How To Help Your Care Home Staff Manage Stress
It’s no secret that achieving a good work-life balance can be difficult at times, regardless of what industry you’re working in. However, when you work in a fast-paced industry like the care industry, it can be even harder to get a good work-life balance in place.
Looking after other people isn’t a job like any other. Working in a care home is unlike any other job because of the vast amount of different tasks that you need to complete each day. Once one task is completed, there’s always something else to do.
It’s common when working in such a fast-paced environment for stress to become a part of daily life. While every job comes with a certain amount of stress, the stress felt by people working in care-related roles is often much higher than the stress felt by people working in other industries.
That’s why it’s so important that as a care home manager, you know how to recognise the signs of stress in staff, as well as how to manage them. To help you to do that, below is a list of tips and advice for recognising stress in employees, as well as a few suggestions of how to help them manage their stress.
Signs of stress:
Studies into care homes have shown that a lot of employees feel uncomfortable approaching their managers because they’re feeling stressed, as they believe they should be able to cope with whatever their job throws at them. They can even feel guilty about their stress and the fact that they’re not coping, which then makes the problem worse, as it causes them to become even more stressed.
If a member of staff seems anxious, panicked or overly emotional, this could be a sign that they’re under too much pressure and suffering from stress. Another sign that a member of staff isn’t coping is that they’re taking regular sick days and don’t seem to be taking proper care of themselves. Despite popular belief that stress is purely mental, that’s not actually true. Stress can also have an impact on physical health, causing nausea, headaches, and other symptoms.
How to help care home staff manage their stress:
The good news is that stress is easy to manage, it’s just a case of knowing how to go about it.
Encourage your staff to have ‘me time’. One of the best stress relievers is taking time out to relax and unwind. So it’s important to encourage each of your team members to take time out for themselves. It’s important to impress upon each and every employee that once they’ve left work for the day, that’s their time. They should leave their job at the door and spend their free time doing the things that they enjoy. It’s also important to encourage them to use their breaks to relax and unwind by reading a book or going for a walk.
Promote healthy eating. Research has shown a link between eating healthily and better stress management. This is because when we eat properly and put the right nutrients into our bodies, they’re stronger and healthier. This means that we don’t get tired as easily and are able to work for longer without feeling the strain. To promote healthy eating, make sure that your on-site canteen (if you have one) serves a selection of healthy, nutritious foods.
Encourage exercise. Of all the stress management techniques, regular exercise has to be one of the best ones. This is because not only does exercise reduce stress, it can also help to prevent your team from feeling stressed in the first place. To encourage your staff to exercise regularly, consider starting an employee exercise club. This would help to promote the importance of exercise, helping to encourage your team members to be as active as possible. Another option could be to sign up to the Ride to Work scheme. This would allow your employees to get a great deal on a bike and pay it off out of their payslips over a set period of time, through the government Ride to Work scheme.
