Canadian Safety Reporter

3 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2015 News | October 2015 | CSR Alleviating workplace anxiety Relationships with co-workers, supervisors can help: Study BY SARAH DOBSON IT'S PROBABLY no surprise to hear workplace anxiety can affect job performance. But as it turns out, relationships with co-workers and supervisors can help combat this anxiety, ac- cording to a study. "The quality of the relation- ships that we foster in the work- place is going to help us deal with our workplace problems, not only our anxiety but all kinds of workplace problems, and will lead to better outcomes for people," said John Trougakos, associate professor of manage- ment at the University of To- ronto-Scarborough and Rotman School of Management, and co- author of the study. Typical levels of job perfor- mance require the execution of multiple tasks over sustained periods of time. These require the "protection and facilitation of cognitive and personal re- sources," say the authors of "Are Anxious Workers Less Produc- tive Workers? It Depends on the Quality of Social Exchange." When people experience high levels of workplace anxiety, these resources are depleted, resulting in emotional exhaus- tion and reduced levels of job performance. "In the long run, to build social connections with people is obvi- ously beneficial because we have to oftentimes invest resources to get resources," he said. While it's known one of the biggest sources of anxiety is cognitive interference — un- wanted, distracting thoughts that can preclude or block the ability to focus properly on the task at hand — it's now appar- ent we should also look at emo- tional exhaustion, said Julie Mc- Carthy, co-author and associate professor of organizational be- haviour and HR management at the same university. "If you're anxious on the job, it may be harder to focus on tasks that you need to do because of the concern. But, above and be- yond that, these high levels of anxiety are going to deplete our resources, they're going to de- plete things so that we're going to eventually have higher levels of emotional exhaustion and burnout and, in turn, that is go- ing to reduce performance." Ultimately, when people are not energetic enough, they don't feel their best over a period of time and that's going to reflect in their work performance, said Trougakos. "Over time, this begins to de- plete us, it drains our energy, it psychologically depletes us and it results in us just not being able to perform in the way we would want to or the way we might be expected to," he said. "If you're always under a state of high anxiety, it's draining your resources, it's taking your energy, sapping your energy away from you in having to deal with that anxiety that then subsequently makes performing harder." Social buffers But "social exchange relation- ships" can serve as buffers to the negative effects of this ex- haustion and anxiety, according to the study, which involved a field study with members of the RCMP. Relationships with co- workers "significantly moder- ate" the relation between work- place anxiety and emotional exhaustion, while relationships with supervisors "significantly moderate" the relation between emotional exhaustion and job performance. With co-workers, people are more likely to share their emo- tions and information, and col- leagues are more likely to be aware if a co-worker is anxious, said McCarthy. Co-workers can help people deal with emotional situations and anxieties, said Trougakos. "When we have good relation- ships with our co-workers in a good team setting or whatever it might be, people can pull togeth- er and help the people that need it. So this is how people protect their resources, preserve their energy and make their job less taxing for them when they are under high-anxiety conditions." When it comes to supervi- sors, there's a power difference, so employees are more likely to control their emotions. But lead- ers can offer different kinds of resources and tangible support, such as more time or materials, said McCarthy. "That buffers the effects on job performance to the point where if the worker gets to the point where they become emotionally exhausted, a strong relationship with their leader can reduce the impact of that exhaustion on job performance — so both are im- portant, they're just important at different parts of the underlying process." While people might not want to share intimate emotional anxieties with a supervisor, lead- ers tend to be the gatekeepers of other types of resources, said Trougakos. Fostering relationships As a result, for employers, it's important to train all employ- ees to develop positive work "When we have good relationships with our co-workers, people can pull together." Credit: Blend Images/Shutterstock High > pg. 12

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