Work and stress are two words that very frequently go together. Assignments, meetings, deadlines, problem-solving – there’s no shortage of responsibilities at the job that can keep us up at night if we let them. But one area of work that can be quite stressful but over gets overlooked is workplace relationships. Workplace relationships stats from the American Institute of Stress show that most of our work stress – 46% – comes from workload, while 20% comes from juggling work/life balance, and 6% comes from lack of job security. But a large chunk of the pie – 28% – shows work stress stemming from interpersonal struggles.
Workplace Relationships Stats
With these workplace relationships stats in mind, it’s important to recognize how relationships in the office can impact anxiety levels and productivity, which can escalate into a fury of other anxieties.
Abusive Environments
Additional workplace relationships stats show that 42% of people reported that yelling and other verbal abuse was common in their work environment. And nearly 30% reported that they had yelled at a co-worker as a result of their own stress. In this information, we can begin to understand how stress can compound itself. Occupational stress leads to interpersonal stress which creates harsh or negative environments, ramping up the stress levels even more. Fourteen percent of survey participants even noted that workplace rage led to damaging equipment or machinery and 10% reported physical workplace violence as a result of stress.
Lack of Self Care
Workplace relationships aren’t the only interpersonal realms that can be impacted by, and impact, your run-of-the-mill job stress. What goes on at home can, of course, have a big impact on the stress cycle. Lack of time for self-care, including rest, medical attention, family time, and other fun activities, can compound this stress as well. Sixty-two percent of survey participants noted that work stress led to neck pain at the end of the day, and more than half of the study said their job demands were so high they put in long hours, often skipping lunch. Not having enough time in the day to tend to personal needs leads to additional stress, which can also contribute to the 34% of participants who noted difficulty sleeping.
Job Insecurity
The workplace relationships stats show that only 6% of workers get their stress from job ambiguity or lack of job security. This tends to change with the overall employment culture at the time. When government census release data of jobs lost in the previous year, workers become more fearful of losing their jobs.
Lack of Stress Management
Inquiring about how to improve relationships at work is a good start because oftentimes employees are not equipped to handle managing their work-related stress, making it escalate and expand. Gaining the tools to improve workplace relationships can not only help reduce one main source of stress but also give team members an opportunity to support each other in other ways. By working together for solutions on how to improve relationships at work, individuals can help share the burden and not overwhelm so easily. This can decrease the verbally or physically abusive conditions that can sometimes occur, keeping the overall stress levels more manageable.
Workplace relationships can be difficult to manage when there’s so much else calling for everyone’s attention. But working to tend to these relationships can be a major source of stress reduction over time, and help limit the crises that arise with poor stress management. If you need help managing or rebuilding workplace relationships, contact Pollack Peacebuilding today.
