Work Stress

Transcript

1. Work stress: a killer of productivity and profits by Michael McGhie
2. Non-tech Approaches • Encouraging employees to be healthy by giving them free gym memberships • Hiring designers to create open, relaxed workspaces • Providing employee perks like free company lunches and dinners • Pairing new employees with a mentor or buddy to ease the transition • Employee Asistance Programs that assist employees with counseling
3. Tech Approaches • Productivity tools that make it easier to keep everyone on the same page with minimal friction • Online training tools to reduce the stress of not knowing how to do one's job • Hour tracking software that alerts the company and employee when an employee is overworking himself
4. • An overworked employee under constant pressure needs to vent with coworkers because sharing the experience makes it less painful • An employee who views her job as a stepping stone prefers hard, mission-critical work to easy, mind-numbing tasks because losing future opportunities is more painful than putting in a little extra effort • Employers try to reduce stress in the work place but fail when their message does not align with their actions Interview Insights
5. Future Exploration • How can technology educate employers and employees on practices for reducing stress? • How can technology connect stressed out people to sources of relief? • How can technology align the goals of employees and employers in a way that increases profit and reduces stress • How can being connected through? technology mirror the stress relief gained through physical interpersonal venting?