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The outbreak of the pandemic has turned life upside down and caused the entire world to fall into a pit of stress. Under such circumstances, it is extremely important for you to take care of your telecommuting employees’ mental health as the ever-growing threat of catching the fatal infection is not the only thing stressing them out. There are many other stressors which they are dealing with on a daily basis, such as the challenge of maintaining proper household hygiene amidst their busy work schedule, having to take care of kids, who are staying back home all day long because of the lockdown, and the struggle to complete work targets with utmost perfection amidst the hectic household routine. All these stressors together expose your employees to excruciating levels of stress, which take a huge toll on their overall well-being and work productivity.

Given below are 7 ways by practicing which you can help your telecommuting workforce with stress management 

1.              Shed light on mindful working: 

The mindfulness technique emphasizes that focusing the mind completely in the present moment is the gateway to stress relief. This is because when your mind gets completely engrossed in the present moment, worries and stressful thoughts gradually begin to fade away.

Further, performing every action with a heightened level of consciousness is the key to draw the mind’s focus in the present moment. For instance, if you are working on a laptop, then you should do so with absolute consciousness, completely absorbing the texture of the keys, the heated surface of your laptop, and the movement of your fingers. You can use this very example to illustrate the concept of mindful working with your employees.

2.              Be Compassionate: 

In the current times, the need for compassion is greater than ever. So, it is vital for you to be compassionate with your employees for you never know what they are going through in their respective places. For example, some of your employees may be suffering from a stressful mental state arising from the news of a connection being infected by Covid-19. Although, they may not discuss their concerns with you their loss of productivity may indicate their stressed mental state. Under such circumstances, you should try not to question them directly about their decreased work productivity, rather you should prefer asking them if there is something they are bothered about and try resolving the issue.

3.              Recognize their efforts: 

Happiness promotes stress relief. So, you can help your employees with stress management by making them feel happy. Further, recognizing your employees for their efforts is one of the most effective ways of promoting their happiness. Thus, you should always try to extend heartfelt recognition to your employees for their good work.

4.              Organize heart to heart talk sessions:

 Venting out the piled-up worries, emotions and feelings play a significant role in stress relief but the prevalence of telecommuting is obstructing your employees’ path to share their worries with each other. Under such circumstances, you can give them the opportunity to vent their emotions out by organizing regular heart to heart talk sessions, virtually via video conferencing. Further, if you feel that your employees are hesitant to communicate openly in your presence, then you can try eradicating their hesitation by sharing your own worries first.

5.              Stimulate them to inculcate a habit of meditation: 

Meditation is an age-old technique that has proven benefits for stress relief. Along with inducing immediate stress relief meditation also empowers the mind’s resilience against stress. Thus, you can beacon your employees on an effective path of stress management by stimulating them to inculcate a habit of meditation. For this, you can organize weekly group meditation sessions. During the group meditation sessions, you can play any of the different guided meditation videos available on YouTube and embark on a journey of stress relief with your employees.

6.              Organize creative competitions: 

Indulging in creative endeavors induces a state of flow in the mind, which causes the intruding thoughts to silence down. As your thoughts silence down, stress-relief gradually gets induced. Although your employees may not find the time out from their busy schedule to engage in creative tasks, you can bring them to do so by organizing creative competitions. Photography contest, sketching contest, and cooking contest are some examples of competitions which you can organize for your employees. In order to ensure maximum participation, you can make it compulsory for your employees to participate.

7.              Encourage them to exercise regularly: 

It has been scientifically proven that regular exercise induces stress relief. The splurge in the production of happy hormones brought about by exercising is the reason behind the stress-relieving effects of exercise. Thus, you can direct your employees on the path of stress relief by encouraging them to exercise regularly.

To conclude, the pandemic has exposed your employees to a number of stressors, thereby increasing their stress levels significantly. It is with the elevation in stress levels that your employees’ overall health gets negatively impacted and so does their productivity. So, it is crucial for you to help your employees with stress management by practicing the different ways mentioned above.

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Jessica Robinson

A firm believer of the saying, ‘a pen is mightier than a sword’, Jessica Robinson boasts an enthralling experience of 10 years. She puts a lot of research effort along with the analyzation of the points write-ups are well researched before shaping it into a final piece. This is the reason; you would generally find her write-ups loaded with a lot of facts and viewpoints. At the education front, she holds a doctorate degree in the field of management, which certainly aids her intelligence and interpretation skills that instills in her content.

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