How do you manage stress in the workplace? Spot the signs. Act early
Workplace stress is easier to tackle when you catch it early. Waiting until someone is overwhelmed, taking time off or approaching burnout means dealing with the consequences rather than the cause. Employers can act sooner: notice changes, understand what's creating pressure, review workloads and make support easy to find and use. The aim is simple: catch people before they fall.
Managers don't need to diagnose stress or become mental health experts. They need to listen, make practical changes where possible and create space for honest conversations before everyday pressure becomes something harder to manage.
Quick answer: How do you manage stress in the workplace?
Manage workplace stress by identifying the causes, spotting changes in behaviour and acting early. Employers should review workloads, clarify priorities, set realistic deadlines and encourage honest conversations. Managers should listen, make practical changes and signpost support, not diagnose stress. Make support easy to access and communicate it regularly throughout the year. The priority is to reduce avoidable pressure before it becomes overwhelming.
Top 3 takeaways from our blog on how to manage workplace stress and spot signs early.
1. Act early, without trying to diagnose: Changes in someone's usual behaviour are a reason to check in. Listen and help them find appropriate support; not proof that they're experiencing stress.
2. Tackle the pressure, not just how people cope: Review workloads, priorities and deadlines before recommending wellbeing resources. Benefits can help but they aren't a substitute for healthy working practices.
3. Make support visible all year round: Explain what's available, how it can help and how to access it. Regular communication helps employees understand and use their mental, physical and financial wellbeing support.
What is workplace stress?
Workplace stress happens when the pressure somebody experiences at work becomes difficult to cope with.
Pressure itself isn't necessarily bad. Sometimes pressure, even stress, can motivate you. A challenging project, busy period or looming deadline doesn't automatically mean somebody is experiencing harmful levels of stress.
We tackle this topic in our blog, ‘How to drive success in the workplace by mastering stress’.
Problems can emerge when pressure becomes persistent or feels unmanageable.
Common workplace stressors can include excessive workloads, limited control over work, a lack of support and conflicting or unclear expectations.
Stress isn't always confined to work either. Money worries, relationships, caring responsibilities, health concerns and other pressures can all affect how much capacity someone has when they arrive at work.
That's important because everyone experiences pressure differently.
Everybody has a different capacity for stress, so I think it's quite key to remember that how people handle stress and how much stress they can take on board differs from individual to individual.
Debbie Evans, Mental Health First Aider on the Pluxee UK podcast
Employers can't remove every source of stress from someone's life. They can create an environment where people feel able to raise their hand when things start to feel too much.
What causes stress in the workplace?
There's rarely one single cause of workplace stress, but common causes can include:
- Excessive or unmanageable workloads
- Unrealistic deadlines
- Unclear roles or expectations
- Poor management
- Conflict with colleagues
- Lack of control or autonomy
- Organisational change or uncertainty
- Insufficient support
- Difficulty switching off
- Poor work-life balance
- Financial pressure
- Feeling undervalued or unrecognised.
Instead of simply asking, "Is this person stressed?", managers can ask a more useful question: "What's creating the pressure, and is there something we can change?"
That's the difference between reacting to stress and tackling it earlier. Identify what's stressing you at work before focusing on what you can change (NHS).
What are the early signs of stress at work?
Workplace stress doesn't always look dramatic. Sometimes the first sign is simply that someone isn't behaving like themselves. Potential signs can include becoming withdrawn, losing motivation or confidence, working longer hours, avoiding tasks or taking more time off.
The challenge is that stress looks different for different people, and that makes changes in someone's normal behaviour particularly worth noticing.
| What you might notice | What might be happening | An appropriate early response |
| Becoming quieter or withdrawn | Someone may be feeling isolated or overwhelmed | Check in privately and ask how they're doing |
| Working increasingly long hours | Workload may be becoming difficult to manage | Review priorities, capacity and deadlines |
| More mistakes or difficulty concentrating | Sustained pressure could be affecting focus | Ask what's getting in the way before focusing purely on performance |
| Changes in communication | Pressure may be building | Create room for a private, informal conversation |
| Regularly missing breaks | They may be struggling to step away from work | Reinforce that taking breaks is expected |
| Reduced motivation or engagement | Something at work or outside it may have changed | Ask what's changed and whether support would help |
| Increased absence | This could indicate someone is struggling | Approach the situation supportively and follow appropriate HR processes |
None of these signs automatically means someone is experiencing harmful stress. Use them as prompts to check in, not as an invitation to diagnose somebody.
