Stressed at Work?

How to Become Part of the Solution

If you’re reading this, chances are you’re feeling the weight of stress, the pressure to perform, and the frustration of not knowing how to make things right—both for yourself and your organization.

Stress, disengagement, and burnout are problems at work, at home, and everywhere. Workplace stress also costs organizations billions every year.

Who wants to be willing, open, and honest about that? It takes profound self-awareness and work on each person at work to make a collective change.

Let’s examine workplace stress, its causes and costs, and how we can become part of the solution.

To Anyone Suffering, Feeling Stuck

If you're suffering at work, I'm sorry. The biggest lesson I learned about suffering at work or anywhere else is that I'm the source of my suffering. I had to own my part if I didn’t love work or was too stressed. I had to get sick of the situation enough to do something different, to shift into a higher gear.

The same is true for trauma. Suffering, being stressed out, like trauma, happens in us, not to us, according to leading medical experts like Gabor Mate.

Some stress, like getting a good workout, can be good. But it's how we respond to stress, trauma, and suffering that matters more than anything else, especially at work. We have to be willing to talk about it.

We have to be willing to talk about it.

When I meet new subscribers or clients, the biggest problem is typically a need for more results, meaning, or purpose. Money and financial stress aren't usually a big deal unless you're a founder or small company owner burning too much capital.

If you're a founder, owner, or leader, you're generally the biggest driver of the culture and stress levels at work. Stress at work always starts with you. The solution begins with your willingness to fix the problem.

If you’re stressed at work, your team is, too. Stress and fear are contagious. The ripple effect costs everyone at work. Collectively, it costs the organization big bucks lost before hitting the bottom line.

Here’s the harsh reality: workplace stress and disengagement are crippling organizations.

68% of U.S. employees don't love work. When I researched the statistics, the reports read, "Only 32% of U.S. employees are fully engaged." That understates the problem; we're miserable at work.

The Cost Is High

The consequences are high turnover, low productivity, and employees just "putting in time" rather than bringing their best. Now, let’s look at the costs.

• It’s estimated that job stress costs U.S. businesses over $300 billion annually in absenteeism, reduced productivity, turnover, and medical expenses.
• Stress-related illnesses like heart disease and hypertension are on the rise, and this stress isn’t just harming individuals—it’s impacting your business.
• When engagement drops, so does productivity, with $550 billion lost productivity yearly.

You’ve seen it happen: great employees burning out, performance slipping, or talented team members walking out the door. And the cost of replacing even one of them can be as much as 50-200% of their annual salary.

A Gallup study found that disengaged employees are 61% more likely to suffer from serious health issues and take more sick days, further driving down your bottom line.

So, what’s the solution?

The S.H.I.F.T. Method Applied to Organizational Stress

I'm taking this on as a writer, business consultant, and strategic coach. I can solve your marketing and sales problems, but that's easier than workplace stress. While it's true that it's a source of stress, the most significant stress factor at work starts with you.

On a scale of 1-10, how stressed, frustrated, or stuck are you at work?

If it's seven or more, the rest of this article is for you. I hacked a simple approach or method for identifying and processing the source of stress at work and within each of us so it doesn't ruin the organization or kill us prematurely.

If you think what I just wrote is melodramatic, it's not. Stress and other toxic stuff we create are killing more of us sooner:

Life expectancy in the U.S. peaked at 78.9 years in 2014, but by 2021, it had fallen to 76.1 years—a significant drop that erased all the gains made since 1996.

According to the CDC, this sharp decline represents the most significant two-year drop in life expectancy in the U.S. in over a century.

I'm not an HR guru, psychologist, or brain surgeon. I'm a student, writer, teacher, facilitator, and consultant who can identify the sources of workplace stress in minutes and create a simple plan of action to help everyone become part of the solution.

My mission is to reduce workplace stress. I do this using a process to help willing people who are ready to S.H.I.F.T. into a higher gear of consciousness. That means self-awareness, flow, and performance while reducing stress.

Everyone has to become part of the solution to reduce stress at work. The S.H.I.F.T. begins at the top. The S.H.I.F.T. works on people first.

By applying the S.H.I.F.T. method, you’re not just transforming yourself—you’re changing the culture of your business. The goal is to create awareness of the cost and causes of stress at work to reduce its impact on each person and, ultimately, the organization.

S.H.I.F.T. at Work

Here’s how the S.H.I.F.T. at Work process can help alleviate the costs and implications of stress and disengagement:

1. Self-Awareness: It starts with you, the big cheese. We begin with a simple assessment. As a leader, cultivating self-awareness clarifies how stress affects decision-making, communication, and leadership style. When you model self-awareness, your team follows. We assess the team and see where the stress lives.
2. Higher Understanding: Elevate your perspective beyond the day-to-day grind. Recognize that purpose-driven work, aligned with core values, inspires you and your team. This leads to greater engagement and a sense of meaning in their work, driving higher performance and reducing turnover.
3. Introspection: Reflect on the culture and environment you’re creating. Are you fostering a high-pressure, low-reward atmosphere? Use introspection to identify where stress is coming from and how to make meaningful adjustments that align with your values and your employees’ well-being. Imagine everyone reflecting on their part of the culture.
4. Focused Intention: It is crucial to set clear, focused intentions for the culture you want to create. Are you building an environment where people can thrive, or are they merely surviving? Intention guides your business strategy toward a more engaged, productive workforce. But you've got to be willing, open, and honest.
5. Transcendence: Finally, transcend the daily stressors by embracing the present moment and leading purposefully. When you rise above the constant pursuit of results for results’ sake and instead focus on the holistic well-being of yourself and your team, you create a thriving business environment where you and your employees can succeed. The S.H.I.F.T. method helps people and organizations align and grow.

Creating Lasting Change in Your Business

Stress and disengagement don’t just disappear. They require intentional, sustained action. Dealing with stress is about seeing it, owning it, and changing the sources of the root cause, person by person.

"Reducing stress at work is a team sport. We might even hug." - CJ3

The S.H.I.F.T. process provides a framework for navigating stress at work. It all starts at the top with the key leaders, and because the S.H.I.F.T. method works well, stress takes less of a toll on everyone.

When you prioritize self-awareness, higher understanding, introspection, focused intention, and transcendence, you transform yourself, the people, and the business you lead. By focusing on employee engagement, reducing stress, and building a culture aligned with your values, you can expect:

• Lower turnover: Companies with high engagement experience 59% lower turnover.
• Higher productivity: Engaged employees are 21% more productive.
• Healthier teams: Reducing workplace stress can reduce absenteeism and healthcare costs.

So, where do you begin? It starts with a straightforward step: becoming aware.

Recognize the stress in yourself and your organization, and commit to making the necessary changes for personal and professional transformation.

You can start small, but you can start now. Your impact on yourself and your business can be the difference between a company that thrives and one that survives.

Sources:

• Gallup, State of the Global Workplace (2023)
• American Institute of Stress, Workplace Stress (2023)
• Work Institute, 2022 Retention Report
• Gallup, The Engaged Workplace (2022)