We all know that office life can be stressful at times, from hitting deadlines and finishing ad hoc work, to pitching for new work, client meetings, and general day-to-day admin. Sometimes, it can all get a little too much.
Around 9.7 million UK-based workers have said the workplace has caused stress and anxiety that’s resulted in a decrease in productivity[1]. Research has found that four in every five office workers feels burnt out, with around 60% of office workers citing excessive workloads and competing deadlines as the reason for that stress. On top of this, 57% said there was a lack of communication[2].
When you’re a small business, this can be worrying, as too much stress on employees can cause negative effects for them, you, and the business. So, are there ways to help take the stress out of marketing and office life to avoid burnout? Below, we give some advice on how you can do just this.
Look at what’s going right
When it comes to stress, we can all be affected by the environment surrounding us. With this in mind, the higher you are in the chain of command, the more important it is to keep those below you as de-stressed as possible. And, when you’re a small business, there’s fewer places to hide and more chances of interaction with the whole team.
With that in mind, if something is beginning to add stress to your daily routine, take a step back and look at what’s going right. Start by making a list of things that have been accomplished by you, your team and your business over the last few months to a year; chances are, there’ll be more there than you anticipated. By doing this, you’ll be able to see that even if times feel a little tough, you’ll get through it as you have done before. This should help to improve your stress and that of those around you.
Keep staff informed
If there are stresses in the business, as it’s a small business, it’s important to keep everyone informed. As mentioned above, people will know if something is up, and if they can sense something is up, they’ll no doubt begin to worry and get stressed. Therefore, it’s vitally important that everyone is kept up to date on any issues that could affect them, alongside the measures taking place to control the issues. This will help to keep your team up to date while showing them their value while demonstrating everything you’re doing to help.
Mental health
We all know that mental health is hugely important, and many individuals can be affected by their job. Things such as unrealistic workloads, long hours, job security worries, lack of support and company culture can all contribute to the mental health of an individual.
Poor mental health isn’t good for a person or business and can impact on a person’s engagement, communication practices, ability to function, their performance and productivity.
However, there are ways you can help, which include:
- Optimising workloads
- Implementing an employee assistance program
- Work on creating a supportive company culture
- Host seminars and workshops
- Conduct surveys to see how staff are feeling
While these are ways to help your business check on the mental health and general happiness of employees, the below suggestions will also work towards helping the general wellbeing of those within your office.
Homeworking
As the world advances, it’s beginning to notice that the traditional 9 to 5 office working hours may not be cut out for modern-day living.
While some offices will need employees between specific hours, the advancements in technology are making it easier for staff members to work from home, or at office hours better suited to them. Allowing staff to start between a certain time frame in the morning or leave between certain hours in the afternoon will help them to manage their day, especially when it comes to childcare and appointments easier. Meanwhile, letting staff work from home once or twice a week could help them to be more productive as they won’t be surrounded by distractions in the office. This could be handy when there’s a deadline looming.
By introducing more flexible working hours it also helps to reduce the stress of getting to and from work, while making it easier for those who live a little further away.
Fitness
Extremely important to health and wellbeing, exercise is a known way to help you feel good while also helping to boost productivity. It can also help to reduce stress. So, how could you bring this into the workplace? From a weekly office run to office yoga or even getting a gym fitted if you have the capacity, getting your employees to exercise could be a great way to help avoid burnout from stress.
Be a team
While you’ll work together as a team for more than 30 hours of the week, taking the time to get out and blow off some steam together is a great way to help build bonds and de-stress the office. From a quarterly night out to a monthly meal or drinks, try and fit something into the calendar regularly for the team to look forward to.
Hire additional help
Of course, as a company grows there’ll be more and more work, which can sometimes exceed the growth of staff numbers. If this happens to you, maybe it’s time to seek out a full-service agency. Helping to take the stress out of marketing, these agencies do everything from PR and creative to web design, traditional and digital marketing, social media, SEO and copywriting while helping to avoid burnout for you and your team.
At Relative Marketing, we provide a full range of services designed to help you get your business to where you want it. Whether it’s online or print, we can do it all, get in touch today and find out how we can help you.
[1] https://www.hrreview.co.uk/hr-news/wellbeing-news/workers-say-productivity-damaged-stress-anxiety-workplace-with-office-workers-worst-affected/110778
[2] https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/office-worker-stress/
