Author Katrina Shanks, CEO Financial Advice NZ. Article originally published in stuff.co.nz.

OPINION: This headline caught my eye recently: ‘Switch your work iPhone off or we’ll do it for you, bosses tell workaholics’.

It was from an article on yet more concerning research that showed nearly half of Kiwi employees feel too stressed to do their jobs properly.

The Umbrella Wellbeing research found 43 per cent of employees felt they had to neglect some work tasks because they had too much to do.

It was not too dissimilar to the Southern Cross research I wrote about here last week that showed of the 43 per cent of employees who said they had a poor work-life balance, 60 per cent said that was due to workload.

The headline stemmed from reactive comments by an employment mediator, who said some companies were stopping staff from accessing work IT systems when on leave or a sick day. He knew of a case where an employee was upset about being restricted from access to work systems when on leave. The company effectively said: “You’re on leave, you’re meant to be on holiday. We’re not trying to punish you.”

The mediator said some big firms realised letting people properly switch off helped prevent burnout and improved long-term productivity.

And that is right – employee health and wellness is paramount to a business’s viability, and a lot of businesses put a lot of work into getting that right.

But it’s not just employees, because everyone can be subject to stresses on the job, and that includes managers and owners.

It’s fair to say that with the burdens they have to carry – including to home with them – the stress on them can be much greater.

It’s not hard to find surveys on worker stress and burnout, but those on managerial stress and how to handle it seem to be few and far between.

But that doesn’t stop it from being a very real thing.

A recent Gallup poll in the United States pointed to the problem.

It found that between 33% and 35% of managers reported they felt burnt out “very often or always”, with those who led teams reporting highest levels of burnout (defined as a feeling of mental and physical exhaustion as a direct result of consistent and/or prolonged stress).

I would be surprised if those figures aren’t even higher in New Zealand, knowing how hard Kiwis work, and coupled with the extremely high ratio of small to medium businesses (20 employees or less), most of them family-run and not as well off for support resources as bigger companies.

And that means pressure on those managers and owners.

American mental health expert Marie Miguel, writing on the accounting website Accountests.co.nz, summed it up accurately when she asked “who is the most important person in your organisation for building a culture of high engagement and wellbeing – the kind that will attract employees in a tight labour market? The manager. But how can managers be expected to improve the engagement and well-being of your workforce if they, themselves, are burned out?”

And that’s exactly the point.

She says that from developing teams to making tough decisions, being a manager naturally comes with a lot of stress. “The days when you can sit back and relax are rare. Instead, you may find yourself rushing from one project to the next, sometimes working with employees who are unpleasant, unmotivated, or disengaged.”

The keys are to recognise stress when it happens and then knowing how to deal with it.

Common signs include unexplained fatigue, headaches, stomach upsets, difficulty sleeping, being moody and irritable, being angry or panicking in situations that normally wouldn’t bother you, and avoiding other people.

So what can you do? Here are four ideas:

Take regular breaks

Managers are motivated people, and that means they often work at full speed to get a job done to meet a deadline without stopping. But forcing yourself to take regular time-outs – a walk around the building, do some simple exercises at your desk, make a coffee, have a chat with a colleague in another area – can make a huge difference. You will likely make up the time you lose because you will return to your desk refreshed.

Delegate
One of the hardest things about being a manager is knowing when to step back and let someone else take responsibility. Knowing when to delegate is not only one of the keys to being a great manager, but it can save your sanity and even your life. It can be one of the hardest things to do but it’s one of the most essential. Trusting your staff can be the best thing for everyone.

Upskill your staff

Help make your life better by making their jobs easier. Make sure they have the skills to do more on their own and then you will be able to trust them to do it right without you having to look over their shoulders.

Provide clear guidance

It’s a manager’s job to enact leadership decisions while motivating their staff to get work done. But they can keep employees informed and engaged only if organisational priorities and changes are made clear. Confused messaging only makes managers’ lives more stressful.

Being a manager can be exciting and rewarding, but it’s important to not let stress spoil it. Developing your own ways of dealing with it will help you and those around you and allow everyone – including the business – to reach their full potential.