Management-induced stress yields little productivity

Your ability to concentrate on the task at hand is impeded when you are overly worried about things.

This is a main reason why too much management stress rarely leads to the hoped-for productive outcomes.

A bit of stress every now and then keeps employees on their toes and wards off complacency, however a steady stream of management-induced stress can lead to an upset state of mind rarely resulting in focused hard work.

Victor Lipman’s latest article for forbes.com on ‘Why Too Much Management Stress Yields Too Little Productivity’ talks through the high costs of stress, documenting various studies.

ComPsych’s 2014 StressPulse survey notes that 64% of employees report high stress levels, with 29% missing 3 to 6 days a year due to dress, and 16% missing more than 6 days per year.

An earlier StressPulse survey noted that 46% of employees came to work 1 to 4 days per year and 36% reported losing an hour or more of productivity a day.

Managers tend to increase stress levels because they do not believe they are getting the productivity that want. However, by notching up the pressure it can unwittingly diminish productivity.