Work Anxiety

The anxiety caused by stress inducing work or working environment is called Work anxiety. You should never confuse work stress with work anxiety as both are related but different. While stress cause physical and emotional discomfort by an external trigger, anxiety is characterized by recurrent, overwhelming worries that linger even when no stressor is present. Some common signs of anxiety include excessive or unreasonable worrying, difficulty to sleep, excessive startling, weariness, racing heart, sweating. In a work place situation, these signs could be accompanied by a tendency to take a long break from work, difficulty to concentrate or finish assignments on time, hostility to and overreacting in the workplace, overthinking the negative elements of work etc. One should seek proper medication in times of need as a healthy mind is as important as a healthy body.

The cause of work anxiety would be different for each person. Among the most common causes are strict deadlines, strained relationships with co-workers, workplace bullying or disagreements, demanding officials, low rewards or recognitions etc. Do you know work anxiety can reduce the quality of your performance and have negative effects on your personal life too? You may also feel irritable or isolated. Other effects include reduced job satisfaction, lack of objectives, low self-esteem, reduced social skills. This effects not only you as a person or professional but also the firm you’re affiliated to. Taking short leisure breaks from work, finding things that make you happy, having a ‘me-time’, analysing your fear, keeping a happy journal can all help you cope up with anxiety to an extent. If you struggle a lot with anxiety issues you should tell your employer for them to help and understand you. Most employers will be positively responding and offering help or solutions.

Remember, if your work is causing you troubles, the best place to find solution is the working environment itself. When it comes to work place anxiety, employers should act accordingly by setting up stress management sessions and consider the humaneness of their work force. Treating every employee with respect and enquiring their general well being and giving adequate time for employees to process or respond to situations can help in tackling work place anxiety. A patient and non-judgmental listener who can empathise is all a person with anxiety requires to heal slowly. Employers should make sure to assign such a person for helping employees with anxiety. Also, everyone should keep in mind that seeking medication if required is normal and necessary.