Guidance on Coping Strategies for Instructors and Leaders
Stress Management in Green Industry Service Businesses: Creating Healthier Workplaces
Stress management is crucial for both mental and physical health, especially in the demanding environment of green industry service businesses. These businesses, with their seasonal workloads, long hours, and outdoor work conditions affected by weather, can be particularly stressful.
Effective strategies for managing stress focus on creating healthier and more supportive workplace environments that reduce stress triggers. One such approach is the integration of biophilic design elements, like preserved green walls and plants, into workspaces. These natural visual and sensory reliefs reduce noise and stress, boost morale, and enhance mood and productivity, all without the maintenance needs of live plants.
Another key approach is the implementation of flexible work policies. Allowing flexible hours, remote work, or hybrid arrangements helps employees balance personal and professional obligations, reducing stress from rigid schedules and commutes.
Wellness programs, offering mindfulness, meditation, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)-based apps, wearable biofeedback devices, and access to mental health resources, support employees in managing daily stress and promoting resilience.
Building a respectful and inclusive environment where employees feel valued and recognized also reduces psychosocial stressors and enhances overall satisfaction.
In addition to these workplace strategies, personal lifestyle changes can significantly impact stress levels. Eating a well-balanced diet, rich in protein, fruits, and vegetables, can help control stress. Caffeine, known for causing nervousness and tension, might be best reduced in consumption to manage stress levels.
Exercise, too, plays a vital role in stress management. Regular physical activity can lessen stress and improve heart, lung, and artery health. However, setting high, unachievable goals does not help reduce stress. Instead, it's essential to maintain a positive attitude, accept stress as a part of life, and learn to relax.
It's also important to note that alcohol and drugs can reduce one's ability to cope with stress and may be addictive. Seeking help for stress management before it gets out of control is always advisable.
Self-help groups offer emotional support and practical help, while talking to others—family, friends, colleagues, or professionals—can provide emotional support. A nutritious breakfast, including protein, fresh fruit, and vegetables, can help cope with stress, and lifestyle changes, such as defining home and work responsibilities, managing time, setting realistic goals, and developing an exercise program, can further reduce stress.
Lastly, it's crucial to recognise the early warning signs of stress-related problems, including moodiness, withdrawing from responsibility, trouble sleeping, poor emotional control, severe feelings of helplessness and dependency, chronic fatigue, susceptibility to illness, marked change in appetite or sex drive. If any of these symptoms persist, it's advised to consult a doctor.
By collectively targeting workplace stress factors—environmental, organizational, and personal—these strategies foster healthier, more productive green industry workplaces. Using electric, low-maintenance equipment, such as remote-controlled electric loaders, can also indirectly contribute to stress reduction by reducing physical strain and hazard-related stress on workers.
