A generation of millennials or a generation of stressed workers? — part 1

Feeling stressed? Don’t worry, as you are part of a generation where stress has become synonymous with work life. The current generation is in a phase where they have to go through so much stress at work.

Let’s first of all, take a look at the factors that cause stress at work. And how the levels have risen as compared to earlier generations. I’d like to quote a few numbers from different parts of the world here -

• In US, ‘Millennials are more stressed than any other current living generation’ — American Psychological Association. And with 76% votes, ‘Work’ sits as the number one factor behind their stress. — The Los Angeles Times.
• The scenario in UK is no different. Close to 71% millennials reported that workloads have risen, leading to more stress at work.

From all these numbers, it is evident that current generation of working class is more stressed than any of the earlier ones. Now comes the question, why are they stressed?

Here is a list of factors, which according to me are the biggest contributors of stress at work -

Weak office management

Excessive workloads. Unrealistic deadlines. Long working hours without breaks. All these scenes are common in today’s work culture. There is a creed of managers who think working overtime is the best way to be more productive. But reality is otherwise. There are plenty of studies that show working overtime is pointless. It only deteriorates the productivity of an individual. And also leads to increased work stress.

In one of the articles published by Stress.org excessive workload was cited as the biggest contributor to stress. And weak or irresponsible work management as one of the reasons behind it.

Poor work culture

Ineffective work management can be tolerable to some extent. But when it is paired up with a poor working environment, things start becoming toxic. That’s exactly what is happening with the current generation of working people. There has been a frameshift in businesses. There are leaders who are looking to make work culture less stressful. But there is a long way to go.

Most of the businesses are still stuck in the rut. They rely on traditional working methodologies. They focus more on business profits and less on employees. This puts employees under constant conditions of stress.

Shaken work life balance

More work at office means you have to extend beyond the designated timings. This also means that you now have lesser hours to spend with your loved ones. The ultimate impact of which can be seen in the form of shaken work-life balance. And when your personal life is stressed, you can never expect yourself to give the best at work.

The combined effect of all these factors comes in the form of increased work stress. And this leads to poor performance.

Job insecurity

There are a number of factors that contribute towards job insecurity. Fear of skill redundancy. Temporary contracts. And more. Employees are always under the stress of losing their job. And their personal lack of confidence and inability of manager to entrust them are equal contributors in this.

And how can you expect a person to be stress-free when he is under the constant fear of losing the job? That’s how job insecurity contributes to the stress.

So, those were the major factors contributing to the work-stress of millennial generation. Looking at the figures highlighted in the first part of this blog, we can say this is not a generation of millennials. But a generation of stressed workers.

This was all about stress and how it is putting an impact on the current generation of workers. In the next post we are going to talk about ways to reduce stress. And what we can do to get this millennial generation to get back on track.

“Want to become a leader who gets things done. Start using ProofHub.”

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Vartika Kashyap is a seasoned marketing professional who is an expert in digital marketing and entrepreneurship. She’s been featured among LinkedIn’s Top Voices for the year 2016. She currently runs the marketing team at ProofHub — a project management software for teams of all sizes. Connect with Vartika on LinkedIn, Medium and Twitter.

Also follow our company page @ProofHub to get the recent updates about our tool, published articles, motivational quotes & presentations.

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Originally published at LinkedIn.