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Recognizing and managing anxiety triggers in the workplace is crucial for promoting a healthy and productive work environment. Employees often face stressors that can trigger anxiety, such as heavy workloads, tight deadlines, conflicts with colleagues, or public speaking engagements. By being aware of these triggers, individuals can take proactive steps to effectively address and manage their anxiety.
Key Takeaways
- Five most common workplace anxiety triggers. Job insecurity, demanding workloads (we're now working ~5 extra hours/week since the pandemic), loss of control, strained relationships up/down/across the ladder, and unclear role expectations.
- "Wellness whiplash" is real. During lockdown people focused on self-care. Post-COVID, many have swung back — treating self-care as low priority while chasing new demands. Boundaries blurred as home and office merged.
- Corporate wellness must be strategy, not a benefit. Stacy's argument: wellness belongs in the strategic plan, embedded into outcomes and measured — not an a-la-carte perk added to the benefits list.
- The Three P's: Prepare, Permission, Participate. Leadership must (1) prepare the culture, (2) give clear and repeated permission for employees to actually use wellness support, before (3) the workforce will meaningfully participate.
- The oxygen-mask principle. You can't help your company, family, or team if you're depleted. Self-care isn't selfishness — productivity and presence rise measurably when employees are well-fuelled.
- Prevention isn't sexy, but the research is blunt. Most chronic illness is lifestyle-driven, not genetic. Given that we spend a third to half of our waking hours working, how we spend that time largely determines long-term health outcomes.
- Posture is a hidden anxiety driver. Hunched over a laptop, the body collapses, breathing goes shallow, and the nervous system stays in sympathetic overdrive — the anxiety you feel may be partly postural.
In Stacy's Words
On the scale of the problem
The research shows actually an extra five hours a week of work since the pandemic. Those hefty workloads are triggers for folks.
I almost feel like we've swung back in the direction of putting self-care on the low priority list because we're trying to keep up with all these new changes. Folks are really kind of struggling.
On what employers actually need to change
We have got to remove corporate wellness from the list of benefits. Wellness needs to be a strategic part of a company's plan — woven into the thread, not added to an a-la-carte list.
You can't put a stand-up desk in an office and say you have a functioning corporate wellness program.
If you don't know the direction you're going, any road will take you there. If you don't know what you're trying to achieve, just plucking things out of the air is fine for feel-good wellness — but it won't change the anxiety and stress conversation.
On leadership modelling
If you have leadership getting to work at 8 a.m. and not leaving until 10 p.m., people are watching. You can't say "do as I say, not as I do." It's almost like parenting.
On employee responsibility
Put the oxygen mask on yourself first. You cannot help your company, your family, or anyone if you are depleted.
Do you want to be in the line at the farmer's market, or in the line at the drugstore? Pick a lane — and then commit.
About The Speaker
Stacy Fritz is on a mission to elevate employee health and well-being in the workplace by building connected and intentional cultures of well-being. Through research-driven strategies, compelling stories and actionable takeaways, Stacy delivers energetic virtual and in-person keynotes, workshops and trainings that will inspire better health and safety in the workplace.
She is the President and CEO of FIT2order, a women-owned corporate wellness company based in Towson, MD. FIT2order specializes in at-work wellness solutions for our sedentary workforce and serves local, regional and national clients.
Connect with her on LinkedIn
Show Notes
(01:16) What are the most common anxiety triggers in the workplace, and how can employees recognize them?
(06:15) How can employers create a work environment that supports mental health and reduces anxiety triggers for their employees?
(09:56) What are some effective strategies for managing anxiety triggers in the workplace?
(13:17) How can employees communicate their anxiety triggers to their managers and colleagues in a productive and respectful way?
(20:12) How can employees set boundaries and prioritize self-care in the workplace to prevent anxiety triggers from escalating?
(28:28) What role does a corporate wellness plan play in this matter? Also, suggests some valuable tips to our listeners.
