Is Workplace Anxiety on your mind?

Racing heart, palms damp and brain in a whirl – welcome to work. If your job is even a little pressured, odds are you’re not the cool, calm, focused type. Chances are pretty high that you suffer from at least a modest degree of work-related anxiety. Nowadays, concern and stress are a given in most workplaces. High-pressure careers are more common than low-pressure ones. If organisations were decent-sized salamanders, pressure would be a heat source. So, at work, we all burn now and then. But a lot of us burn quite a lot. What’s that good for? How about bad for? We know that stress can have serious physical effects, and we won’t be rehashing that here. Instead, we’ll cover the mental effects.

For many, work-related anxiety is triggered by a specific stressor arising from the workplace and often subsides when outside of work. Moreover, work-related anxiety is usually less severe and more treatable than anxiety disorders.

In contrast, while job-related anxiety is considered an impairment, job-related anxiety associated with anxiety disorders (generalised anxiety or social anxiety disorder, for example), is a clinical condition affecting general functioning and behaviour across different life situations – not just work – and is often more severe. It can be accompanied by other symptoms, prolonged and not amenable to workplace ergonomic modifications, and may need pharmacological and/or psychological treatment. Job-related anxiety, in general, may be alleviated with workplace changes, anxiety disorders require greater management.

Anxiety related to work is a subtype of stress that is work-related, and caused by work-related triggers, such as too much work (workload), very tight deadlines, difficult coworkers, and the fear of losing one’s job. It’s a chronic worry, feeling of tension, or uneasiness from work-related stimuli. It sometimes affects our personal life as well.

The impact of anxiety disorders on work is profound: we might refuse a promotion, or other work opportunity out of stress that it involves travel or public speaking; we might make excuses to leave office parties, work lunches, and other co-worker functions or meetings; or we might miss deadlines.

Many of the situations that people with anxiety disorders reported finding difficult to tolerate in Lehman’s national survey of workplace stress – such as: problems; deadlines; personal relationships; my boss; meetings and presentations – appear to reflect real world job demands.

Advice for dealing with stress and anxiety at work

Everyone experiences work stress, but it should be a normal day-to-day experience. If a person has ongoing, illogical, crushing and otherwise debilitating stress, they might suffer from an anxiety disorder. Keep these ideas in mind to help regulate your working life.

• Work! Apart from the material reasons, work can be important for your self-esteem and for the reinforcement of your social identity.
• Tell a trusted colleague. Being reassured that someone acknowledges your condition can be reassuring and can reduced the fear of having a panic attack at work.
• Train. Learn how to recognise your disorder’s symptoms and how to respond to them, if you experience them at work.
• Plan your time. Make a to-do list and give priority to certain tasks or projects. Once you’ve given yourself a certain amount of time, stick to it.
• But you can plan and prepare, get going on big projects early, set mini-deadlines, and think about problems before they can hurt or help you.
• Get it right the first time. Take a bit extra time at the start to save you a headache when you have to do the work again.
• Be Positive But be realistic. Don’t promise to do something, or take on a project, that you know you won’t be able to give the time it deserves.
• Ask for help. If you are in over your head, ask another co-worker to help you. You can return the favour.
• Talk. If your plate is too full, talk in a calm but firm and diplomatic way. Your boss might not appreciate it if you blurt out the truth.
• Keep neat. Putting away your papers and deleting stuff off your computer desktop might be one of your last tasks, but it could end up saving you time and avoiding a crisis in the long run.

The Impact of Work-Related Stress and Anxiety on Individuals and Organisations

There are great costs beyond the individual – to organisations and, ultimately, to society as a whole – when work-related stress and anxiety is left unchecked.

Chronic work stress can produce a range of serious, long-term physical health consequences, such as:

1. Cardiovascular problems, such as high blood pressure and increased risk of heart disease
2. Weakened immune system, leading to more frequent illnesses
3. Musculoskeletal disorders, particularly in sedentary office environments
4. Gastrointestinal issues, including ulcers and irritable bowel syndrome
5. Chronic fatigue and sleep disorders
6. Increased risk of obesity and related health problems

The mental health effects of prolonged workplace anxiety are equally concerning:

1. Development or exacerbation of anxiety disorders
2. Increased risk of depression
3. Burnout syndrome, characterised by emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced professional efficacy
4. Substance abuse as a coping mechanism
5. Deterioration of personal relationships due to work-related stress spillover
6. Reduced overall life satisfaction and well-being

From an organisational perspective, dealing with work-related stress and anxiety can have considerable consequences. Lower productivity and job performance are often the immediate outcomes as anxious workers find it hard to concentrate, make sound decisions and work effectively. This often leads to important deadlines being missed, lower quality of output, and fewer new ideas.

Organisational and societal X-rays are needed, but solving the problem of stress at work ultimately relies on an understanding of individual anxieties, sensitivities, risks and needs. The high price of unmanaged work stress is paid by each sufferer and their families. It is also paid back by society as a whole. It mingles with our mental health crisis, disappearing from view because it thrives in full view. It goes underground when it should be at the surface. By talking to employees, managers and experts, they provide the picture of work stress that we all knew – but that has now become clearer still. By creating healthy work environments, we can limit the spectrum of discomforts and anxieties that may afflict us while at work, and impair our performance, quality of life and even our sense of value and purpose in the world.