FM Careers Resources

Managing Workplace Anxiety

January 16, 2023
Amarah Ranger

Amarah Ranger

Amarah is a Managing Consultant for our engineering team. She's also one of our mental health first aiders, and is passionate about supporting our people in the work place.

There are a lot of pressures hitting UK workers right now. Whether it’s the cost of living, current economical & political uncertainty, or returning to work after Covid-19. All these external factors could increase anxiety and stress for your workers. This can then affect performance in the workplace and their ability to do their job efficiently. 

With all these triggers causing additional stress, it’s no surprise that 81% of workers are burnt out. Depression and anxiety account for 12 billion lost workdays annually, costing nearly $1 trillion to the global economy.

Investing in the wellbeing of your employees should be a priority, you can’t consider it an optional extra.

With 44% of the world’s employees feeling anxiety, anger, or sadness for most of the previous day, how can you look at ways to provide support for your employees wellbeing?

Employees looking at each other in an office

What does anxiety in the workplace look like?

It's difficult to detect when someone is experiencing anxiety. Some employees might hide their feelings, especially if there isn't much emotion displayed at work. Previously, employees may have perceived anxiety as a sign of weakness or inefficiency because of old stigmas and stereotypes. As we all know, this is not true.
The symptoms of workplace anxiety may not be so obvious, but they can form and manifest in a variety of ways:

  1. Taking an unusual amount of time off work
  2. Overreacting to situations on the job
  3. Disengaged from their work
  4. Struggling to concentrate or complete tasks by deadlines
  5. Pulling away from social activities with others at work

Recognising workplace anxiety in your employer is an important step, but one that should be taken with caution. Picking up on these habits or being too direct might come across as invasive or worsen their anxiety. As a facility manager, you have a natural inclination to solve a problem, but your job is not to solve them, but to support them. It’s best to avoid coming across as a micromanager or putting extra stress on your workers. 

How can you help?

So what can employers be doing to help manage workplace anxiety that employees might be feeling?

Here are 4 actionable tips to help you move forward positively:

1) Use your HR function

It’s HR professionals’ responsibility to create systems and processes that will ease people’s stress. HR can draft clear expectations and ensure policies and practices are aligned with mental health awareness. By providing mental health support and education at work, they can help managers increase employee engagement.

2) Utilise the tech available

An effective way of easing anxiety is to offer work-from-home days where people can work from home and take advantage of technology. Also consider investing in mindfulness apps such as Headspace for work, which claims to provide a workplace solution on mindfulness.

3) invest in training for mental health training & education

Having the right knowledge and skills can help managers detect the earliest signs of mental health issues. They can communicate better with employees around mental health and learn what kind of support they can provide for team members who need it. With the right training, you can feel like your employees have the support they need.

Woman working remotely to support their employee wellbeing
4) Invest in counsellors and mental health support

Your people have been under an immense amount of strain over the past few years. As you bring them back and ask them to handle another change, give them some tools to help them. This might be a therapist to help them work through what they’ve experienced. It might be productivity coaches to help them re-learn mindsets and habits that may have been lost while going through the pandemic and other global issues.

Tools like Spill offer virtual therapy sessions, 1-2-1 coaching, and support via Slack. Headspace and Calm both offer business options, comprising meditations, surveys, and workshops.

What now?

Your employee retention strategy for 2023 could consider ways to support workplace anxiety.

In order to retain employees and make sure they are well taken care of, this is an important step. Make mental health & well-being a priority, and your workforce will be happier and more productive!

Tips for controlling your anxiety: