They explained when stress helps and when it destroys—and what to do about it.
It’s morning. You open your inbox—dozens of unread emails, three meetings on your calendar, and the project deadline is looming. Meanwhile, it’s not entirely clear what you’re personally responsible for and what your team is responsible for. Sound familiar?
Stress at work is a common occurrence for many, and even remote work doesn’t prevent it. Therefore, it’s important to understand when stress is dangerous and how to manage it without compromising your productivity or health.
In this article for Skillbox Media’s Management team, I discuss:
- What is stress and why is it useful?
- Where does stress at work come from ?
- Who influences employee stress —the company, the manager, or the employee themselves?
- How to deal with stress on your own.
What is stress and what are the different types of stress?
By “stress,” we often mean fatigue, anxiety, or irritation. But in psychology and medicine, the concept is broader: stress is the body’s response to demands and circumstances that exceed its resources.
Scientists distinguish two types of stress:
- Eustress is short-term, moderate stress that is perceived as a challenge rather than a threat. It helps you focus and mobilize your energy.For example, mild anxiety before an important presentation can improve focus and creativity. “Challenge stress” promotes adaptation and even increased productivity.
- Distress is chronic, uncontrolled stress that is debilitating. Constant tension, deadline pressure, and uncertainty make stress a risk factor for anxiety, insomnia, cardiovascular disease, and cognitive decline.
It turns out that it is not the fact of stress itself that is important, but its duration and nature.
Where does stress at work come from?
Many believe that the main cause of stress at work is high workload. Another theory is that stress arises from an employee’s personality traits or a lack of self-regulation skills.
But systematic stress is often associated not with an employee’s “weak stress tolerance,” but with the working conditions and management culture at the company. When a person doesn’t understand what’s expected of them or can’t influence the process, this undermines health more than overwork.
Chronic stress at work reflects systemic problems within the company: blurred roles, chaotic processes, and a culture that values speed over people.
In the next section, we’ll discuss other possible causes of distress.
Who influences employee stress: the company, the manager, or the employee themselves?
The level of workplace distress is influenced by the company, the manager, and the employee themselves, but to varying degrees: the company has the greatest influence, while the employee has the least. Let’s take a closer look.
Company
The company forms the foundation of the work environment. It sets the processes, norms, and corporate culture that can either mitigate or exacerbate stress factors. Without systemic changes at the organizational level, it is impossible to achieve long-term reduction in employee stress.
The main source of distress most often becomes organizational conditions:
- Workload and pace. When tasks constantly exceed a team’s resources, stress accumulates. Even if employees are motivated, working to the point of exhaustion leads to high levels of stress and burnout.
- Unclear roles. Blurred boundaries cause conflict, provoke a sense of injustice, and create constant tension.
- Evaluation and reward. A lack of recognition and fair pay reduces engagement and increases the feeling of meaninglessness in work.
- Company culture . If overwork, hidden conflicts, or ignoring problems are the norm, employees quickly become exhausted.
- Stability and predictability. When the rules of the game change too frequently and the future is unclear, this creates chronic anxiety even in experienced professionals.
Most often, companies try to combat employee stress with quick fixes: meditation, yoga, gym memberships, or access to psychological services. While helpful, these are superficial and only work as a complement to structural changes.
Real stress reduction can be achieved through changes in work organization. For example, you can:
- introduce transparent criteria for evaluation and career growth;
- revise work schedules;
- regularly monitor working conditions and collect feedback.
These measures will create a foundation that will reduce stress levels within the team and help employees work calmly.
Supervisor
A manager acts as a “contact link” between the company and its employees. Their actions determine whether employees feel clarity and support in their daily work. Manager:
- distributes the load and can notice signs of overload in time;
- sets the communication style – open and respectful or conflictual and exhausting;
- It shapes the atmosphere within the team—whether it’s okay to ask for help, whether it’s realistic to balance work and personal life, and whether it’s safe to talk about problems.
A supportive leadership style helps reduce stress and increases employee engagement. However, a leader can also exhibit destructive management patterns, such as a desire to control everything, a fear of conflict, or a need for constant approval. These patterns aren’t always noticeable to the leader, but they greatly impact stress levels within the team.
Employee
An employee is responsible for their emotional state: they must be able to set work boundaries and ask for help in a timely manner.
They can maintain a positive team spirit, offer ideas, and raise concerns. However, changing working conditions alone is not something an employee can do—that’s the responsibility of the company and management.
In the next section, we will look at what an employee can do to reduce their level of distress.
How can an employee cope with stress?
First, you need to clearly understand your role on the team, your areas of responsibility, and your manager’s expectations. Second, you need to be able to set work boundaries. I’ll share a few exercises that will help you do all of this.
Clarifying roles and expectations
Exercise “My Roles”:
- List all the roles you play at work, including informal ones, such as assistant, consultant, organizer, or motivator.
- Describe the responsibilities of each role—the tasks assigned to you. For example, training newcomers, analyzing data, or resolving conflicts.
- Notice how you feel in each role: what brings satisfaction and interest, and what causes irritation or exhaustion.
- Analyze the list: identify any unexpected or complex roles and consider whether they align with your responsibilities. If necessary, discuss with management the reassignment or formal recognition of certain functions.
