Easing stress at work is a challenge

By Amy Joyce
Washington Post

Last year, Kathi Vanyo noticed things were getting tense in her office. DBM, a New York outplacement firm that helps companies and employees in transition, was itself in transition: It was being sold.

Employees at the branch in Phoenix didn't know what might happen to their jobs or their company. Meanwhile, their workload had spiked as major companies continued to let hundreds go.

Vanyo's usually friendly co-workers were so stressed and overworked, they barely said hello in the hallways. There wasn't a smile in the place. People exuded anxiety.

"Little things we would normally do for each other ... were just starting to fall off," said Vanyo, the office manager.

With corporate scandals, sweeping layoffs, stressful workloads and a tough job market, work isn't the easiest thing to run to first thing in the morning. Today's workplace is the aggregate of numerous changes that have occurred during the past decade or so — many not for the better, said Rebecca Shambaugh, founder of Shambaugh Leadership Group in McLean, Va. "People now feel really wiped out. We can only take so much change."

How do managers keep employees inspired, energized and excited about work?

Vanyo, accustomed to telling other companies how to help employees through difficult times, realized she had to help her workers.

To ease stress one tough morning, she made a deal with a masseuse in their building to give 15-minute neck massages to her dozen or so employees. She filled a fishbowl with inspirational sayings, and when someone seemed frazzled, she would tell them to "go fish." The office bought the receptionist a pair of big red plastic lips "for those moments when she doesn't feel like smiling" at every client who walks in.

"We're not living in those lavish times when companies could have big employee outings," Vanyo said. "But it's still important to pay attention to creating a fun, enjoyable workplace to come to."

Curt Coffman, a global practice leader for employee consulting at the Gallup Organization in Washington, said today's brain-powered workplace has led to more options for employees. Rather than the "power-based management" of a more industrial time, when a manager fired workers if they didn't do what they were told, today's management is more dependent on individual skills of employees.

"What we need the employees for is sometimes much greater than what they need us for," he said.

That's why many managers pay more attention to their employees when times are tough. Often it goes beyond providing a little fun, to building trust between manager and managed.

After 16 years at mortgage giant Freddie Mac, Tricia McClung, vice president of affordable lending, thinks the past year may have been the most trying. In June, executives stepped down after questions arose about the company's accounting. The news surprised McClung's 55 workers, who began to wonder about the stability of traditionally steady Freddie. The best thing she could do was let them know as much as she did about what was happening with their employer.

During the height of the company's turmoil last summer, when executives were leaving and new ones were coming in, she made sure that when she learned something — good or bad — she passed it on to her employees.

"The worst thing a manager can do is constantly be a ray of sunshine, saying everything's wonderful. Give people more credit," McClung said. "We work here with a group of very professional people who do best with more information. As long as you keep communication frequent, usually that alone makes them more comfortable."

That's key, said Clay Parcells, regional managing partner with Right Management Consultants Inc., which advises companies in such situations. "The best managers ... make sure they communicate with their employees and demonstrate to them how their help fits with a company's goals," he said.

For example, one client, a company that had gone through major downsizing, let the people who had to take over extra duties lay out a plan for which responsibilities they could assume. "That empowered the group," Parcells said.

McClung's employees also had to take on extra work. McClung was so busy, she realized she could easily get caught up and "forget about them as a person." So she decided to provide some play time.

She treated everyone to a barbecue, volleyball and horseback riding. At Halloween, employees brought their young children to work for a costume party.

"In some cases, I try to do that when things are the craziest here, because that's when you need the break more than ever," she said.