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Since 1992, Stress awareness month has been held every April to raise not only awareness but to also highlight how people can help one another to live a happier and healthier lifestyle. Stress awareness month helps to create a more open and cohesive work environment that improves teamwork, moral, communication and productivity. Furthermore, it enables companies to understand the role they play when considering stressful working environments. Significant improvement has come from both employers and employee’s having a duty of care to help each other in the work environment during the last 20 years, especially those with families and those that work longer hours. Mattel for example will allow parents 16 hours of school related time off without using up their allocated holiday. This improves time efficiency and job satisfaction. The mental health foundation has released a statement declaring that 74% of adults in the UK have felt stressed at some point over the last year, however, there is a corner being turned to reduce this percentage and achieve a balanced lifestyle. To improve this, businesses have listened to their team and have created both short to long term solutions to those who work hard on a consistent basis. These include working with local food outlets to provide fresh fruit and vegetables, beverages and snacks to help provide them with better physical health. Some companies such as Google and Apple in particular will use exercise as a way to engage staff with a way to expedite energy, these include yoga, weekly running classes and discounted gym memberships. This also helps people communicate and interact with one another which benefits their social skills. At Hamlyn Williams, we too will go the extra mile to achieve this. We organise team meetings that includes travelling to new cities, experiencing new cultures and establishing new connections. Salesforce and Stryker allow team members to volunteer and donate to their selected charities. Most companies offer group training and will create day or night events for the team. This significantly improves communication, positivity, productivity and moral. Here are at Hamlyn Williams we asked our employees how they deal with stress, the results are as follows: Take a step back and review the situation- sometimes removing yourself from the situation can help you relax to take a breather and assess the situation from a different perspective, which will give you time to find a solution to the problem. Become more organised and schedule plans- Sometimes being organised can really help improve time management. Such as scheduling meetings. A clear plan can alleviate stress when ‘sudden’ factors occur that could potentially affect the initial idea you’ve come up with. Physical exercise such as running- which can cause a increase in endorphins and help not just the body in decreasing the risk of high blood pressure and strengthening the immune system, but benefits mental health and well being. Rest and sleep properly to aid mental and physical recovery- Those who have eight hours sleep will reap the rewards of a functioning mind and body, those with less tend to suffer from tiredness and lack of concentration which can affect their work performance. Talk to friends, family and colleges- Sometimes a chat to let out all the build up of emotions can help relieve stress and ensure that those around you can offer their opinion and help you going forward. If you are repeatedly in stressful situations then it may be time for a new role, contact us for more information at info@hamylynwilliams.com or check our linked in for daily job updates along with our website https://www.hamlynwilliams.com/job-search