How to reduce stress at work: 12 steps that help
Find what’s causing it, change what you control, and ask for help with the rest. Plus what managers and HR can fix.
To reduce stress at work, first find what is actually causing it, then change the parts you control: get your work ranked, cut needless interruptions, take real breaks, move during the day and set a clear end to your workday. Raise workload problems with your manager early. Managers and HR lower stress most by fixing the work itself: workload, unclear roles and how much say people have over how they work.
How common is stress at work, and what causes it?
Very common, and most of it comes from how the work is set up, not from the people doing it.
- 40% of employees worldwide said they felt a lot of stress the previous day, and 50% in the US and Canada, the highest of any region (Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2026).
- An estimated 12 billion working days are lost every year to depression and anxiety, at a cost of about US$1 trillion in lost productivity (WHO, Mental health at work, 2026).
The usual causes
The World Health Organization lists these risks at work:
- Too much work, too fast a pace, or too few people to do it
- Long, unsocial or inflexible hours
- Little say over how or when you do your work
- A job role nobody has made clear
- Little support from colleagues, or a harsh manager
- Job insecurity, low pay or no path to grow
- Harassment, bullying, discrimination or exclusion
- Work and home demands that clash
Your stress log (step 1 below) will usually point at one or two of them. That tells you whether the fix is in your own habits, in a talk with your manager, or both.
12 ways to reduce stress at work
Start with the first three. They show you where the stress comes from and get the biggest load off your list.
- 1.Keep a stress log for one week. Each time you feel tense, note what happened, who was involved and how you reacted. Patterns show up within days.
- 2.Sort what you can control. Split the log into three piles: mine to change, mine to influence, not mine. Spend your energy on the first two.
- 3.Get your work ranked. When everything feels urgent, ask your manager which task comes first and which can slip. The scripts below help.
- 4.Silence the notifications you don't need. Turn off badges and banners for everything except direct messages and calendar alerts.
- 5.Shrink big projects to a next step. "Finish the report" weighs on you. "Draft the opening paragraph" is something you can start in ten minutes.
- 6.Put your breaks in the calendar. Book two short breaks and a lunch hour as events, so meetings can't quietly take them.
- 7.Move every hour or so. Walk to refill your water, take the stairs, or do a few desk exercises. WHO advises everyone to limit time spent sitting.
- 8.End the workday on purpose. Write a note on where you stopped, close every tab and shut the laptop. A clear finish makes it easier to switch off.
- 9.Answer with "yes, if". "Yes, if the client deck can move to Friday." You stay helpful without silently doubling your load.
- 10.Protect your sleep. Keep the same wake-up time on most days and take work email off your phone at night.
- 11.Use your vacation days. Book time off before it piles up, name a backup in your out-of-office, and don't check in.
- 12.Talk to someone early. A coworker you trust, your manager, or your employee assistance program (EAP) if your company has one.
Step 7 is easier with a routine you can follow without thinking: try our desk exercises, a 5-minute set you can do in work clothes. WHO advises adults to get at least 150 minutes of moderate activity a week and to limit time spent sitting (WHO, Physical activity, 2024).
This is general wellness advice, not medical advice. If stress lasts for weeks or affects your sleep, health or life outside work, talk to a doctor or a mental health professional.
What to say to your manager
Most workload stress only gets fixed when someone says it out loud. Five scripts to adapt to your own words:
- Too much on your plate
- “I have the budget review, the onboarding deck and the vendor report due this week. I can do two of them well. Which one can move?”
- Everything is marked urgent
- “When everything is top priority, I end up doing it all halfway. Can we rank these together for the next two weeks?”
- Messages late at night
- “I'm offline after 6 so I'm sharp in the morning. If something truly can't wait, call me.”
- You need a different setup
- “Could I try starting an hour earlier and finishing an hour earlier for a month? Let's check in on how it's going at the end.”
- It's starting to wear you down
- “The workload has been hard to keep up with lately, and I'd like to talk about it before it gets worse. Can we take 20 minutes this week?”
Bring it up in a one-on-one rather than a group meeting, and come with a suggestion, not just the problem.
How to relieve stress at work in the moment
For a tense moment between meetings, step away from the screen, slow your breathing and walk for two minutes.
We keep the full set of quick resets, from box breathing to a five-senses grounding exercise, plus team versions you can run in a meeting, in our stress management activities guide.
How managers can reduce stress on their team
A manager sets most of what drives stress for a team: deadlines, priorities and how safe it feels to say “this is too much.”
- Swap "ASAP" for a real date. Say when you need it and why. False urgency is one of the easiest stresses to take away.
- Agree on the outcome, then step back. Set the goal and the deadline, and let people choose how to get there. Low control over work is one of the risks WHO names.
- Ask privately when someone seems stretched. "You've seemed stretched lately. How are you doing?" Then listen, and ask what would help.
- Show the boundaries you want to see. Take your own vacation, log off at a normal hour, and schedule late messages to send in the morning.
- Share news early, even when it's half-finished. Silence about a reorg or budget cuts gets filled with worst cases. Say what you know and when you'll know more.
- Know what support exists. Learn what your EAP and benefits cover, so you can point someone to help in the moment they need it.
How HR can reduce stress in the workplace
WHO's advice to employers starts with working conditions: change the work first, then add coping support on top.
- Find the hot spots. Ask about workload, support and control in your engagement survey, and read the results team by team.
- Train managers in mental health basics. WHO recommends training that helps managers recognize distress in their team and respond to it.
- Offer flexible working where the job allows it. Flexible hours or location are WHO's own example of changing working conditions, not just coping skills.
- Make the EAP impossible to miss. Mention it at onboarding, in benefits emails and right after hard news like a reorganization.
- Nudge people to take their time off. Check unused vacation balances each quarter and remind teams with big balances to book a break.
- Write down what each role owns. An unclear job role is on WHO's list of risks. A short note on what each role owns and how success is judged fixes a lot.
Need questions for that survey? Start with our employee engagement survey questions. For a whole season of healthy habits, try one of these workplace wellness challenges.
