Stress Management Strategies for People in Tech

Welcome to the first edition of the new bi-weekly blog series for Happier People in Tech! You will find this newsletter is packed with a good mix of evidence-based strategies, research highlights from the field of positive psychology (the science of HOW to be happier at work) and random pearls of wisdom from my readings and work with people and teams in tech.

Together, we will build happier teams in tech and tackle topics like work-life balance, imposter feelings, positive leadership strategies, creating happier teams through collaboration and compassion, understanding how to inspire remote and hybrid teams - and much more!

Subscribe and follow along for a bi-weekly review of 1 Positive Strategy to try out for yourself, 1 Research Highlight relevant to the tech industry and 1 Random Wisdom for a bit of thinking outside the box.

1 Positive Strategy

The Scissors Model of Stress Management

Tech never stops. Tech is at the epicentre of our VUCA world of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. The way most tech jobs are designed, work never stops. There is always something else to do, leading to challenges for people to switch off - digitally and mentally. If you find it hard to manage the stress and demands of your role, chances are that the balance between stress and recovery is off.

Stress management can be visualised with a pair of scissors (Kellmann & Kallus, 2001): on the one blade is your stress level, on the other one your recovery. Originally developed to measure physical recovery of sports athletes, the model has been transferred into organisational psychology to highlight the need for mental recovery in stressful working environments.

The more stress you experience, the more mental recovery you need to add on the other side to strike a healthy balance. Have you ever wondered why some people seem to be dealing so much better with stress? High-performers are very good in creating a balance between stress and recovery!

If you need to add more recovery to your scissors, think about activities that energise you and try to add more of them during the day. What can you do more off that energises you and gives you a break from the screen at the same time?

1 Research Highlight

The future of work: what employees want

The pandemic has accelerated trends to work more flexibly in hybrid or fully remote settings. A recent report by Gallup showed employees have a clear preferences to continue working in fully flexible hybrid models:

🏠 Preferred location: 59% of employees prefer a hybrid model, compared to only 32% pre-pandemic. Only 9% prefer working fully onsite!

💶 Cost to employers who won't support remote flexibility: lower engagement and wellbeing, much higher intent to leave the company and higher levels of burnout.

✅ How hybrid should look like: 4 in 10 employees want to be in the office 2-3 days per week. 3 in 10 want to be in the office less than 2 days a week.

➡️ clear indication a one-size-fits-all approach won't work!

1 Random Wisdom

Mistakes are the portal of discovery.

James Joyce, Irish Writer

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