Health and Human Services Professional Development

Cut Down on Stress in the Workplace by Being a Cool Coworker by   Elizabeth Shuff, Guest Author   on   May 21, 2014   Stress has long been a part of the workplace, but is it our everyday activities or the roles we have at work that cause the most stress? Researchers have found that stress is individualized, meaning each person experiences stress in his or her unique manner. This may seem obvious to most, of course everyone deals with things in their own way. However, when looking more closely at workplace stress, a study reveals some commonalities among people. It has been shown that politics in the work setting are one of the main causes of stress, and having good relationships with coworkers tends to lead to lower overall stress levels ( Swaminathan & Rajkumar, 2013 ). This makes perfect sense, the better your relationships with co-workers, the better you can work out issues that cause conflict and avoid the dishonesty of “playing politics.” A posit...

Working Hard or Hardly Working? by   Jinwen Ye   on   October 1, 2014   Hard work is valued in many cultures, and it often takes hard work and thoughtfulness to make sure you are productive in the various roles you serve. In the workplace, productivity is required for those that desire to keep their jobs.  For those of you that might be struggling with productivity at work (or home), here are four questions to ask yourself: 1. How’s your physical and emotional health?  Healthy people are more likely to enjoy their work and be more productive in their workplace. Adequate sleep, regular exercise, healthy diet, and positive emotions have all been linked to workplace productivity. 2. What’s your physical work environment like?  Air quality of your office, enough lighting, comfortable temperature, access to outside views and external space, and quiet working conditions are all factors of the physical work environment that have been found to impro...