With the pandemic accelerating the speed of change in the workplace and facility management landscape, many organizations are now recognizing the importance of workplace experience and how it affects employee engagement and business performance.
For the FM practitioners, varied and sometimes unpredictable daily challenges, accompanied by shrinking resources and ever-increasing demands can make it a stressful job.
Many businesses have taken a holistic approach to implementing an effective workplace experience and strategy because of circumstances forced upon them and given the fact that demands of the job are never going to get less complicated, it is important for facility managers to be aware of their stress levels and develop ways to cope with their job-related stress, both for their own benefit and the teams they lead.
It is common nowadays to hear “I’m so stressed” from facility managers. However, it doesn’t mean we should accept the phrase as normal and healthy. A tricky feature about stress is that there are many sides to it. The level, duration, impact, and perception of stress are almost as unique and varied as the people experiencing it.
Chronic stress has a long list of negative health effects including but not limited to high blood pressure, stroke, a predisposition for anxiety, depression and addiction.
Facility managers must be seen to do some preventive maintenance on themselves so that they can increase the longevity of their careers and effectiveness. Being stressed out can make them look inept and unprofessional.
It can misrepresent who they really are and affect how others perceive their performance and temperament. Learning to manage stress is as important as the work facility managers do otherwise the stress will manage them. This is not the place to be.
Humans being highly adaptive and resilient tend to mold to situations. It can be difficult to recognize when stress levels have become a problem without obvious signs like chest pain or sleepless nights,
One red flag to look out for, and a tough one for facility managers, is being unable to take a break and relax or even go on vacation. Being unable to have a vacation may be a sign that brain is rewiring and almost getting used to the stress.
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Other red flags are forgetfulness and struggling to focus. Taking time away is an important stress management strategy. Many studies show that performance actually improves when a real lunch break, a real weekend or a real vacation is taken.
In a team, spotting stress may be harder until something dramatic happens like someone collapsing on the job. Keeping an eye out for team members who shut down, avoid interaction, or avoid engagement is a good starting point to recognize stress.
Facility managers do need to find constructive and effective ways to manage their stress. The question to ask is “what am I putting back in to rebuild so that there is a reserve of resolve, a reserve of energy for the work?” It is recommended that practices such as exercise, abdominal breathing, and a good network of social support can help.
Maintaining proper perspective is also critical for stress management. For facility managers being able to take time off hinges on building a team they can trust to take care of work in their absence.
In facility management, thinking everything needs to be done right now, wanting to please everybody all of the time, and fixing the problems at once are some of the highest points of stress.
