stress-related health problems.
These approaches can be addressed through changes to policy, facilities, services, education, and health benefits:
- Policies
- Offer flex-time, different work week schedule options, and telecommuting to help lighten financial stressors or assist with child or elder care schedules.
- Facilities
- Provide on-site physical activity classes that include stress reduction, such as Yoga or Tai Chi.
- Offer child care at or near the worksite.
- Provide an on-site stress relief/meditation room.
- Services
- Offer on-site mental health screenings with referrals and other follow-up resources.
- Provide on-site massage therapy.
- Education
- Provide stress management or conflict resolution training opportunities.
- Offer training and support for managers on how to refer employees to their Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) Benefits
- Contract with an EAP to offer staff counseling, legal, financial, and other resources.
- Make sure health insurance plans include mental healthcare.
Additional information can be found below: