It’s a sad fact that 120,000 deaths in the US per year are associated with work. It should come as no surprise then, that organizational anxiety is something that can impact anyone. Just because someone doesn’t outwardly seem to be struggling, that doesn’t mean they aren’t.
What is organizational anxiety?
Organizational anxiety is when the state of your company makes employees feel anxious. This could be due to mergers, acquisitions, layoffs, finances, etc.
Remember: anxiety is contagious
I often call anxiety a contagious disease. Not because it’s spread by bacteria, but because if one person in a room feels anxious, there’s a high probability that person will pass their anxiety on to other people even if they don’t mean to.
This could be through the words they use and how they describe a situation. Or through subconscious things like how they move or their facial expressions.
For instance, someone constantly twitching their foot under the desk. Yes, I know it isn’t always anxiety.
But it is a sign of excess energy you need to burn off. And this can often be due to anxiety or stress increasing our cortisol and/or adrenaline levels.
Sometimes we just need to go stretch our legs. That fidgeting could be annoying to colleagues, and they’re just too nice to say anything.
It’s these kinds of thoughts and actions that are contagious. And that’s why it’s really important to remember that when things are up in the air in your organization, organizational anxiety will be high. Even if you don’t see the signs that you think you will. Mental health issues don’t always manifest how we expect.
Organizational anxiety may also be worse if you’re office-based or hybrid, because employees spend more physical time with each other. So they can experience how others feel more easily. And it’s much harder for them to switch off from that than if they work remotely.
How to reduce organizational anxiety
Here are some tips to reduce organizational anxiety during challenging times in your business:
Offer remote work
As I mentioned above, anxiety is contagious. So if employees can work remotely from somewhere they’re protected from the contagious nature of organizational anxiety, it’s less likely to rub off on them, even if they have their own concerns.
Create a culture of psychological safety
If employees don’t feel comfortable or safe at work, they’ll naturally feel anxious just leaving the house or sitting at their desk to check in for the day. Building psychological safety ensures employees can discuss their worries before they develop into organizational anxiety.
Communicate clearly
If you take just one thing away from this list, make it clear communication. Clarity is one of the strongest ways to diffuse organizational anxiety.
When employees know where they stand with you, what to expect from the business, and you talk to them as equals, they’ll feel more at ease.
Encourage breaks
Sometimes, when we’re on the cusp of a breakthrough, or trying to fix something, we want to keep going. But this is exactly the time when things can go wrong or we don’t perform at our best.
Breaks are a key part of resetting our mental health, even if we don’t have anxiety.
Encouraging employees to take regular breaks to grab a drink, stretch their legs, or talk to colleagues about what they watched last night, breaks them out of a cycle that can lead to burnout.
The more often employees take breaks, the calmer they’ll be. Which means fewer mistakes and happier team members.
And the more often your people can perform at their best, the more you’ll get out of them. And the less organizational anxiety will take its toll.
Make it okay to discuss mental health
While we’ve come a long way on the mental health front, it’s still often taboo to discuss it.
I’ll never forget something that happened in a previous role: a colleague took time off due to work stress. And people mocked him behind his back for it.
That was my signal never to discuss mental health with those people because they’d never get it.
It sometimes only takes one comment from a colleague or senior leader for employees to feel able to—or never able to—discuss their mental health.
But if you want high performers, you have to acknowledge that that comes with lows like anxiety, depression, and burnout, too.
You can’t have the highs without the lows. We can’t perform at 100% all the time. Acknowledging that, and sharing our mental health stories, allows us to bond with colleagues and feel more able to be ourselves. Which in turn reduces the risk of organizational anxiety.
Know the signs
Do you know how to spot the more subtle signs of anxiety?
Someone I know is a huge perfectionist. Their colleagues praise them for their attention to detail, reinforcing this perfectionism—and creating huge work-related anxiety.
Colleagues praising their high standards has created a dangerous cycle. They now ruminate over small details and hyperfocus on work instead of taking breaks.
But since perfectionism often isn’t considered a sign of anxiety, their colleagues have never thought about raising the issue.
When people channel everything into their work and have no time for hobbies, exercise, sleep, or to cook a healthy meal, that’s a neon sign saying something is up and that person is at high risk of damaging their mental health. Perhaps they’re worried that their role is insecure or that they’re not good enough. Or maybe they just don’t want to let their colleagues down. It’s important to get to the root of the problem and address it before it spirals into organizational anxiety.
Take inspiration from therapy exercises
When employees can share how they really feel and what they’re worried about, they’re far more likely to feel calm. Encourage them to come up with solutions if they can. Or if it’s out of their control, to discuss/write down what’s really on their mind to get it out of their system.
Focusing on solutions or writing down hypothetical worries can help us to let go of any organizational anxiety we’re carrying. That way we can get back to the task at hand.
Conclusion
Organizational anxiety can feel somewhat inevitable, especially in challenging times like these.
But there are steps you and your leaders can take to put your employees at ease and support their psychological wellbeing so that they can perform at their best.
Connection is the antidote to organizational anxiety
The causes of organizational anxiety aren’t always things that are within an employee’s control. Helping them stay connected to each other can make them feel more supported and able to take what’s happening within the organization in stride.
Empowering your team with a central hub for your employee experience ensures they never have to wonder. All the information they need is in one place, alongside opportunities to bond with colleagues, automated engagement surveys, and in-depth, real-time analytics for you.
Discover how Workrowd can help you mitigate organizational anxiety—book your free demo today.
