Tips on how to relieve workplace stress and improve relationships
Anyone who works in the care sector knows how serious their job can be and often times the idea of fun just doesn’t come into it. However, here Simon North suggests some small changes you can make which will improve your workplace environment, relationships and ultimately your ability to cope with the stresses of the job.
- Be Sociable
Do what you can to spend time with other people at work. Maybe this means spending your lunch break with a colleague or getting a coffee together before or after work. There doesn’t need to be an underlying agenda to hanging out with the people you work with day in, day out. The building of human relationships will move you to a place where your career journey is more fun. - Get to Know People
Spend time getting to know somebody. You don’t need a particular reason to talk to this person during the working day but almost certainly you’ll have one. The outcome of showing curiosity in a fellow worker is that something will change for the better, whether that’s the relationship you have with the person or the speed at which a project or process moves forward between you. - Strike a Good Work-Life Balance
You want to work for an organisation that respects your personal time. Your employer needs to respect you enough to know that you have a life outside of your work and that your contracted hours are the hours in which you work. Work-life balance is at the root of whether your working life will be enjoyable or whether you’ll have bouts of sheer exhaustion and burn out. - Understand the Importance of Shared Values
Don’t go to work for an organisation with values that are contrary to your own. It will make you unhappy. The flip side of this is that if you find an employer with a purpose that does resonate well with you, you’re likely to be happier. - Learn and Grow
If you have the chance to learn new things on a regular basis, you will find yourself having fun. Learning and development is the opposite of doing the same old thing the same old way and driving yourself into a boring rut. Your employer doesn’t have to spend loads of money on off-site activities – ask your boss if there’s any online training you could be signed up to, for example. - Change The Things You Don’t Like
Take stock at where you are in your career journey, in your life and in your work. Are you able to change your circumstances in such a way as to make your career more personally rewarding?
About the Author:
Simon North is the Founder of Position Ignition and the Career Ignition Club. Position Ignition is one of the UK’s leading career development and career planning companies. The Career Ignition Club offers a range of career support tools, advice and e-learning materials for its members. Follow Simon North and his team on twitter @PosIgnition and get more advice from him on their Career Advice Blog.
