If there's one word that fills the hallways of HR departments these days, it's stress. But is it because it's become popular to say you're stressed, or is there actually something to it? The Danish Stress Association estimates that as many as 430,000 thousand Danes experience serious symptoms of stress every day. This corresponds to almost 8% of the Danish population. There are indications that working life has become a huge source of stress, but why is that? Have we all become workaholics? Are we too perfectionist in our work? Do we prioritize the job too much?
"What do you do in your everyday life?"
Ifyou ask Malene Friis Andersen & Svend Brinkmann, the answer may be found in the contemporary merging of work and identity. We all know it. When we meet someone new, the first question we usually ask is: "What do you do for a living?". In other words, we assess the person we are dealing with based on their working life. It sounds superficial, but maybe it's not such a bad idea. Because our identities and our working lives are nowadays so intertwined, it might be possible to get a good insight into a person simply by knowing what they do for a living.
Cognitivecapitalism?
Whyour identities today are so closely linked to our working lives can be explained by the concept of cognitive capitalism. During industrialization, most people's jobs were manual work. Back then, the body was the main tool of work. But this is no longer the case. Today, most people's primary tool is themselves, their brain, their cognition. Maybe you know what it's like when you come home from work and are asked what to buy for dinner, and you're so tired in the head that you answer the usual "shouldn't we just buy take-out?".
So we have entered a new era, which can be called cognitive capitalism. Because we use ourselves, our personality, our brain, creativity, humanity and rationalism in work, it is impossible to separate work from our sense of self and identity.
Why dowe get stressed by using ourselves at work?
Onemight wonder why using ourselves in our work makes us more stressed. Shouldn't it be satisfying to use more than just your body in your work? You might remember sitting at the checkout in Netto and couldn't wait to use yourself and your abilities to do more than just smiling and saying "do you need the receipt?". So yes, it can be satisfying. But the danger is when we have a job where the tasks are undefined, where we don't share responsibility, we don't have insight, we don't get enough feedback - in other words, we don't know if we're doing it well enough.
AmI not good enough?
Ifwe start to doubt whether we are doing our job well enough, whether the manager appreciates us, and whether we are even competent in our work - we will work harder. Maybe you know it from yourself? When you are not recognized for the task you have just handed in, you can feel that knot in your stomach that says "maybe the boss doesn't like the way I have done it? I'll do better next time".
And we will work harder because if we are not good in our working life, we are not good outside of work. As I said, work and identity are intertwined. We will work harder and harder to maintain our positive self-image. So hard that we eventually end up on sick leave with stress.
Ino longer know who I am
Whyis it so difficult to return to work after such a sick leave? The answer can be found in one question. Who are you now? Maybe you used to be the cool consultant who welcomed all the new tasks with a smile and never complained about a 60-hour working week. But you ended up going down with stress. When you come back, who will you be? You may have lost the self-belief that you can do it all. You now have limits you didn't know before. The loss of work is therefore also a loss of identity.
The all-powerful leader
The headlinemay suggest a dictatorship, but in the workplace, managers have much more power than just structural power. They have the power to judge who is good enough and who is not. If your manager criticizes you for your work performance, it may not just be limited to your work performance for you - you feel the criticism as if it encompasses you as a whole person.
They can be seen in the smallest of scenarios; you think you've had a hard week and bring a bag of licorice to the office to celebrate your hard work. But you overhear your boss say to a colleague "phew, who likes crayons anyway?". And there it was again. The knot in your stomach. All because your boss doesn't recognize your gesture.
In this way, the manager has enormous power of definition. The manager defines your work tasks, sets the criteria for whether they are done properly, whether your attitude is legitimate or not. Therefore, the manager potentially plays a huge role in the development of stress in employees.
Youdeserve a well-defined task and a pat on the back
Ifyour manager is able to give you well-defined tasks, where you know what your role is and what the criteria are for successful performance, you are less likely to suffer from stress. Because then you won't be tirelessly trying to meet standards you don't know about.
Therefore, it is not least an appreciative environment in the workplace that is essential to reduce the chances of stress. If you are recognized for the work you do and feel adequate and competent, there is less chance that you will frantically try to perform all tasks in perfection to the smallest detail. You will be good enough at work, and therefore good enough as a person. Positive feedback is therefore essential to thriving at work, and it will potentially reduce the chance of stress developing.
"You're doing great!"
Today,we can no longer distinguish between who we are in our private life and who we are in our professional life. Our identity and our work life have merged. This creates an imminent danger of stress, because if we do not feel adequate at work, we do not feel adequate as human beings. It is therefore crucial that we are recognized and therefore remember to recognize others. Tell your employees or colleagues that they are doing a good job and that their work is appreciated, and then there is less chance of another stress-related sick leave.
Minimizing stress is not the only way you will benefit financially from a healthy feedback culture. If you want to know more perspectives on how a healthy feedback culture can be reflected in financial performance, read this article.
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