Managers play a critical role in shaping the workplace environment, profoundly influencing the stress levels, performance, and job engagement of their teams. Their management style, communication practices, and support systems can either alleviate or exacerbate employee stress, impacting overall engagement, productivity, job satisfaction as well as organizational costs such as healthcare, absences, and turnover.
Knowing how critical their role is to influencing stress and engagement downstream, how adequately do you think your organization is equipping managers with the knowledge and tools to manage in ways which can reduce stress and engage brain rewards within their teams? If you just wondered what "brain rewards" are, then the answer to the question is probably "not adequately".
Managers have a significant influence on employee stress through their approach to workload distribution and time management. A manager who sets clear expectations, provides the necessary resources, and ensures that workloads are manageable can significantly reduce employee stress. Conversely, unclear communication, unrealistic deadlines, or lack of support can lead to burnout, diminishing mental well-being and work quality, while also perpetuating the development of costly chronic health conditions.
Prolonged excess stress can have a significant impact on the immune system, cardiovascular and metabolic health markers, gut health, and even things that impact brain health and dementia. Previous data from PwC "Behind the Numbers" reports have shown that stacking mental health burdens on top if chronic health conditions increases healthcare costs exponentially.
In our modern economy, talent and knowledge based performance is critical to competitive advantage. The World Economic Forum states that the most desired modern and future job skills are things like analytical thinking, creative thinking, resilience, flexibility and agility. In fact 7 of their top 10 skills are knowledge based. When people are over-stressed and burned out, they have significant deficits in these mentally taxing areas. They are less creative, less resilient, have less emotional regulation and less motivation.
Modern performance requires engaged employees and engagement is closely tied to the culture fostered by your management groups. Managers need to understand the nuances for how different people want recognition, for approaching constructive feedback with empathy, and for nurturing a culture of continuous improvement.
How can managers do all this when they themselves are stressed and possibly disengaged? Gallup determined that managers account for 70% of the variance in team employee engagement. They also found that managers have more negative daily experiences and are more likely to be looking for another job.
This should be of huge concern to organizations. Managers need critical education and support to better understand the stress response and the organizational factors that drive it. They need to be better equipped to manage their own stress as well as to understand their influence on the stress and engagement of their teams.
Engaged employees are more likely to be passionate about their work, leading to higher productivity and lower turnover rates. While many organizations are highly concerned about employee wellbeing, retaining talent, and getting the most from their employees, most are not being proactive in helping managers - a key influential factor for employee engagement, stress, and performance.
If you want to learn about HBD's solutions for training managers about brain health, stress, and how to manage more effectively, or our solutions for promoting proactive workforce mental wellbeing, contact us for information and case study information.
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