How to deal with anxiety and stress in the workplace

Many people feel stress and anxiety about a variety of everyday problems related to work or their personal lives while trying to get their job done. 

What Is Workplace Anxiety? 

Workplace anxiety involves feeling stressed, nervous, uneasy, or tense about work, which could include anxiety about job performance, interactions with co-workers, or even public speaking. 

The most common reasons for stress and anxiety related to your job if you: 

• Are experiencing interpersonal conflicts with your co-workers  
• Don’t feel like you can control your work  
• Lack of job security  
• Often face deadlines that are too short  
• Regularly have unpredictable days  
• Work in a particularly fast-paced and competitive environment  
• Work on daily tasks that are too difficult or ambiguous 

According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), in 2017/18, 595,000 people in the UK reported work-related stress at a level they believed was making them ill. That’s 40% of all work-related illnesses. In another survey of more than 2,000 full-time employees, ages 18-79, more than half of employees find themselves stressed during at least 60 per cent of the workweek. 

Work stress has significant health consequences that range from harmless (like getting more colds and flu unless you have an underlining health condition) to potentially serious (such as heart disease and metabolic syndrome). 

If you’re struggling with stress and anxiety while working, some strategies can help! 

Tips to managing stress and anxiety in the workplace

Start Your Day off Right 

Starting your day like a bat out of hell, getting the kids fed and ready for school, battling the dreaded morning traffic (and road rage) to do the school run and gulping a mammoth amount of coffee in replacement of a healthy breakfast, many people arrive to work already stressed – which makes them more reactive to stress in the workplace. 

With good planning, nutrition and a positive mindset you’ll be surprised how much better you cope with the stress of your job. 

Work within your limits 

Understand your limits and learn to work within them. Try focusing on a single task at a time and not thinking ahead to everything that needs to get done, avoid multitasking – more often enough you might find your speed and accuracy (not to mention sanity) suffer when trying to multitask which isn’t very efficient.  

Work with your line managers to prioritise your tasks so you know what needs to get done versus what can wait until tomorrow or next week, to help with your workload. 

Embrace Good Health Habits and Practice Self-care 

Try to stick to a regular sleep/wake cycle, if you are sensitive to caffeine, cut down and avoid it by mid-day when it is most likely to disrupt your sleep later in the evening. Make sure to eat nutrient-dense foods and get regular exercises such as progressive muscle relaxation exercises, yoga or tai chi to help you manage your stress. 

Be Mindful 

Losing concentration or focus? Practising mindfulness. Try mindfulness meditation to help become more observant of your surroundings and refocus on the present moment. 

Use the Grounding technique 

The Grounding technique can help positively shift your attention at the moment. Grounding involves using your senses to connect to your physical surroundings: 

• Holding on to a hot cup of tea or a cold glass of water 
• Listening to sounds that you find calming 
• Noticing specific things, you can see in your environment 
• Tasting food with a strong flavour, like a lemon or lime 

Make time to be outdoors 

Make time to be outdoors at some during the day, whether that is before, after or during your lunch break. Exercise can help battle the physical and mental effects of work stress. 

Pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone 

Don’t let anxiety hold you back, so many have avoided opportunities because it made them feel uncomfortable. Confront your anxieties head-on. If you’re nervous about public speaking, take an online class to improve your skills or try to strike up a conversation with your colleagues via video chat. 

Pushing yourself and exposing yourself to anxiety-triggered situations helps to change your relationship with anxiety and helps build confidence.  

Avoid the perfectionism trap  

Being a perfectionist can create problems for you and others especially if you work in a busy, fast-paced job. If you consider yourself a perfectionist and check in with a colleague or your supervisor to get their thoughts, you might find that your results are better than you thought, and you’ll be much less stressed at work. 

In our free tips to relieve stress and anxiety in the workplace guide, we provide tips that will help you to get into ‘relaxation mode’ more often, and let unhelpful thoughts and feelings pass you by.

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