Stressed Employees Need Help

Front line leaders are taught to control stress in their units rather than evacuate soldiers at the first sign of battle fatigue, the Army's name for negative reactions to acute stress. And corporate leaders need to consider the best place to help their own stressed employees.

The negative stress reactions of battle are considered normal, even though they can be pretty severe, going well beyond the tension headache. Soldiers can still function in spite of flinching, shaking, physical exhaustion, rapid emotional shifts, and other manifestations of extreme stress.While you probably won't find your corporate employees as severely stressed as the soldiers in battle, you can also take action to help them perform their jobs when they demonstrate signs of being overstressed.

Experience shows that coaching, confidence building, food, and rest help overcome most of the negative stress reactions of battle fatigue. The same thing works for civilian employees.

Just as important is the understanding that soldiers treated near the front line recover much faster than soldiers evacuated to rear-area hospitals for essentially the same treatment. You'll find that the same thing is true for workplace stress.

Serious military cases and those who do not respond to front line treatment are evacuated and cared for by specially trained psychiatrists and psychologists in rear-area hospitals where medical facilities are staffed for such circumstances.

For severe cases of workplace stress, you, too, will want assistance from professional counselors. Many companies have contracts for professional care through their health care programs and refer employees who manifest serious signs of stress.

Just as military leaders strive to control stress, corporate leaders can be trained to help overstressed employees on the front line and maintain employees on the job.

• Consider each of your employees and whether they manifest signs of stress at any level.
• Determine what is needed to relieve that stress and return them to "normal."
• Take action. Things probably will not get better if left alone.