How to Manage Workplace Stress

Leading in times of Stress

All workgroups experience additional stress from time to time. There might be a tight deadline, a spike in services demand or organisational change.  Studies¹ show that a supportive leader can buffer their teams against the stress, increase their work performance and enhance their wellbeing.

Gallup research² finds the percentage of employees who report experiencing a lot of stress, anger or sadness the previous day remains above pre-pandemic levels.

Daily negative emotions among workers increased worldwide during the pandemic. Although they have reduced from the peaks seen during the pandemic, negative emotions among workers are still higher than they were before 2020. Researchers², suggest this might indicate lasting psychological impacts from the pandemic or a new challenges that might be impacting workers.

New analysis of global Gallup² data, which looked at more than 141,444 employees in more than 140 countries, shows that when employees enjoy their work, feel it improves others’ lives and believe they have choices in what they do, they report stronger wellbeing and higher workplace engagement.

“Wellbeing increases when employees see their work as intrinsically rewarding and good for others.”

Good leaders manage their stress well³

They are a good example to follow.

Workers follow their leaders’ examples for many work behaviours. The leader sets the culture: the way we do things around here. From whether meetings start on time to whether emails are sent after hours, people will follow their manager’s lead. It’s no different, when a team is experiencing a stressful period, they will tend to follow their manager’s lead, whether they mean to or not. This makes it even more important for leaders to model the behaviour they want to see in their teams.

Leaders, consider how you tend to behave when under pressure.  Do you shout? Do you apportion blame? Do you go quiet? Do you communicate effectively? Do you make unreasonable requests? Most people demonstrate some undesirable behaviours (of which they are not proud) when they are experiencing stress, if you know what yours are, you are in a better position to manage them. This will definitely impact your team.

Leaders can help to buffer against the effects of stress

Leadership Behaviours impact Employee Well-being

Researchers^3,4 have studied leadership behaviours which most positively improve employee wellbeing and buffer against stress, and they call these behaviours: Transformational leadership behaviours.

Transformational leadership is characterised by inspiration, individual consideration, and intellectual stimulation. A transformational leader inspires positive change by fostering innovation, empowering employees, and setting a compelling vision. They inspire individuals to exceed self-interest for the sake of a shared, visionary goal. And they lead by example.

Conversely, autocratic and laissez-faire leadership behaviours contributed to poor wellbeing among their teams⁴. An autocratic leader tends to expect others to follow their rules with little consultation, they make decisions quickly but with little consideration and they tend to be controlling of others. Laissez-faire, from the French: “to let do”; describes a leadership style where leaders have minimal involvement in their teams and their teams need to find their own motivation. Both very different styles, tend exacerbate stress within their teams.³

Transformational leadership is a significant positive influence on employee well-being. Leaders who inspire, challenge, and support their employees contribute to a work environment that fosters psychological health and job satisfaction. Teams under transformational leadership, perform better.⁴

Practical support leaders can offer to buffer against stress⁵

• assist with work demands, including clear work goals
• provide all workers with adequate information
• provide workers with training and development opportunities
• conduct performance reviews and include constructive, reciprocal, feedback
• provide additional assistance when workers are undertaking challenging tasks, such as new duties or roles
• where possible, ensure adequate backfilling of roles or redistribution of work when workers are out of the office or away on leave

It’s impossible to protect employees from all stress. Leaders who adopt transformational leadership behaviours, who are supportive and encouraging, will limit the impact of the stress which is inevitable. If you would like some assistance managing your own stress and the stress of your team, contact your EAP on 1800 629 277 in Australia and 0800 327 669 in New Zealand or support@akg.com.au

1. Pajic, S., Buengeler, C., Den Hartog, D.,N., & Hanke-Boer, D. (2025). Prioritizing the bottom line over people in a crisis: How leader behavior affects employee psychological distress under economic threat.PLoS One, 20(7), 26. doi:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0323415
2. State of the Global Workplace 2026 | Employee Engagement Data & Trends – Gallup
3. Costa, J., Pádua, M., & António, C. M. (2023). Leadership styles and innovation management: What is the role of human capital?Administrative Sciences, 13(2), 47. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci13020047
4. Meera, C., Chaudhary, N., Sarada, V., Hareesh, G. J., Damodaran, D., & Hong, T. K. (2025). THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN LEADERSHIP BEHAVIORS AND EMPLOYEE WELL-BEING IN EVOLVING HUMAN RESOURCE PRACTICES.Lex Localis, 23, 593-603. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.slq.qld.gov.au/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/interplay-between-leadership-behaviors-employee/docview/3271151137/se-2
5. Work demands – Practical guidance for managers and supervisors