This exercise helps you become aware of hidden burdens, understanding which roles promote growth and which ones cause stress.
Exercise: “Primary Task.” Briefly describe the primary task of your company, department, small team, and your role—in one sentence each. Try to avoid vague statements and clearly reflect your specialization.
Understanding such tasks at different levels helps us see the whole picture and distinguish between the important and the unimportant.
This exercise can be done alone or with a team. It’s especially useful in a team setting: everyone formulates the task differently, which helps identify discrepancies and align ideas. It’s also worth discussing the formulations with your manager to clarify priorities and expectations.
Clarifying Priorities Practice. Regularly discuss priorities and expectations with your manager or team. Clearly articulate your needs and limitations—this helps build healthy working relationships. Use “I” statements and avoid blaming. Here are some examples of how to do this.
- Discuss the tasks:
“I want to better plan my work. Let’s clarify priorities for this week. For example, which tasks on project X are currently in focus, and are there any changes to the deadlines?”
“It’s important for me to understand what to focus on now. For example, project Y requires more time. Can we adjust the deadlines for other tasks?”
- Suggest solutions for team synchronization:
“I suggest holding a short 15-minute call once a week to sync tasks and roles. This will help avoid misunderstandings. What do you think of that?”
- Try informal check-in meetings:
“Let’s have short meetings every two weeks to share our concerns. This will help us address issues proactively.”
- Report overload:
“I’ve noticed that my current workload is slightly exceeding my resources. Can we discuss which ones are a higher priority so I can complete the important tasks efficiently?”
- Implement task trackers , such as Yandex Tracker, Bitrix24, or Buildin.AI. Maxim Dorofeev’s book ” Jedi Techniques ” is useful for developing planning skills.
Setting working boundaries
When we don’t say “no” to pointless urgent tasks or overwhelming workloads, we say “no” to ourselves and our well-being. Here are some tips and practices to help you set work boundaries.
Time-blocking technique. Structure your day by creating clear intervals for work and rest. And communicate these restrictions to your team:
- “Today from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM, I plan to focus on task X, so I’ll be offline. If there’s anything urgent, message me in the chat, and I’ll check it later.”
- “I’m setting aside my mornings from 9:00 to 11:00 to work on the report. Let me know if you need to discuss anything before then.”
Pauses, movement and biological breaks:
- Rest and exercise. More often than not, we tire emotionally, not physically, at work. Movement and adequate rest help us recover: they improve cognitive abilities , increase productivity, and reduce stress. It’s important to prioritize proper rest over mere leisure. True rest occurs in an environment free of novelty, responsibility, and the need to learn.
- If you have a sedentary job, stretch every hour to reduce the physiological stress caused by prolonged inactivity. To help you remember to do this, you can use special programs—for example, the Stretchly app reminds you to take breaks and offers simple warm-up exercises.
- If your schedule is jam-packed with meetings, suggest that your team shorten their length from 60 to 55 minutes. This will free up five minutes for a break—a drink of water or a snack. This approach prevents the buildup of physical and emotional stress.
- Breathe. As cliché as it may sound, even one minute of breathing exercises helps quickly restore energy. Do them right at your desk every 1–2 hours. Prana Breath, Box Breathe Inhale, and Breathing: Health and Meditation are breathing practice apps available in Russia.
Peer support. Create small support groups and initiate joint educational activities on stress management. Stress is easier to overcome when you’re not alone.
- Example team pitch: “What if we launch a small challenge? For example, for a week, we share one helpful habit for stress reduction.”
- An example request for help: “I feel like I can’t cope with stress. Has anyone else experienced something similar? Could you share how you cope?”
Keeping a stress diary is a tool for tracking stress-inducing situations and analyzing your reactions. Regular journaling helps you identify recurring triggers and understand what actions or changes can help eliminate them.
Set aside 5-10 minutes at the end of the day to write. Answer questions like: “What happened?”, “What emotions did I experience?”, “What could have been done to avoid or mitigate this situation?” Periodically (once a week) reread your notes to notice patterns and assess your progress.
Cognitive restructuring. This method helps change your perception of a stressful situation. To do this, you ask yourself questions that help you see the problem more broadly and find non-obvious answers.
For example, you might be upset by criticism at a meeting. Ask yourself: “What exactly upset me? If my friend received this kind of feedback, how would I support them? How can I use this situation to my advantage?”
By answering these questions, you begin to see the situation from different perspectives, reduce emotional stress, and find constructive solutions. Over time, this helps you respond to stress more calmly and effectively.
The Key to Stress at Work in 3 Points
- Stress at work is inevitable, but not always dangerous. Short-term eustress helps you focus and grow, while chronic distress undermines your health and drains your energy over time.
- The root of the problem often lies not in the employee themselves or the volume of tasks, but in the work structure: opaque rules, chaotic processes, and a culture of “burning deadlines.” Therefore, employee stress can often only be resolved at the company and management level.
- A manager’s job is to create a healthy team climate: clearly articulate goals, maintain open dialogue, and distribute the workload evenly. An employee’s job is to conserve their resources: set boundaries early, utilize recovery practices, and remember that system change cannot be achieved alone.