Some people need the pressure to meet deadlines and to get their work done. However, most people crack and breakdown under a constant press of pressure over their workload.

The pressure is Distracting!

Putting pressure on your employees, in most cases, is more distracting than encouraging. It’s like having a nagging mother who calls you multiple times a day asking you if you went to visit your grandmother yet. ‘No mom, but I will as soon as I have the time. You don’t need to keep reminding me, I know I have to go, and I will as soon as I have time.’ Checking up every now and then is most certainly necessary, to make sure everything is running smoothly, but micromanaging builds up pressure and most likely resentment in your employees. Instead of focusing their attention and energy on completing their tasks, they are exhausting themselves in a battle against their managers.

Stress is the birth mother of disengaged workers.

“The Global Benefits Attitudes survey found that levels of workplace disengagement significantly increase when employees experience high levels of stress.  The study of 22,347 employees across 12 countries including the UK and US, revealed that over half of those employees claiming to be experiencing high-stress levels reported they were disengaged.” http://www.forbes.com/sites/karenhigginbottom/2014/09/11/workplace-stress-leads-to-less-productive-employees/#7c246b3a5bb2

By putting too much pressure on your employees, you are creating a negative work environment. Creating a negative work environment will result in higher numbers of absenteeism, incomplete projects, or weakly completed projects. This will greatly affect the sales and success rate of your business.

Stress brings out the nasty in people.

Working under a stressed environment may bring out the worst in your employees. When your employees are feeling way too stressed out they will need to diffuse the anger somewhere, and what better place than to bark at a customer over the phone, or perhaps to a supplier that he or she feels isn’t working efficiently enough. This will create bad relations with the people you depend on most to meet financial and production goals.

Stress infects!

High levels of stress can also cause your employees to respond in a disrespectful manner towards their coworkers or managers. This will perpetuate and extend the negative work environment into other offices and other departments. It’s like a bad virus that can infect your whole body of workers.

“Employer Cost: $300 per day/per employee in lost productivity for each day an employee is absent. This does not include lost revenue or increased healthcare cost. $11,000 to $13,000 per year for each drug user in the workplace. Alcohol and drug abuse may cost employers up to 10% of their total payroll costs.” http://www.wellnessindiana.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Employee-Financial-Stress-is-Costing-Your-Company-a-Bundle.pdf

Research has shown that while a high-pressured environment may result in a high productivity rate however, it is only a short-term consequence. The long-term results: higher rates of disengagement.  “In organizations with low employee engagement scores, they experienced 18% lower productivity, 16% lower profitability, 37% lower job growth, and 65% lower share price over time.”https://hbr.org/2015/12/proof-that-positive-work-cultures-are-more-productive

Let’s get a little scientific and look into the effects of stress on the body. According to APA.org, “Chronic stress, or a constant stress experienced over a prolonged period of time, can contribute to long-term problems for heart and blood vessels. The consistent and ongoing increase in heart rate, and the elevated levels of stress hormones and of blood pressure, can take a toll on the body. This long-term ongoing stress can increase the risk for hypertension, heart attack or stroke.”(http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/stress-body.aspx) This does not sound pretty, certainly not for the person under pressure and most definitely not for business.

In 2001 studies have shown that Job Stress for the industry in the U.S. Alone estimated annually to a $300 billion cost, and this pricey number only seems to be increasing. It is in the company’s best interest to offer stress management courses, ensure positive relationships within the company, and a considerate and respectful partnership amongst employees across all levels of the company’s hierarchy.