We recently read an article in the LA Times which cited two studies addressing the issue of stress in the workplace. One study was by Yale University which found that 29% of civilian workers felt “quite a bit or extremely stressed at work.” The other study was by the Families and Work Institute which found that 26% of civilian workers were “often or very often burned out or stressed by their work.” It’s scary to think that 25% of an organization is experiencing this level of stress on any given day.

In working with our clients during the past few years we have seen a startling increase in the number of people who tell us that they are “stress out” or “burned out” because of the overwhelming demands of their job. One leader of an organization asked us to metaphorically make sure that one of his staff “didn’t jump out a window.”

Stress not only inhibits people’s ability to complete their work, it affects their private life and the service they provide their customers/clients.

Organizations would benefit by having in place a standing goal to continually find ways to “reduce” stress level of their workers. Professional skills training is one of the best investments an organization can make to help their people get their work done at the highest level of quality with the least amount of stress. We believe that what we do globally (the PEP® Programs) is a foundational pillar in working effectively under less stress, but so are the skills taught at the Center for Creative Leadership, and instruction on business communications mastery.

The Stress Mess is real, but can be reduced significantly by organizations who have a proactive approach to assuring that members of staffs have mastered the skills necessary to work at peak ability and low stress levels.