As HR managers, you shoulder the responsibility of managing the Human Resources of your organization. You ensure that all the employees perform their duties well, stay comfortable, and work productively. No doubt, you are proficient in shouldering your responsibilities well, but the pandemic has made things challenging for you. It has exposed everyone to vast amounts of stress, as a result of which your employees cannot focus properly on work. They are living in a chaotic mental state, full of fear, leading them to lower productivity.
Although you may also be suffering from a similar mental state, you have to stand firm amidst the Covid-19 turmoil. You are the beacon, your organization and employees count on to help them find stability in these challenging times. So, you have to believe in your abilities and help your employees to find their productive selves back through stress management. Given below are seven effective stress management tactics by implementing which you can help your employees de-stress:
- Encourage open communication by sharing your insecurities with the employees:
Most of us find it challenging to share our stress, insecurities, and fears with others. This leaves us battling alone with the troubles they cause us. We do not communicate how we feel to others, despite knowing the fact that this simple act can give us immense relief from stress. The fear of being judged and seen as weak prevents us from sharing our inner chaos with the people around. This implies that to help your employees with stress management; you have to encourage them to communicate openly about their mental situation with you and each other. For this, the best way is first to share your insecurities with your employees. This will help them overcome the fear of being judged, and they’ll start communicating with you openly.
- Lead your employees to sweat their stress out through exercise:
‘Exercise’ is a boon for both physical as well as mental well-being. When you exercise, your body gets flooded with happy hormones like Serotonin and Dopamine. These hormones are known as happy hormones because of the very fact that they make us feel good and bring a significant reduction in our stress levels. This implies that you can help your employees sweat their stress out through exercise. So, why not spend some time exercising with your employees? If your organization has transitioned to remote working, you can exercise along with your employees every day via video conferencing. But, if your organization has not transitioned to remote working, make sure to follow social distancing while exercising.
- Make meditation a part of your organization’s work culture:
Meditation can do wonders when it comes to stress management. If we try to understand the reason behind why we feel stressed, we’ll know that it is because of our fearful thoughts. For example, we are feeling stressed about Covid-19 because we are afraid of catching the infection. No doubt, it is natural to be frightened, but the extent of stress we accumulate depends on the impact our thoughts have on us. If you believe all your stressful thoughts to be accurate, you are in for experiencing high-stress levels. However, if you learn to take your thoughts as just thoughts and not a picture of reality, your stress level will get reduced considerably, and this is exactly what meditation teaches you. It helps you learn to see your thoughts as mere thoughts, without getting involved or reacting to them.
This way, meditation offers you immense relief from stress. So, if you can, try to make meditation a part of your organisation’s work culture. Even 10 minutes of daily meditation can help you and your employees keep your stress levels managed. Now, you may ask how you can help your employees meditate if you don’t know how to? The answer to your question is- playing guided meditation videos available on YouTube. If your organization has transitioned to remote working, you can still meditate along with your employees via video conferencing.
- Help your employees give a new meaning of FEAR, i.e. Face Everything And Rise:
This is something exciting. In the words of Zig Ziglar, “ F-E-A-R has two meanings: ‘Forget Everything And Run’ or ‘Face Everything and Rise.’ The choice is yours.” Don’t you feel that the mere act of reading these words, instills a lot of courage in you, and when you are courageous, stress cannot paralyze you? Whenever you feel stressed, just recall these words in your mind, and you’ll see the clouds of stress disappearing.
Now that you realize how the new meaning of FEAR, i.e. Face Everything And Rise helps you combat stress, you should try to help your employees see it too. Every morning before commencing with your organization’s regular working, you should conduct a brief meeting ( real or virtual depending on whether your organization has transitioned to remote working or not) and motivate your employees to give a new meaning to fear. It will provide them with a lot of strength to face the pandemic and bring a massive reduction in their stress levels.
- Help them strengthen their faith in the divine by dedicating some time to morning prayer:
According to scientific research, people who have a strong faith in the divine, respond to stress differently. They have a firm conviction that in the end things will turn out in their favor, which prevents them from buckling under stress. This implies that ‘faith’ is a powerful tool against anxiety, and you should help your employees strengthen their faith in the divine. For this, you can dedicate some time to morning prayer every day.
- Organize games and fun activities for the employees:
Games and fun activities trigger feelings of enjoyment and make you forget your stressful thoughts for some time. As a result, you feel refreshed and relieved of stress after participating in games and fun activities. This implies that by organizing contests and fun activities for your employees, you can help them find immense relief from stress. If your organization has shifted to remote working, then, you can play games like Charades and Pictionary with your employees via video conferencing. If not, then, you should follow all the Covid related safety precautions while playing.
- Encourage them to seek help if needed:
Sometimes when we are incredibly stressed, seeking help from a therapist is the best thing to do. But, most of us shy away from it. By doing so, we only aggravate our problems, and this is what you have to make your employees understand. Moreover, you should also try and encourage them to seek help if needed by providing the contact numbers of some good therapists.
Helping the employees with stress management is one of the most significant responsibilities which you have to shoulder in the current times. Know that you are powerful, courageous, and capable of shouldering your responsibility well, and the tactics of the way mentioned above will help you with it.
