Every company strives for a low-stress workplace, but what happens when the boss is the cause of everyone’s stress?
Here are five of the most common ways that bosses stress out employees:
- Setting unrealistic goals for employees. Every employer wants to set the bar high, but demanding too much can discourage — rather than encourage — your employees.
What works better: If you have an extremely difficult project that you need your staff to achieve, try breaking the project down into smaller, more manageable parts. - Us vs. them talk. To keep employees on their side, some managers will remove themselves from controversial decisions.
Example: When a managers say, “I fought tooth-and-nail to get you that raise, but you know HR has the final say.” Creating this Us. vs. Them mentality can backfire in many ways — setting departments against one another, and undermining a manager’s leadership capabilities. - Playing favorites. Managers who allow certain poor performers to slide or turn a blind eye to some staffers’ bad habits can have a detrimental effect on good employees.
- Jumping to conclusions. Whether intentional or not, managers who tell their staff how they should feel or react in certain situations can effectively stress or anger much more than the actual situation.
Best bet: Allow employees to talk, react and come up with their own solutions to the problem at hand. - Poor listening. Nothing sets off employees more than a manager who doesn’t listen to his or her employees. Feeling like the boss has no interest in his or her employees’ thoughts and opinions creates an extremely high stress environment.
Are we missing any stressors? Feel free to leave them in our comments section.
