How can I help staff manage stress?
Q. As I prepare for the upcoming retail holiday season, I remember
how stressful the holiday “crush” can be for my staff and
me. Stressed employees are not at their best when dealing with customers.
What can I do to lower the stress level among my employees?
A. It’s smart to be concerned about workplace stress, especially during the winter holidays. Besides your concern for your workers’ well being, you can see that overly stressed employees can hurt your business. The facts back you up.
Highly stressed workers are rude and alienating to customers and co-workers. Stress also causes workers to make errors. It causes employee absenteeism and turnover—and workers who quit in the middle of the holiday season will cause you additional stress!
Stress distorts emotional and physical perception, causing workers to overreact to normally small incidents and to overlook safety problems. It lowers productivity and can cause accidents.
Problems caused by stress often blow up into verbal or even physical conflict among workers or disobedience or disloyalty between worker and supervisor.
There’s more to stress management than can be addressed here,
but consider these suggestions for yourself and your staff.
• Keep lines of communication open, especially regarding scheduling
and job responsibilities.
• Respect break time and encourage your staff to do so.
• Be sensitive to workers’ needs for time with their families
and for holiday and religious obligations.
• Make sure workers understand your policies regarding scheduling
(such as your expectations for increased hours and their requests for
schedule changes), but also be as flexible as possible in accommodating
their needs while maintaining fairness for all workers.
• Encourage your staff to get enough sleep.
• Post humorous material (appropriate and non-offending, of course)
in the break room.
• Provide occasional treats and opportunities for social interaction
among employees.
• Find information about simple stress relief techniques like “cleansing
breaths,” stretches and relaxation exercises online or in books.
Post information about these techniques in the break room.
• If your company offers an Employee Assistance Program (EAP),
remind your staff that the EAP can help with stress management. If you
don’t have an EAP, consider adding this valuable benefit.
• After the holidays, consider long-term approaches to stress reduction
(not just management) in your store.
More information on workplace stress is available from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Visit www.cdc.gov/niosh/stresswk.html or call 800.356.4674.
Correction: A previous Ask Michigan Retailers column on the
definition of full-time employees should have said that Blue Cross Blue
Shield of Michigan requires employees to work 30 hours per week to be
eligible for BCBSM health insurance coverage. There is no requirement
in state law that an employer who offers a health insurance plan to
full-time employees must also offer it to those who work 30 hours per
week.
Do you have a retailing question? Ask Michigan Retailers in writing:
by mail: 603 South Washington
Avenue, Lansing, MI 48933;
by fax: 517.372.1303;
by e-mail: tscott2@retailers.com.
