2020 has turned out to be a phenomenal year for everyone. Every form of business had to rework on building up business strategies overnight. Nobody knew things could be so different in 2020. The IT (Internet Technology) firms faced the most severe consequences. Some corporates that never supported ‘Work From Home’ facilities had to change their working policies in a snap.

The ‘Work from home’ culture has landed many workers in a stressful situation, let that be managing official work, team sync ups, or completing work on time. Many employees have expressed that they have experienced a lot of work-life imbalance since the lockdown. Many employees have even said that WFH leads to an increase in work pressure too.

All these factors are impacting the mental as well as physical health of employees. As the pandemic situation has compelled millions of employees to work from home, many have faced stress, anxiety, isolation, and other mental health issues. These have arisen as a result of feeling isolated and from uncertainty about stability in these times.

The World Economic Forum cited a United Nations report that has described a link between remote work and employees’ stress. It states that about 41% of remote workers have experienced high-stress levels compared to just 25% of office workers.

Another The 2020 State of Remote Work survey of 3,500 employees shows similar findings where 20% of employees report feeling lonely, while 18% of them aren’t able to unplug after work.

As the number of WFH rises, many employers need to redraw policies for employee stress management. Traditional events such as company outings, fun Friday events, and annual gatherings were among the past stress management activities. But the current situation has made organizations turn to new tech solutions for employee stress management carried out in digital form and in a contactless way.

Solutions for employee stress management

1. Counseling sessions –

Companies can organize some special counseling sessions for those employees who need mental health support. Providing 24×7 accessibility to connect with a counselor can make employees feel they always have an ear to listen to.

2. Virtual activities –

Companies can arrange a weekly online activity to help employees feel more interested and engaged in working. Conducting an hour’s fun activity every Friday can help employees boost their moods and increase their concentration levels. This will lead to an overall increase in productivity.

3. Keep employees more connected –

Arranging an everyday call to keep a team connected with their co-colleagues can be a good idea. For example, a fifteen-minute call every morning, such as a scrum call to discuss daily work status, will make employees work more enthusiastically.

4. Meditation/yoga practices –

Every person is aware of what meditation can do to one’s mind and practicing yoga can do to one’s body. Converting zoom meetings to relaxing mind zoom sessions can lead to multiple benefits for employees as well as employers.

Putting an extra hour in mind-calming sessions out of the working hours will, for sure, prove fruitful in increasing work productivity.

5. Health care facilities

Assuring your employees of immediate health facilities in case of emergencies such as medical policies can let employees feel more secure and develop trust in employers.

Also, implementing a sick leave policy on coronavirus accounts and maintaining transparency with employees will make them feel safe about their job.

Ways to help de-stress employees

While there are ample ways that can help one relax and de-stress from work, the following apps will help teach employees to work more efficiently, thus working with mindfulness, time management, and focus to ease work pressure and address anxieties.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness helps to practice the basics of a good work ethic. It helps to remain centered and prioritize tasks. Using mindfulness also lets one achieve peace of mind and get a good night’s sleep at the end of an intense day.

The following apps teach proper relaxation, breathing, and accessible meditation techniques to reduce anxiety and manage stress.

Pacifica

Pacifica works on cognitive-behavioral therapy, providing deep-breathing and muscle-relaxation exercises and daily anti-anxiety experiments.

It includes features like a mood tracker that allows recording thoughts better to understand thinking patterns and possible anxiety triggers.

Devoting time toward addressing your anxiety is essential, and this app guides through the process.

FocusWriter

Achieving focus while working is crucial. More efficient than several hours of undisciplined work full of distractions and daydreams is an hour of concentrated time. FocusWriter is a distraction-free writing app that taps privacy and security as a priority. It offers a powerful text editor and app customization.

Making the most of the time is key for improving the impact and achieving goals and protecting time to relax and recharge.

Toptal Tracker

Understanding how the time is spent helps to prioritize work. Spending time on some less important tasks can help lose track of meaningful work.

Toptal’s Tracker app makes it simple to keep track of work. It helps record any tasks related to any number of projects and create reports to visualize how time is spent. This makes it easier to track where changes need to be made to the routine.

Importance of stress management amid pandemic

Data in different surveys have proven worrying statistics of stress levels at the time of coronavirus.

Between March 13–17, an Inpulse survey of 120 respondents found that 6 out of 10 workers presently felt nervous, disturbed, or depressed. Another study of 1,000 people revealed that mental health has gotten worse for 22% of respondents, while 29% said their psychological well-being took a big hit in this pandemic.

To address this, employers urgently need to deploy employee stress management initiatives, particularly on digital platforms that remain accessible to WFH staff.

Organizations can ensure that they remain effective during these troubling times by taking care of workers’ mental health and showing consideration for their workers and their well-being.

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