Managing work anxiety. 10 Best Ways to Significantly Reduce Back-to-Office Stress After a Break

Looking for effective ways to reduce back-to-office stress? Good on you!

Work anxiety has been a significant problem plaguing the workplace community for a long period of time.

It can drastically decrease your productivity, destroy your mental and social health, and cause a series of problems at work with both your co-workers and supervisors. 

94% of individuals experienced work anxiety in the U.S in 2019. This is a major cause of concern.

Individuals need to manage their work anxiety, or else they can miss their deadlines, get in conflict with their colleagues, become too scared to report something to their superiors, and get fired from their jobs in some severe cases. 

If you have anxiety at work, it will affect your daily routine, whether you are outgoing, confident, or a bit of an introvert.

One of the workplace anxieties is the kind of anxiety where you are worried about going back to work after a long break. 

Back-to-work stress and anxiety are big problems that require a great deal of effort on your part to manage.

So, in this article, we shall discuss 10 effective ways you can reduce back-to-office stress and reduce the anxiety of going back to work after a long break or vacation period. 

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10 Best Ways To Reduce Back-To-Office Stress

1. Actively Engage In Conversations With Others

There will be a lot of stuff you will have missed out on, and the best way to know them is by asking.

Therefore, to swiftly reduce back-to-office stress, you should actively talk to your coworkers, be thankful to them, compliment them, and make good use of these conversations to learn what you may have missed.

Moreover, actively engaging in conversations with your colleagues helps you re-integrate into the workplace pretty well. Instead of going straight to work mode, talking with your co-workers will help you gradually get accustomed to office life.

 Engaging in conversations will also help build rapport with any new colleagues that may have joined your team while you were away. So, one of the first things to do to reduce back-to-office stress is to engage in meaningful communications with your co-workers. 

2. Avoid Any Workplace Conflicts

You do not want any conflicts and reduce back-to-office stress with any of your co-workers right after returning to the office after a long time. So, try your best to stay out of any conflicts.

There might be colleagues you do not like, some who make your work difficult, etc. The workplace is full of people you do not want to mingle with. 

Workplace conflicts are always harmful. However, it is much easier to get into conflicts when you are returning to work after a while and still adjusting to your responsibilities.

If someone annoys you when you are still trying to figure out your job, you will have a strong urge to start debating with that individual. 

However, it is highly recommended that you do not do so. Instead, try to ignore any unwanted behavior or discomfort from people you do not like until you have fully integrated back into the office.

Most importantly, try to manage your conflicts in a civilized manner. 

Talk to the people you have conflicts with and let them know you are open to meaningful discussion for solving conflicts. 

3. Prioritize Your Tasks

You will have a long list of unfinished tasks waiting at your desk after returning to the office after a long time. Your email inbox might be full, or your desk might be overwhelmed by files. 

Just looking at these tasks is enough to give you a headache. Therefore, to reduce back-to-office stres, start by prioritizing your tasks is important to avoid any back-to-office stress. 

You can prioritize your tasks based on their importance, urgency, chronology, etc. Prioritizing the tasks helps you reduce your work stress by making your work more efficient. 

Make sure that you give deadlines that you can meet and work at a manageable pace. This helps reduce your anxiety. 

4. Stop Taking Part In Office Gossips

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Taking part in office gossip can be entertaining.

But they are only temporary. In the end, they will come to haunt you back. After not coming to the office for a while, you may suddenly want to engage in meaningless gossip like talking to someone behind their back, criticizing others unnecessarily, etc. However, you should avoid doing these things. 

Remember that as you talk behind others’ back, others might also be doing the same for you. This adds up to more stress, and you will be more anxious to come back to work than before. 

Furthermore, meaningless gossip at work will reduce your work productivity, damage your reputation among your colleagues, and create all kinds of other problems. So, it is best to just avoid office gossip. 

