Managing Workplace Stress
Juggling Your Full Plate
Santee Cooper’s MIS Department
Annual Fall Meeting
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Change equals workplace stress!
What kind of changes occur routinely? Out of the blue?
Budgetary changes
Regulatory requirements
Staffing freezes or hiring
increases
Reorganization
Training requirements
Mission redirection
Dissonance
And? In over your head?
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What is change, exactly?
Organically, its internal or external stimuli
that cause a unit (an individual, a team, a
division, an organization) to
accommodate/adapt/learn.
How much can we
handle at once?
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So, what’s changing at work and what does it
mean to me? Is it manageable?
Do I know what’s expected?
Do I have what I need?
Do I have the chance to do what I do best everyday?
This week have I received recognition/praise for doing
good work?
Does my supervisor or someone at work care about
me as a person?
Is there someone at work who encourages my
development?
At work do your opinions count?
Do I feel that my job is important in the purpose of
Santee Cooper?
Are my fellow employees committed to doing quality
work?
Do I have a best friend at work?
Has someone talked to me about my progress in the
last 6 months?
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Have I had the chance at work this last year to learn
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and grow?
Know the stressors:
All work and no play can be hazardous to
your health – 50 hours + and high blood
pressure.
¼ of employees view their jobs as #1
¾ of employees believe the worker has more
on-the-job stress than a generation ago
Work problems are more strongly associated
with health complaints than any other life
stressor
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Job stress costs!
• $300 billion annually from
absenteeism, productivity, turnover
and direct medical, legal and
insurance fees
• 60-80% accidents are due to stress
• Workers’ comp awards for job
related stress
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PRIMARY cause of job stress?
It’s a matter of
perspective:
Worker characteristics
Working conditions
The chicken or the egg?
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Watch out for these potential stressors!
Design of tasks Environmental
Management conditions
style
Interpersonal
relationships
Work roles
Career concerns
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Make healthy CHOICES to manage
stress and to be resilient!
Know what causes YOU stress (How do you
know?)
Identify what you can control and what you
can’t. Remember the Serenity Prayer?
Know what’s negotiable and what’s not.
Seek work-life balance via diet, exercise,
sleep and fun.
Be organized, use your time well, be on time.
Have a strong support system at work.
Work Volf Consultants, LLC
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Tips for juggling multiple priorities
Focus on personal balance FIRST.
Schedule planning/organization
into your day – top of the
day/week.
Ask: Is it a priority? Is it mine?
Can it be delegated?
Over communicate.
Ask for what you need.
Work Volf Consultants, LLC
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You can never know enough! Resources!
http://humanresources.about.com/od/stressa
ndtimemanagement/
www.cdc.gov/niosh/stresswk.html
www.essisystems.com/business-
case/facts.php3
First Break All the Rules by Buckingham and
Coffman
Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
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