Why is it important to tackle workplace stress early?
Stress often builds gradually instead of hitting all at once. Often, the signs only show when a person is nearing burnout, which is why it’s important to tackle workplace stress early.
Stress can creep up when someone takes on an extra project while already busy, especially when deadlines overlap. You might see people start eating lunch at their desks, a few late evenings become normal, and they stop taking breaks. Eventually, sleep suffers and concentration becomes harder.
Individually, none of those moments necessarily looks like a crisis. Collectively, they can tell a different story.
Persistent stress can affect both physical and emotional wellbeing, and chronic stress can cause problems with sleep, difficulty concentrating -- even anxiety, which is why early conversations matter.
Hopefully, before you reach that stage, we can catch you before you fall, because that's the point. It is support from one human individual to another.
Debbie Evans, Mental Health First Aider on the Pluxee UK podcast
Debbie presents a useful way to think about early intervention: Managers aren't there to diagnose someone's mental health or fix every problem, but they can notice, ask, listen and help someone find the right support.
How can employers manage stress in the workplace?
No single intervention will prevent workplace stress. A better approach is to tackle it from several directions, starting with the source of the pressure.
1. Identify what's creating the pressure
Start with the problem, not the wellbeing solution.
Use regular one-to-ones, employee feedback, pulse surveys and team conversations to understand where pressure might be building.
Managers can ask:
- Is the workload manageable?
- Are priorities clear?
- Are deadlines realistic?
- Is anything making it harder to get the job done?
- Are people regularly working outside their normal hours?
- Do employees feel able to ask for help?
- Do they know what support is available?
Personal awareness matters too.
Nobody knows you better than yourself. So, it's being able to identify those triggers. What's your capacity? What is it that triggers you?
Debbie Evans, Mental Health First Aider on the Pluxee UK podcast
Helping employees recognise those triggers can make it easier to act before pressure becomes overwhelming.
2. Make regular check-ins meaningful
"How are you?" is very easy to answer with "fine". Try asking something more specific:
- What's taking most of your energy right now?
- Is anything making your workload difficult to manage?
- What could I clarify or reprioritise?
- Is there something we could change that would make things more manageable?
The goal isn't to force somebody to talk. It's to create enough space and psychological permission for people to raise concerns when they want to.
It's okay to talk. It's okay to have your challenges... It's about making it okay to talk about these subjects and taking that stigma away.
Debbie Evans, Mental Health First Aider on the Pluxee UK podcast
3. Review the workload before recommending coping strategies
Mindfulness, exercise and wellbeing resources can all play a useful role in helping people manage stress. Still, they're unlikely to fix an impossible workload, so before focusing entirely on how somebody can cope with pressure, ask whether some of that pressure can be reduced.
A useful order is: Workload → priorities → deadlines → resources → flexibility → support
For example, if three pieces of work have suddenly become urgent, the answer might not be helping someone become better at dealing with the stress.
It might be deciding which one isn't urgent anymore.
Employee wellbeing shouldn't become another way of asking people to tolerate unhealthy working practices.
4. Give people permission to pause
People also need time to reset during the working day.
That could mean:
- Taking a proper lunch break
- Stepping away from the screen
- Going for a walk
- Protecting annual leave
- Avoiding unnecessary out-of-hours communication
- Reviewing meeting overload
- Creating realistic deadlines.
It's not enough to tell employees that taking breaks is allowed if the working culture suggests otherwise.
This isn't just a case of sitting at your laptop for seven and a half to eight hours consistently. It's about taking that time away. Employers are really responsible for the culture that they create and the messages that they send out to their employees.
