Spring Stress Busters from Emberson Group

April Stress Awareness Month is dedicated to increasing public awareness to help people better understand the causes and alleviate the pressures. One of our long-term corporate partners, Emberson Group, have put together an article on the importance of recognising stress in the workplace and how to manage it. A big thanks to Clare Emberson Pratt, Managing Director of Emberson Group for this great piece!

Living through a global pandemic with health and job security challenges, the cost of living soaring and the breakout of war in Europe; it is no surprise that millions of us around the UK are experiencing high levels of stress. If you layer on the daily pressures of everyday ‘normal’ life against this backdrop, it is safe to say, there is a lot going on in the world right now that can cause many of us humans to be feeling like we are at breaking point.  

Seek Professional Advice  

Emberson has worked with Bath Mind and the team over the last few years on in-house mental health programmes for our teams to make mental health and well-being a priority. We understand that stress is a significant factor in mental health problems, including anxiety and depression and is also linked to many physical health problems too. We therefore believe it is very important for us all to understand what is causing us personal stress and learn what steps we can take to reduce it for ourselves and those around us.  

The brilliant team at Bath Mind run regular courses for professionals in the workplace. We highly recommend Wellbeing in the Workplace and the Mental Health First Aid course for every business. 

Find out more about Wellbeing in the Workplace

Find out more about Mental Health First Aid 

Take a Walk (and Talk)  

Our regular ‘Walk and Talk’ meet ups encourages our distributed team and our supply partners to schedule time together outside in nature for a regular stomp, which we all find is a very simple and effective way to combat stress and give us all a change of scene. It can be so easy to go under the radar when you are working from home and your main point of contact with co-workers is mainly via a screen. We also schedule regular face to face meetings to grab a coffee and check-in as often as is practicable for the team. Talking openly when things are getting on top of you is a brave thing to do and something we encourage. 

Allow Yourself a Break  

The world of work has dramatically increased its pace coming out of recession, with digital enablement advancing continuously. We have multi-channel communication round the clock, which has great benefits, but can make us feel ‘switched on’ all the time.  

As an employer, we have a duty of care to enable people to be able to look after themselves, so they can look after others. And this includes managing stress and uncertainty and expectations by taking time to breathe. We encourage our teams to replenish themselves by taking breaks, exploring new creative or sporty activities and switching things up during the week. Employees in return hopefully feel they can break the cycle by taking charge of their commitments and adopting a flexible working pattern that avoids staring at a screen all day.  

Find out what works for you!

Find out what works for you, understand when you feel you are working at your best and then how that situation can be maintained. It might need constant refinement until you achieve the balance required, but the important point is to try and keep working at it and not settle for the stress.  

Posted on: 11th April 2022

back to news