My employee performs well but exhibits high stress. How can I support her? Elaine Varelas explores support options
When an employee is performing well, it may be easy to take their stress for granted. The detriments of stress, however, outweigh the benefits of good short-term performance. Elaine Varelas expands on the importance to talking to your employee who exhibits stress and offering them the support that they may need.
Q. One of my employees continues to perform well and she meets her deadlines, but she always seems stressed. Is it sufficient to reward her for good performance, or should I take the time to sit down and talk to her to reevaluate what sort of tasks we assign her?A.
It’s always important to recognize the emotional state of an employee in addition to their ability to perform their job. The question that you’re asking isn’t about what sort of tasks you assign her – it’s about taking the time to meet with her and finding out what causes her stress. Are you giving her enough time to complete her assignments? Perhaps you’re assigning too many tasks without enough time for her to meet deadlines. There doesn’t seem to be a need for a conversation about performance here; what you want to get out a conversation with her is an understanding of what is causing the stress. Then you can focus on identifying ways to either help her relieve that stress if you’re the one causing it, or support her if the source is an external stressor. Employees should always be rewarded for good performance, but you should also take the time to sit down and talk to her. This is never an either/or.
Long-term stress on the job leads to illness, deteriorating performance, and employee turnover. Your goal as a manager is to help this employee continue to perform well without the stress that has made itself apparent. Based on the issues that she identifies – if it’s caused by you or her colleagues, unreasonable deadlines, or a high-volume workload – there may be things that you can address or change. If she identifies personal or external stressors, however, then now is the time to refer her to an EAP for more expert, specialized support that they offer or the referrals they can provide.
If you don’t have an EAP, see if you can find out more; ask her questions about where she can get support, or if she’s already getting assistance for these external issues. She may open up to you, she may not – she is under no obligation to do so. Your goal is not to push her to open up and allow you to solve her problems. Your goal is to ensure that she stays healthy, engaged, and continues to perform well.
Often people will tell someone not to exhibit their stress, depending on their visible behaviors. Some people exhibit stress openly. A manager’s goal shouldn’t be to teach employees to hide it, rather they should encourage their staff to learn how to minimize or eliminate stress. Often, workers who are facing stress should put down their paper and pen or step away from their computer to go for a walk, or maybe take five minutes to meditate. There are plenty of other behaviors that can minimize the negative impact of stress, and you can encourage her to identify what works best for her.
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