How To Manage Workplace Anxiety

Workplace anxiety can affect your job performance

Talking to a therapist can help

Workplace anxiety can happen as soon as you begin your first foray into the workplace, after switching jobs, or during times of stress. As you learn a commute or a new area, meet new coworkers, and start to take on and learn more roles and projects, the stress can mount quickly. Or perhaps you’ve been entirely comfortable with your long-term job, and a new project, coworker, or shortened deadline has you feeling uneasy.

Even if you absolutely love what you do, anxiety can make you dread showing up to work every day.

Identify stressors

Learn relaxation techniques

Working with a therapist can be very beneficial when it comes to finding ways to ease your stress as it arises. Your therapist can teach you relaxation techniques that you can use at your desk or in a break room. For example, you can learn progressive muscle relaxation if you’re prone to physical manifestations of stress like tension headaches, body aches, or pains. 

Another technique your therapist may recommend is deep breathing, also called diaphragmatic breathing. Deep breathing exercises can help calm you before an anxiety-provoking event or after an office squabble or tough meeting. Once you learn these techniques and solidify your practice, your work life may feel much more manageable.

Develop strategies for stress reduction

Many people relieve their stress after work by watching TV, spending time on the internet or social media, playing video games, drinking alcohol, or gambling. The problem is that although these strategies may be easy, available, and instantly gratifying, they're usually ineffective long-term and, if overdone, potentially harmful.

In therapy, you can explore healthy stress reduction strategies that work more effectively to relieve your stress while adding something valuable to your life. Your therapist might encourage you to consider options like working out, meditating, reading, going for walks, socializing with friends and family, getting a massage, or listening to music. They may also suggest that you create a schedule that incorporates these activities throughout your week to better manage your stress on a more consistent basis.

Change the way you think about work

Often, workplace anxiety stems in part from maladaptive thoughts or limiting beliefs. As you spend time in therapy, you may realize that changing your thoughts and mental framing about work can make a world of difference.

Through cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and other techniques, your counselor can guide you in examining your anxious thoughts or whatever types of thoughts you have while you’re in an anxious state. If you decide those thoughts aren’t helpful, your therapist will help you identify and choose other thoughts that can set you on a better path to stress reduction and workplace success.

The importance of communication in teamwork

Effective team communication helps encourage team collaboration, clarity, and cohesion among team members. Clear and open communication ensures that everyone is on the same page, allowing for the exchange of ideas, feedback, and problem-solving with on-site and remote teams alike. The following are strategies for fostering effective communication between team members. 

How to encourage effective team communication 

The need for employee engagement, a common understanding, and team cohesion makes communication important in a work environment. Encouraging effective workplace communication practices involves creating a supportive environment where all members feel heard and valued, which can improve job satisfaction. This might involve rehearsing good communication strategies and teaching team members active listening strategies as part of team-building activities. You can practice active listening during conversations in the workplace by emphasizing the importance of making eye contact, letting the speaker finish their thought, and then summarizing main points. 

You may also encourage employees to provide input on ways to improve team communication. An effective team is often one in which all members feel that they are being heard and team collaboration is made a priority.

Implementing regular meetings can help improve team communication skills, improve employee engagement, and phase out poor communication in the workplace. Additionally, it can help to acknowledge that coworkers may have different communication styles. While one team member may speak and write in a direct manner, another may have a more circuitous style. Identifying these disparities can help you develop an understanding between coworkers and nurture effective team communication. 

Reward your team for effective communication

Rewarding your team for effective group communication is important for teamwork. Strong communication is often the product of situations in which team members are rewarded and recognized. Consider awarding small office titles and non-monetary bonuses to individuals who demonstrate that they can communicate effectively. 

You might even place high-performers in charge of teaching others strong team communication skills. Good communication often starts at the top.

Workplace anxiety can affect your job performance

Talking to a therapist can help

Talk to a therapist on your terms and learn to communicate effectively

If workplace stress is your primary motivation for seeking therapy, you may be concerned that your coworkers or boss will find out you’re seeking help for workplace anxiety. If so, talking to a counselor online may be your best option. You can discuss your problems discreetly, whenever, however, and from wherever works best for you.

Online therapy offers an excellent opportunity for people with busy work lives to discuss workplace anxiety and any other issues within or outside of the workplace that may be negatively affecting them. When you work with an online therapist, you don’t have to schedule appointments during business hours, or leave work to drive somewhere during the middle of the day, like you might have to with an in-person therapist. Instead, you can message your therapist online or talk to them via phone call or video chat from the comfort of your own office, an empty conference room, or outside of work hours, when you are home from work.

Research shows that online therapy is effective, too. According to one study, people engaging in online therapy saw “meaningful improvements in depression and anxiety” after 12 weeks of therapy sessions and again at a six-month follow-up. If you want to learn more, get in touch with a BetterHelp therapist to get started.