5. Realize The Fact That Your Workplace Is Not Perfect

You may have come to the workplace after spending a long time on vacation or after staying in the quiet of your home. So, looking at the noisy and chaotic workplace may be a bit overwhelming to you.

Moreover, with many people to deal with, stressful workplace activities, and noisy crowds of co-workers, the workplace will not be the same as your home study or vacation place. 

With the different environments of the workplace, it might become difficult to get accustomed to your work after a long time, and you may also develop workplace anxiety. This is why many workplaces supply an employee handbook (check out these employee handbook ideas) to ensure all employees know the basic rules and regulations of the office. This helps to keep every employee feeling comfortable when returning! 

So, it would be better if you start going to your office with the mindset that the workplace is not ideal. 

This kind of mindset will reduce your expectations, and thus, it can be more helpful to integrate yourself into your office and help reduce back-to-office stress.

No workplace is perfect as it is a place to work and not have fun. So, make sure that this thought is ingrained in your mind before returning to your office.  

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6. Keep Working Out Regularly

You might be off on vacation or somewhere else for a while and may not have managed to work out. But as you return to the office, your daily workout routine becomes all the more important. Regular workouts help you navigate through the tough office environment. 

If you have stopped working out, you should consider doing physical fitness activities before returning to the office. Long office hours on a desk are a recipe for numerous physical health issues.

Thus, regular workouts are necessary to avoid stress when returning to the office. 

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7. Use Task Monitoring and Time tracking tools

The use of time tracking tools has become popular recently. With these employee monitoring and time tracking tools that show your work progress, your attendance, and keep track of your work time, performing well on your job becomes a lot easier. 

Tools like timeTracko, Teramind, InterGuard, help monitor employee productivity. Using these tools while working from home helps keep regular work hours and not goof off.

When you use these tools even while not working at the office, you will still have to keep your work hours, thus making it similar to working at the office. It’s crazy how much this helps reduce back-to-office stress.

Furthermore, the use of these tools helps you transition to your office workplace at any time as the amount of work that needs to be done remains the same. 

8. Take Regular Breaks From Tasks

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Getting back to work might sound somewhat thrilling, along with being worrying. Some individuals may get too excited to get back to work and try to complete as many of their piled-up tasks as soon as possible.

They tend to overwork and are not completely in tune with their work rhythms. 

In such scenarios, it is important to note that taking regular breaks during work hours to avoid getting anxious and overwhelmed with work.

Take a 10-15 minute break now and then and get a coffee. 

Make sure that you keep your mind recharged and active so that you have enough energy to complete your monotonous tasks in your boring office. 

Taking regular breaks improves your work productivity and improves your mental state. Your workplace anxiety will lessen, and you will remain cheerful throughout your workdays. 

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9. Figure Out Your Best Work Rhythms

Getting back to work will become difficult if it becomes difficult for you to quickly figure out how you used to work before. Your transition back to work will be beset with difficulties if you cannot find out your work rhythm. 

Therefore, to reduce back to office stress you need to quickly figure out your best rhythm after going back to work. Is there a certain time of the day you do your best work? How do you normally communicate with your superiors? Is there any work that you find more interesting than others? 

These might be some questions you want to be answered as soon as possible after returning to work from a break. 

Finding out your best work rhythm not only helps you integrate into the workplace quickly and efficiently, but it also helps you normalize your relations with your co-workers and supervisors whom you have not met for a long time.  

10. Keep An Open Mind

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Back to work stress can be harmful if not dealt with properly. So, keeping an open mind is essential. Although it may be difficult to adjust to your work for a few days or weeks after not working for a while, you need to remain optimistic and keep an open mind. Because eventually, you will be able to get back to your old routine. 

It will be much easier to reduce back-to-office stress if you keep an open mind while trying to adjust to your old work life. 

However, you can also make different options if you cannot adjust to the work-life no matter how hard you try. 

There are different remote working jobs available you can check out if you do not want to continue your old work routine. Alternatively, if you’re currently looking for work, visit Jooble to check out the latest job openings.