Debbie Evans, Mental Health First Aider on the Pluxee UK podcast
The behaviour managers role-model matters too.
If leaders talk about wellbeing but consistently send emails late at night, work through holidays and celebrate long hours, employees may hear a very different message.
5. Give managers the confidence to act
Managers may be among the first people to notice that something has changed.
That doesn't mean they need to diagnose stress or have all the answers.
Give managers practical guidance on:
- Spotting potential warning signs
- Starting supportive conversations
- Discussing priorities and workload
- Understanding what adjustments they can make
- Signposting available wellbeing support
- Knowing when HR or occupational health support may be appropriate.
The goal isn't to turn managers into therapists; it's to help them recognise when a conversation could make a difference.
6. Help employees build their own wellbeing toolkit
Stress is personal, so what helps someone manage it will be personal too.
For some people it's exercise. For others it's walking, meditation, hobbies, social connection, time away from screens, or simply recognising when they need to stop.
The Pluxee podcast captures the feeling of stress rather neatly:
We're like snow globes when we are stressed. It's like someone's giving it a good old shake. The snow's everywhere, you can't see straight, you can't think straight.
Debbie Evans, Mental Health First Aider on the Pluxee UK podcast
The point of a wellbeing toolkit isn't to remove every stressful situation. It's knowing what helps your snow settle.
Mind similarly recommends understanding what causes stress and suggests using a Wellness Action Plan to identify what can help somebody stay well at work.
7. Make support easy to find and use
When somebody is already struggling, they shouldn't have to work hard to find out what support their employer offers.
Bring together and regularly communicate services such as:
- Employee Assistance Programmes
- Counselling services
- Mental Health First Aiders
- Occupational health
- Financial wellbeing support
- Physical wellbeing benefits
- Wellbeing resources
- Manager and HR support.
Crucially, don't communicate them once and assume everyone remembers.
It's not about pushing it just when you lead up to Mental Health Awareness Week... it's that consistent messaging, raising that awareness, so people are aware that the service is there and people are there to support you.
Debbie Evans, Mental Health First Aider on the Pluxee UK podcast
Providing support is only part of the job. People need to know it exists, understand how it can help, and feel comfortable using it, so benefits engagement matters.
What can employees do to manage stress at work?
Responsibility shouldn't sit entirely with the individual. Still, employees can take practical steps when they feel pressure building, from identifying personal triggers to setting boundaries, taking breaks, and using available support.
1. Identify your triggers
Notice the situations, tasks or relationships that consistently increase your stress.
Understanding patterns makes it easier to decide what you can change and where you might need help.
2. Talk about it early
You don't have to wait until things become unmanageable.
Consider speaking to your manager, HR team, Mental Health First Aider or someone else you trust.
3. Clarify priorities
If everything feels urgent, ask what genuinely needs doing first.
Making priorities explicit can be much more useful than trying to juggle everything at once.
4. Set boundaries
Take breaks, use your annual leave and protect time away from work where possible.
5. Find your reset
Exercise, a walk, talking to someone, listening to music or simply moving away from your desk can give you space to reset.
6. Use the support available
Don't assume an EAP, counselling service, or Mental Health First Aider is only there once you've reached crisis point.
That's exactly what we're trying to avoid.
Workplace stress vs burnout: what's the difference?
Stress and burnout are connected, but they're not interchangeable.
| Workplace stress | Burnout |
| Can occur when demands or pressures become difficult to cope with | Can develop following prolonged workplace stress |
| Someone may still feel highly engaged but overwhelmed | Someone may become exhausted or detached from their work |
| Early action may help stop pressure escalating | May require more substantial support, recovery or workplace adjustments |
| Focus should include identifying and reducing sources of pressure | Focus may include recovery alongside addressing the underlying work factors |
Mind describes burnout as mental and physical exhaustion and a reduced ability to do your job.
The valuable question for an employer therefore isn't simply: How do we deal with burnout?
It's also: What can we notice and change before somebody reaches that point?
How can employee benefits help with workplace stress?
Employee benefits aren't a substitute for good management, realistic workloads or a healthy workplace culture.
