According to a recent study, 76% of employees reported moderate to high levels of stress at work and one in 14 UK adults feel stressed every single day.
With the most common cause of stress being work-related, it’s important to take action by making sure your team are clued up on how to prevent feeling strained at work.
From employers and managers to juniors and interns, everyone has the ability to positively change workplace wellbeing. Upskilling and increasing your knowledge on mental health at work is important.
Here are some expert tips on how to combat burnout and effectively manage workplace wellbeing.
1. Know What You Can Control
Imposter syndrome is a common feeling that many workers experience, especially as they progress in their careers. With 673K monthly Google searches for the phrase, it seems as though many of us may be experiencing this feeling of inadequacy at work.
To overcome imposter syndrome, you should identify and address negative thought and behaviour patterns that undermine your confidence. By understanding this, you will be able to recognise negative behaviours and educate yourself on other issues to prevent them in the future.
2. Get Into a Good Routine
Despite common belief, there’s more to mindfulness than meditation, herbal tea and self-help books. While these methods can help create a calm mindset to eliminate stress, other methods like getting into a good routine can help improve mindfulness at work.
Try to stick to healthy habits such as daily lunchtime walks and switching off notifications. These changes can make an impact on your mental wellbeing and build your resilience for future challenges.
3. Say No & Setting Boundaries
With increasing workloads and never-ending to-do lists, uncontrolled pressure can lead to overwhelming stress, which often means missed tasks and an impact on overall performance.
To maintain a healthy work-life balance, it’s important to set boundaries and manage expectations. For example, if your workload is becoming too much, you’ll need to verbalise that and ensure that your colleagues know not to keep adding to your workload.
4. Disregard Social Hype
As TikTok trends of creators showing how productive they are waking up at 5 am, hits 14.4 million views, the hustle culture depicted on users’ screens is greater than ever. This can have a different impact on each individual’s wellbeing, especially on youth mental health.
Side hustles can be motivating for some individuals, but it’s important to consider what you are able to sustain to avoid burnout.
5. Reach Out to Colleagues
Sadly, 74% of people feel so stressed to the point of being overwhelmed or feeling unable to cope. If feeling stressed gets to the point where it’s hard to handle, it may be time to reach out to your colleagues or HR in the workplace to avoid burnout.
Broaching a conversation about mental health can feel scary or embarrassing, but this shouldn’t be the norm. All staff members should develop their communication skills to ensure every employee feels confident and comfortable doing so.
FutureLearn offers a range of online courses in psychology and mental health which can help to create a more supportive environment for individuals and their colleagues.