How to reduce workplace stress?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3115287

by fredbasset • 15 years ago

7 7 15 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I'm a software developer and find that my body is really suffering from the stress at my workplace. For example, I am usually fine sitting at my cube working but when a bunch of priority 1 bug reports come in I can feel my body fill with cortisol and it feels terrible. I think it's the body's fight or flight mechanism kicking in, but I can neither flight nor fly, I'm stuck at my cube! The problem is made worse by the fact that my company leaves everything to the last minute, e.g. reconfigures (and screws up) critical systems 5 minutes before an important demo, doesn't leave enough time for testing before shipping a release leaving lots of problems to be solved in the field, so I feel like I have no control over the high stress problems that are coming inbound my way. Thanks so much for any responses - Fred.

jburwell• 15 years ago

I work in a very stressful workplace with the same types of stress (e.g. constant changes in direction, client commitments made without checking with the staff who will deliver, etc). Unfortunately, the root cause of these problems lies with the company leadership which makes them exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to correct. The only way to remove this type of stress is to leave for another company. As you seek a new job, be open with prospective employers about the reasons you are looking, and prepare questions to verify that you're next employer doesn't have the same problems.

I wish you luck -- these circumstances are ver difficult, and they can destroy your health. Run, don't walk away.

fredbasset• 15 years ago

Thanks for the response, excellent advice.

olefoo• 15 years ago

Polish up your resumé and start shopping around for another job. Places that manage by panic attack do not get better, unless the leadership is changed.

Seriously, don't wait, you are shortening your life by accepting that sort of phantom stress. You have skills, you are not trapped in this job by anything other than your desire to carry through with things you started and your fear of change.

away• 15 years ago

Agreed!

DanBC2• 15 years ago

(Some definitions for this post: "Stress" == bad, harmful, something to be avoided for everyone. "Pressure" == not harmful, enjoyed by some people.)

Possibly not relevant to you but: In the UK your employer owes you a legal duty to protect you from stress in the workplace.

The duty is clearly defined in law, and has been tested by the courts and employment tribunal many many times.

But - so what? You need to be able to turn that protection into something that helps you.

Seek advice; and then gather evidence of what things are too stressful, and if anything could be done to reduce that to a manageable level. Then go see a line manager and ask to talk. Present these things, and see if you can work something out. Realise that you probably can't, but at least you now have some protection if you decide to leave.

DanBC2• 15 years ago

As others have said, really you need to try to leave. Bad companies grind on because people stay there, getting dumped on.

Unfortunately there are many idiots in the workplace, and that translates to many bad workplaces. ( Office Space Dilbert etc are not funny because they're off the wall; they're uncomfortably close to real life.) But don't let this put you off from leaving. No-one should be put in the situation that you're in.

You could try adjusting work / life balance:- get more exercise, drink much less caffeine, get a self-help book or course about dealing with stress and use those techniques at work (and remember, it's just a job), remember to take regular time-outs (you're using a monitor, so you should be having at least 5 minutes every hour), don't get pressured to do silly hours, etc etc.

FWIW I have a lot of sympathy for you. Bad working environments suck, and suck hard. Employers need to learn that treating the workforce humanely is in the best interest of their business.

devs1010• 15 years ago

What is your company's process like? I mean, if they get what you are referring to a "priority 1 bug", I'm assuming this could either be a data related bug or an actual code bug (as you wouldn't know yet at that point). Does your company expect you to just make a fix immediately, if its a code bug, and then they push it into production right away? If they are doing anything resembling this then run, don't walk away as this is terrible practice and will definitely make you go crazy after a while (I have worked for some companies that did similar things). At my current job I do have to deal with a lot of bugs but, for one, they realize their software is basically crap (10 year old legacy code base) and don't expect things fixed immediately and once I can find that its actually a code bug the pressure comes off a bit as they are very strict about release cycles and testing so they rarely push fixes into production sooner than 1 month. Data related bugs tend to have patterns to them that become apparent after seeing a few of them over time, at least in my experience, and usually become easier to deal with the longer you work with a system.

I don't mean to start any flame language wars but am a bit curious what sort of language / platform you are working with. In my experience, companies that build their products with dynamic languages (not strongly typed, etc) tend to play things a bit more "fast and loose" and the workload can really pile up. They usually don't know about best practices like test drive development, etc and don't care, even when this is pointed out. This led me to steer my career towards working with a strongly typed, compiled language (I do server-side web dev) and, at least with my current job, I have noticed a much more refreshing approach as far as professional development practices compared to other jobs where dynamic languages were used.

How to reduce workplace stress?

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