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Office stress is a very common occurrence. Office stress comes about because of the pressures of the work, which is frequently not so simple to define, particularly in a small firm. In a big office, jobs are fairly clearly defined and everyone knows what they are responsible for.

In a small office though, the few members of staff often have to cover a dozen or so different jobs and so office stress can build up. Office stress can build up rapidly if the boss is unsympathetic or a member of a small office team goes off pregnant or sick whether a temporary stand-in is found or not.

Office stress is a very real phenomenon especially in a small business. For example, it is not uncommon for a company with $1 annual turnover to be managed by a staff of two – the office manager and a secretary. This means that the office manager has to be able to do each job and it is hoped that the secretary will be able to do most of them too. This creates office stress.

The secretary-cum-assistant will have to understand filing, typing, word-processing, data entry for book-keeping software, how to read job sheets, time sheets and invoices. The secretary will also have to welcome visitors, but keep sales people at bay, while staying polite.

The secretary will also need to have decent phone manners and be able to answer enough questions to be able to shield the manager from time wasters and deal with relevant questions if the manager is not in. These jobs are difficult enough on their own, but office stress builds up if you find yourself trying to do three jobs at once and that is not uncommon.

You could be keying in time sheet data the manager has gone to visit site, when the phone rings with an enquirey and a potential client comes in asking for a quote. This is enough to make office stress soar.

The manager will also have to be able to carry out these tasks, but the office supervisor will also be responsible for management accounts, pay, job costing, pricing, writing letters and keeping up with the law as the Company Secretary, which means that he/she will need to know enough about employment law to advise the directors.

This leads to tremendous office stress. Besides all this, the office manager is usually responsible for paying and collecting taxes and keeping up with regulations and employment law. In these days of litigation and government claw backs, mistakes in any legal field are punished with costly fines or compensation claims. This degree of responsibility also just raises the level of office stress.

The difficulty is that office stress, like most types of stress, leads to tension and irritability and irritability can lead to a short fuse and flashes of temper, which just goes to worsen the situation and raise the degree of office stress another peg.

The degrees of office stress soar if an important article of office apparatus breaks down, because it is always just when you want it. Because it can take hours or even days to get it repaired, you are expected to be able to carry out small repairs yourself. And then if the employer is an unsympathetic or only unlikeable person then the level of office stress can become even worse.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on numerous subjects, but is currently concerned with First Aid trainer courses. If you have an interest in RC vehicles, please come over to our website now at First Aid Courses Online.

We are all under stress the majority of the time and a lot of people like to think that they understand stress and can use it to get a piece of work done to the best of their ability, but do you really know what the symptoms of stress are and what it can do to your body? When we are piling the stress onto ourselves, we just assume that our bodies will adapt and get on with it, but is that actually true?

The fact is that we all have our own point at which stress is reasonable. This is because stress can be emotional, physical and mental and if you go beyond your capacity for any duration of time in any of these fields, you can cause short-term or even longer term injury, which could need professional medical assistance.

If you do not take steps to regain your equilibrium, you will soon find that the apposite role in your life will suffer: that is, your relationships will fail, your physical health will crumble or your ability to do your job in the correct manner will vanish.

The physical indications of stress are aches and pains, including headaches, general tiredness and lethargy. Unchecked, these indications can lead to migraine, muscle tension and stiffness.

These prime alterations to how your body operates can then result in other issues such as diarrhea or constipation, nausea and dizziness. These symptoms of stress, in turn, can lead to sleepless nights or insomnia.

When it gets this bad, individuals normally turn to medication, but medication can merely give temporary relief such as sleeping tablets. This can lead to dependence.

If the sufferer already has a weak heart, this combination of indications of stress can lead to chest pains, palpitations and erratic heart beat, which in turn can be precursors of heart disease. Please note that this chain of activities is not guaranteed.

People are different and some doctors are better than others, but stress and heart disease have been shown to be connected.

Symptoms of stress can also show themselves in behavioural problems. These indications of stress frequently begin with insomnia or only problems getting to sleep and waking up still tired. However, feeling continually dog-tired has a knock-on impact on our emotions – we tend to become more emotional, but usually in a negative way. Often this means over-reacting, like snapping at someone who has asked a perfectly reasonable question.

This sort of response can lead to the sufferer shunning society. Self-pity, isolation, loss of career and depression can soon follow.

So, you have to learn how to get off that slippery slope, the downward spiral of everyday stress. The place to begin is the mind. You have to learn how to recognize when ‘things are getting on top of you’ and learn how to relax.

There are a number of successful techniques including meditation, breathing exercises, aromatherapy and playing soothing music in order to bring about a state of relaxation in your mind.

When you are learning to take the symptoms of stress head-on with your mind, take some time to pamper your body too. There are also many methods of doing this, but well-liked ways are taking a sauna or having a massage or pedicure, facial or manicure. Having your hair done.

Physical exercise is a good reliever of stress too and it does not have to be rigorous. A thirty minute walk, twice a day is sufficient for most people, but you might get to like it and then it is the more the better.

Finally, you could take a good look at your diet. You do not have to go overboard, but do you drink too much coke, coffee or tea? Do you consume a great deal of junk food? Are you getting enough fruit?

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on numerous subjects, but is currently busy with First Aid trainer courses. If you have an interest in RC vehicles, please come over to our website now at First Aid Courses Online.