Decades of scientific research have shown that stress and anxiety are pervasive problems at work that affect employees’ happiness. While anxiety is caused by a range of factors, including issues not related to work, a common cause is specific to the workplace: incompetent leadership.
Managers and leaders have a direct impact on their employees’ stress. Their words and actions greatly affect the physical and mental health of the team. The more senior a leader is, the more people they are likely to influence.
Sadly, few leaders realize that they have this power. Many people are overconfident in their leadership skills, creating a gap between their level of competence and what they actually are. This explains why even well-meaning bosses may unintentionally cause anxiety levels to rise and have a limited ability to correct and improve employee behavior.
Leaders must pay great attention to their behavior and communication style. This is even more important in times of increased uncertainty because we often look to leaders to guide us through our fears, provide us with clarity and direction, and, most importantly, give us reasons to remain hopeful and optimistic.
Lead researcher David M. Almeida, PhD, a professor of human development and family studies at Penn State’s College of Health and Human Development, told Healthline that, at first, he and his colleagues expected life to be more stressful now than it was in the 1990s.
What surprised them was the difference between middle-aged and other age groups.
“We thought young people in their late 20s or early 30s would be most stressed, as they emerge from the recession and low job prospects and enter a period of economic uncertainty,” he said. “But the most stressed are those aged 50 to 64. That stands out and is shocking.”
Almeida said that when they dug deeper into the data, they found that middle-aged people seemed to have more demands and pressures, naturally raising stress levels that younger people might not have (Mastroianni, 2020).
For example, middle-aged people tend to be responsible for raising young adult children to start life as adults, as well as taking care of the older generation (Mastroianni, 2020).
Almeida added, “During this time, you are not only responsible for your own happiness but also for the happiness of many others.” “Even at work, in middle age, you move into management positions, and the number of people around you increases your chances of experiencing stress.”
University of California, San Francisco Osher Medical Center Dr. Sudha Prathikanti, an integrative psychiatrist and Ayurvedic physician at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine in San Francisco, says the anecdotes she sees with her patients reflect this.
References
Chammaro -Premuzic, T. (2020). 5 Ways Leaders Accidentally Stress Out Their Employees. [online] Harvard Business Review. Available at: https://hbr.org/2020/05/5-ways-leaders-accidentally-stress-out-their-employees
[Accessed 13 Apr. 2022].
Mastroianni, B. (2020). Why Americans Are More Stressed Today Than They Were in the 1990s. [online] Healthline. Available at: https://www.healthline.com/health-news/people-more-stressed-today-than-1990s
[Accessed 13 Apr. 2022].
