Making Stress Work for You

Mental health has become a priority in the workplace. According to a RAND Corporation study, spending on mental health rose by 53 percent from March 2020 to August 2022, and research by Returns On Wellbeing Institute found that leading wellness programs now prioritize mental health in the workplace.

Yet, the top source of stress for American adults is still the workplace. Research shows that stress-related diseases are rising and imposing tremendous costs on employee wellbeing and employer’s bottom lines.

According to Dr. Steven Stein PH.D, a clinical psychologist and expert on psychological assessments and emotional intelligence. He asserts that stress is a natural part of the human experience, and employers should help employees learn to better cope with stress, and even thrive while under stress.

Dr. Stein is the author of Hardiness: Making Stress Work for You to Achieve Your Life Goals and Emotional Intelligence for Dummies, 2nd edition.

In the podcast, we discuss how wellness programs can combine “hardiness” and “emotional intelligence” to reduce the harmful effects of workplace stress and help employees learn to effectively process stress in ways that support employee health and improve workplace performance, including:

• The necessary role of stress in the human experience
• Why workplace stress is a top cause of mental health conditions
• How better processing stress helps employees thrive under pressure
• How stress management helps make work environments more adaptive
• Why fostering emotional intelligence boosts productivity and teamwork  
• How “hardiness” helps employees better manage stressful situations
• How wellness programs can help managers reduce workplace stress 
• Employers who’ve cultivated emotional intelligence and hardiness to enhance work performance within their teams