For decades, much research on work stress has focused on several topics: control/autonomy over work, the meaningfulness of work, and support structures from supervisors, organizational leadership, and colleagues. One of my bugbears is how infrequently these things get talked about in mainstream business press, most of which focus on more…

With all the doom and gloom associated with 2020, it’s hard to think of much, or anything positive to take away from it. You can call me the nauseating optimist, but if learning in a way that shapes us and makes us more aware, and more resilient counts for positivity…

For almost any lines of work, 2020 has arguably been the most stressful year most of us can remember. The reasons have, of course, varied by industry, geographic location, position, and seniority. But one thing most of us have in common is that some sort of process (or cluster of…

As our response to covid-19 continues, many professional workplaces are transitioning more activities online. This transitions has not been universally popular, to say the least. One such change is more online video calls. The downsides seem obvious: a lack of face-to-face contact, the potential for technical issues to dampen the…

As a work stress researcher, and former Headhunter, I have developed a self assessment tool to help you identify root causes of your work…

Have you ever searched for a hashtag that seems poignant, relevant, and generalizable to a lot of people, only to find that a remarkably small number of people follow it? Have you also noticed how many people — often multiple exponents more — follow other hashtags which are closely related…

Whatever our individual reactions to the coronavirus, it’s undoubted that these are unprecedented times for the modern world of work. Reactions from organizations have varied from closure, to laying off various proportions of staff, furloughing, and cutting away non-essential positions and resources to protect key workers. Some have received public…

I am passionate about dealing with excessive work stress. I’ve felt it quite acutely on many occasions, and for many different reasons. I’ve also experienced it chronically in a couple of jobs. Aside to my own experiences, I saw the effects of excessive stress on even very accomplished people, in…

So much of organizational life today is about systems. From customer relationship management (CRM), to a strong emphasis on teamwork; training employees to learn “how we do things around here”; to cultivating an organizational identity which guides the framing of decisions around strategy, production, and marketing. …