
Learn how to cope with a high-stress role.
© iStockphoto/wragg
Sarah is a manager in a high-volume call center, and her job is very stressful. She interacts every day with angry, upset customers, she needs to keep her team members calm and productive, and she has to meet tough customer satisfaction goals.
Despite these pressures, Sarah is known for her professionalism and her composure. She's kind to everyone on her team, she stays cool in tense situations, and she makes good decisions, even when she's under pressure. Sarah has mastered the art of surviving and thriving in a stressful role.
Many people experience stress in their jobs. You might feel stressed temporarily because of a project deadline, or because of seasonal fluctuations in your workload. Or you might experience long-term stress due to the type of work that you do, because of a difficult boss or co-worker, or because of office politics.
In this article, we'll look at the consequences of job stress, and we'll explore some strategies that you can use to manage a stressful job successfully.
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Hobfoll, S.E., Shirom, A. and Golembiewski, R.T. (2001) 'Conservation of Resource Theory: Applications to Stress and Management in the Workplace,' Handbook of Organizational Behavior. (Available here.)
Lightsey, O.R. (1994) '"Thinking Positive" as a Stress Buffer: The Role of Positive Automatic Cognitions in Depression and Happiness,' Journal of Counseling Psychology. Volume 41, Issue 3, July 1994. (Available here.)
ComPsych (2012) Presenteeism on the Rise as Employees Show Fatigue From a Slow- to No-Hire Economy. [Online] Available here. [Accessed January 14, 2013.]
UCL News (2012) Pan-European Study Confirms Link Between Work Stress and Heart Disease. [Online] Available here. [Accessed January 14, 2013.]