Management and stress: How to help a stress-sick employee

Pam Silverberg
Aug 8, 2017 · 3 min read

Management and stress

Recently, I read an article on management and stress, with a headline that doctors warn that a sick leave worsens stress.

Although the message in the article is more nuanced than the title, it can easily be misunderstood. And I think that is problematic, from the perspective of the psychologist.

Before I explain why, let me get stuck. This article is based on my experience over the last 5 years with over a thousand individual conversations with sick-minded with stress, and as an external partner for 2 job centers where we help patients with stress back to work again.

When I advise a sick person with stress, there are two areas I focus on for a start:

1) To help the stress-stricken to put their health and recovery as first priority. So that stressed again, over time, may be full for his family and create value for his workplace.

People develop stress because they — for various reasons — have been able to overcome the body’s signals and boundaries.

2) Next, I focus on creating the best possible collaboration between the various parties: the sick, the workplace, the GP and the job center.

With the common goal that sick leave should last as short as possible.

There is no one who is interested in drawing a sick leave in the long run.

I typically see the opposite. Namely, a sick person presses himself more quickly than he / she is able to work.

It usually gives backlash.

And, unfortunately, the sick with stress, first of all, is paying the price.

Management and stress: Stress develops gradually

Management and stress

But before I get to know how to best help your sick-working employee, let me just start somewhere else first.

There are different degrees of stress.

There is the healthy stress that all people know when to perform extra, for example. For a job interview, an important meeting or an exam when you get scared or nervous, have a deadline or are late for a flight. Here you typically react with the palpitation, sweaty palms, throat throat, tightness and butterfly in the stomach. Once the “danger” is over, the body gradually loses the symptoms and the body relaxes. We can easily tolerate this and it is a whole normal and important form of stress.

Next, there is the moderate stress that typically develops in periods of life where we are at peak times. Eg. When there are major changes in life; Relocation, family increase, illness, divorce or death closes to. Or it may be in connection with a firing round or organizational change at work. Here, many respond to having a worse sleep, have a shorter luncheon, feel more tired and exhausted, and have more frequent headache and a feeling of being overwhelmed.

If you do not get up while experiencing moderate stress, and if what is the reason (s) until stress continues and continues, you can develop a more severe and prolonged stress condition. There is individual how long it takes a person to develop severe stress. It may take weeks and months, and sometimes several years before it comes so far.

Most people with severe stress experience a combination of:

Physical stress symptoms; eg. Chronic sleep problems, migraines, stomach problems, eczema, acoustic and light sensitivity, dizziness, nausea, restlessness and restlessness.

Emotional stress symptoms; eg. Gravity, aggressiveness, hard to be social.

Cognitive stress symptoms; eg. Memory problems, losing thread in conversations, concentration difficulties, cannot relate to and acquire new knowledge, and an increased tendency for concern, fear and anxious thoughts.

Management and stress: How long can you expect your employee to be sick?

Management and stress familiepsykolog

When I meet an employee who is sick with stress, he / she typically has long-term, severe stress. Or has reached even longer and has collapsed and has developed anxiety, depression or burnout due to a prolonged stress load.

This means that what is needed for the first time is calm and temporary protection from the workplace. Combined with professional help from a psychologist or stress counselor. So the stressful nervous system can stabilize and the body can gradually get rid of stress hormones and symptoms.

It takes time. And often considerably longer than a workplace and the sick person himself is counting on.

If you want more information please visit : www.familiepsykolog.com

When the stressful is in significant improvement, you can start talking about a plan for partial resumption of work. A gradual resumption takes as a starting point 12–16 weeks. And sometimes even longer than that.