They can provide an additional layer of support across three connected areas: mental, physical and financial wellbeing.
| Wellbeing area | What could be contributing to stress? | Support employers could consider |
| Mental wellbeing | Sustained pressure, anxiety, isolation or difficulty coping | EAP, counselling, Mental Health First Aiders and wellbeing resources |
| Physical wellbeing | Fatigue, sedentary working or difficulty switching off | Physical activity initiatives and relevant wellbeing benefits |
| Financial wellbeing | Household costs and worries about making income stretch | Financial wellbeing support, employee discounts and relevant salary-sacrifice benefits |
For me, when we take it back to the employer, it's about them being able to introduce support across those three key pillars: financial wellbeing, mental wellbeing and physical wellbeing, because it's different things that trigger those stress levels in different people.
Debbie Evans, Mental Health First Aider on the Pluxee UK podcast
The important thing is not to present benefits as a sticking plaster for poor working practices.
The stronger approach is: Understand what's driving stress → remove avoidable workplace pressure → intervene early → provide appropriate support → make that support easy to access.
How can Mental Health First Aiders support employees?
Mental Health First Aiders can provide another route for employees who might not initially feel comfortable speaking to their manager.
However, it's important to be clear about their role.
We're not counsellors. We're not therapists. We're here as peer-to-peer support to help you and provide emotional support within the organisation. It's often signposting as well.
Debbie Evans, Mental Health First Aider on the Pluxee UK podcast
Managers should take Debbie’s comments on board, too. Supporting somebody doesn't mean you have to solve the problem.
Sometimes the most useful things you can do are: notice something has changed → ask → listen → signpost.
Catch people before they fall
Managing workplace stress isn't about eliminating every source of pressure. That's neither realistic nor necessarily possible.
It's about creating a workplace where people can recognise when pressure is building, talk about it without judgement and access appropriate support early.
That requires manageable workloads, supportive managers, meaningful conversations, healthy boundaries and wellbeing support that employees know about and feel able to use.
It also requires consistency.
A wellbeing strategy shouldn't suddenly appear during an awareness week or only kick in once someone reaches crisis point.
It should be part of the everyday employee experience.
Your wellbeing strategy shouldn't only be there to pick someone up once they've reached breaking point.
It should help catch people before they fall.
Key takeaway:
Don't wait for workplace stress to become burnout. Look for the early signs, understand what's creating the pressure and act before somebody reaches breaking point. Good workplace stress management isn't one intervention or employee benefit. It's the combination of prevention + early conversations + supportive management + accessible wellbeing support.
Workplace stress FAQs
What is workplace stress?
Workplace stress happens when the pressure or demands someone experiences at work become difficult to manage. Causes can include workload, unclear expectations, lack of control or insufficient support.
What are the signs of stress at work?
Potential signs include changes in motivation or confidence, withdrawal, working longer hours, avoiding tasks, and increased absence. There isn't one universal sign of stress, so managers should watch for changes in an individual's normal behaviour rather than trying to diagnose them.
How can managers reduce stress at work?
Start by understanding what's creating the pressure. Review workloads, priorities, deadlines, and available resources; hold regular check-ins; and ensure employees know what support is available.
When should employers intervene with workplace stress?
As early as possible. Employers don't need to wait until someone reaches burnout or takes sickness absence to start a conversation. Changes in behaviour, workload or engagement can provide an opportunity to check in.
Can employee benefits reduce workplace stress?
Benefits can support employees' mental, physical, and financial wellbeing, but they're unlikely to address workplace stress on their own.
They work best alongside realistic workloads, healthy working practices, supportive managers and a culture in which people feel comfortable asking for help.
What should a manager do if an employee says they're stressed?
Listen first rather than jumping immediately to solutions.
Try to understand what's contributing to the pressure and what could realistically change. This might include reviewing priorities, workload, deadlines or working arrangements and signposting appropriate support where needed.
Managers don't need to diagnose the problem or act as therapists. Their role is to listen, consider what workplace changes are possible and help people access the right support.
Sources:
American Psychological Society
