Tolerable stress and why it belongs in the workplace

Strategies to lessen toxic stress in the workplace

Organizations should aim to create a culture of authenticity and openness. Environments that foster emotional openness and create space for connection will result in more emotionally aware and available employees.

There are five domains of social experience that, when threatened, are often registered in our brains as physical danger. We tend to process social safety like a life-or-death matter because we’re likely to remember the experience of social pain over and over again. In contrast, the experience of physical pain tends to dissipate eventually. Therefore, even individual instances of threatened status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness and fairness can increase the allostatic load. Repeat these experiences often, and they almost certainly will.

Here are some ways that leaders and organizations can reduce allostatic overload for each of these five domains of social experience:

1. Status: how we perceive our social standing relative to others. Perceptions of status can be elevated by giving employees opportunities to grow and develop, as well as giving positive feedback and public recognition.
2. Certainty: the ability to predict future events and outcomes. Uncertainty can be reduced by building business plans, organization charts and strategy decks that clearly define expectations.
3. Autonomy: perceptions of control over ourselves and others. Subtle indicators of autonomy, such as providing a choice of options, can go a long way towards increasing it.
4. Relatedness: the sense of safety or belongingness with a particular social group. Perceptions of relatedness can be increased by incorporating bonding and socialization time into work life and supporting a culture that permits people to be open in sharing personal details about themselves.
5. Transparency: perceptions that exchanges between individuals are conducted fairly. Increasing transparency around decision-making and establishing clear guidelines are processes and practices that support perceptions of fairness.

Where tolerable stress belongs in the workplace

Hitting the sweet spot of stress—just enough but not too much—is no simple task. Research shows that finding the right balance is likely both person-specific and task-specific. Some people may just perform better under stress than others. Some people may crest the “optimal stress” curve before others.

Skill level and task complexity are also important factors that can affect performance under stress. If something is new to us, it may provide enough challenge without additional external stressors. But if we have been performing a task for a while, it may become monotonous and routine; some external stress may provide the motivation that sparks your interest again and sustain motivation.

Navigating to the sweet spot of tolerable stress

If stress could speak for itself, it might argue that it has been the victim of character assassination. It would argue that the right amount of stress challenges us to be better.

Stress gets a bad rap—for many good reasons. The Yerkes-Dodson law, our biology, and our own experiences show us there is a tipping point. There is a space between “too much” and “not enough” where stress can make us excellent. Between the pressures of our jobs, the world, and our relationships, we’ve surpassed that point and lost sight of the balance, which has grave consequences for our physical and mental health.

But there is good news: we can combat toxic stress through small, achievable strategies. A practice as simple as making space for connection can go a long way toward reducing allostatic load—improving our physical and mental well-being. And only when we find our way back to that sweet spot of stress will we see our performance improve.

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Key takeaways

• How to define tolerable stress
• Signs of toxic stress levels
• How to lessen toxic stress in the workplace