Rethinking employee engagement: how anxiety shapes engagement

We’re hearing more and more about anxiety, stress, and mental health challenges, and it’s hard to ignore the impact this is having on employee engagement.

Most employers aren’t doctors. Most managers aren’t counsellors. Many feel out of their depth trying to support people – yet they are still expected to deliver services, build strong teams, and sustain performance.

But what if there was a different way to approach this?

What if we started thinking of day-to-day anxiety as not only a mental health issue, but also a biological one, a nervous system stuck in fight, flight or freeze?

If that’s even partly true, then we may have more influence than we think…

This is part two of a series of articles exploring often overlooked influences on employee engagement. Links to read the others are included at the end.

What employers and managers can realistically influence

To be clear, nothing here relates to severe anxiety or clinical depression, which do need professional medical support.

But much of what we see day to day in workplaces is lower-level anxiety and strain, people feeling overwhelmed, on edge, distracted, exhausted, or simply struggling to cope.

And when that becomes part of the everyday atmosphere, engagement inevitably suffers.

So rather than feeling powerless, the question becomes: what practical things can employers do to reduce the pressures and triggers that keep people stuck in stress mode?

The gap between physical and mental health support

What strikes me is that when someone has a physical health issue, we work to find solutions: ramps are installed, sanitising hand gel is provided, ergonomic keyboards are sourced, fire alarms are adapted for the deaf, and chairs are changed for those with back problems.

But when someone has a mental health issue, we (the employer) immediately outsource to mental health professionals (if there are any to be found) or to a helpline provided as part of an EAP.

And while those services matter, they don’t always address the everyday workplace conditions that are contributing to stress in the first place.

If we begin to see some anxiety as a physical health condition, a nervous system under strain, rather than something entirely outside the employer’s control, then we may feel more able to take practical steps that support calmer, more engaged teams.

Our nervous systems

When I was a child, I remember people talking about their ‘nerves’ when explaining why they were upset or unable to do something…

“It’s my nerves, you see…” (followed by a cheeky swig of brandy from a hip flask in my grandmother’s case).

Then, as a teenager, I remember people – young and old – being described as having had a nervous breakdown. They would disappear to recover, sent away for rest and recuperation.

What used to be loosely called a nervous breakdown is today more likely to be diagnosed as a mental health crisis, severe anxiety, burnout, or acute stress. Different words used to describe a nervous system that is not functioning in a healthy way to give us balanced, happy, contented lives.

So when people talked about their ‘nerves’, they weren’t imagining something abstract. They were describing a physical, biological response in the body.

We all have a nervous system that triggers our brain responses every second and minute of every day. You touch a hot plate, and before you even think, your nervous system transmits danger to the brain and your hand moves away. If you want to learn a bit more about this watch this short video.

But is ‘nerves’ the same as ‘anxiety’?

I’m struggling to really differentiate between the two when thinking about how the terms are used by so many in the workplace.

Did you know that when our nervous system is triggered, for example, when we’re shouted at, exposed to fear-based messaging (“buy now, or it’s all gone”), or put under pressure to finish a task or do something outside our comfort zone – the body automatically activates its stress response? This often includes the release of adrenaline (a biological response) and can shift us into fight, flight, or freeze mode (a physical/neurological response driven by our nervous system).

Cortisol is another hormone in the body’s biological stress response. While adrenaline helps us react quickly in the moment, cortisol is released over a longer period to keep us alert when the brain senses ongoing pressure or threat.

The problem is that when cortisol remains elevated for too long, over days or weeks, and sometimes longer, it can start to affect our sleep, mood, immune function, mental clarity and overall wellbeing.

So, we may experience short spikes of anxiety and tension driven by adrenaline, followed by longer periods of fatigue, brain fog or feeling emotionally worn down as the stress response stays switched on. No wonder so many people feel out of sorts!

How to calm down people’s nervous systems

If nothing else in life, what I’ve learnt is that we have to identify what we can control, let go of what we can’t, and take such steps as we can.

So what if, instead of feeling powerless, we focused on the everyday workplace conditions that keep people stuck in stress mode?

And no, I’m not talking about dishing out hip flasks with brandy as my grandmother did!

But if we can reduce some of the tension and strain people carry through the working day, the impact on engagement could be significant.

Less anxiety. More clarity. More engagement. And no doughnuts, posh coffees, big engagement budgets or gift vouchers involved.

Here are some practical ideas:

Consider noise levels – stand in the middle of your workplace and listen. Is it calming or dysregulating? What’s creating the unhelpful noise? (alarms, raised voices, too many voices, machines, etc).
Consider lighting – harsh lighting can be surprisingly draining over the course of a working day. Some people are also sensitive to subtle flicker from LEDs, which can contribute to headaches or fatigue.
Too much air con and too little fresh air – fresh air and natural light are both strongly linked to better wellbeing and clearer thinking. You might not be able to remove air con, but are there things you can do to reduce its impact and increase access to outdoor air?
Clarity of task and vision of the organisation – leaders pulling in different directions and managers being vague or too changeable, can all be challenging for our nervous systems. Let’s get people working on the right things rather than endless firefighting.
Tolerance of negativity – negative people upset our nervous system, but are there managers who shy away from managing negative or toxic people? Being toxic is an active choice. If someone chooses toxic, then how about you choose to view it as misconduct?
Toxins and poisons – whether we like it or not, our energy drinks, alcoholic drinks, overly processed food, and chemicals used for cleaning are all things that can dysregulate our bodily functions. Is there a way to reduce the effect of these on your staff?
Mindfulness and meditation – encourage moments of calm, teach people how to slow their breathing, or create space for recovery. Even 10 minutes of quiet can help many people reset. Think quiet rooms, access to a garden, device-free areas, or simply encouraging people to step outside.
Psychological safety – respectful workplace relationships, fair management, clear communication, and support for individuals and teams.
Support during change – mentors, buddies, good inductions, proper support for people changing roles are all good for ensuring calm during a period of change.
And perhaps most importantly of all, education – if people understand what makes them feel anxious or unsettled, they stand a fighting chance of doing something about it. Not everyone will agree on every trigger, but opening up non-judgmental discussions can be an amazing way to start your journey back to a healthy, calm workforce.

If you could pick just one of these for your organisation, where would you start?

Rethinking our role...

All organisations struggle with engagement.

And when it comes to the impact of day-to-day anxiety, stress and depression on engagement, we simply cannot produce psychologists and psychiatrists out of a hat, there are simply not enough people trained in the UK to deal with the explosion of mental health issues employers are facing.

So what’s to lose in rethinking our approach? Instead of waiting for our employee to get to the top of the 2 year queue for mental health support, we instead take time to consider the physical and biological aspects of a dysregulated nervous system and see if calming the waters, supporting our staff to lower their cortisol, and re-regulate their nervous systems can lead us to greater engagement?

Please do leave your thoughts, ideas and comments below. Remember that this article is written by a people skills trainer and HR professional. If any of the scientific principles are of interest, we encourage you to do your own research, there’s lots of it out there!

How we can help

If you’ve enjoyed these ideas, you can also check out my book, No More Gimmicks: A Radical Rethink of Employee Engagement, available on Amazon.

Interested in any of this or would you like me to talk to your team? I don’t have easy answers to many of the people issues in our world today, but I do have a wealth of experience and don’t mind exploring ideas outside the traditional.

If you’re looking to move from reflection to action, we support organisations through:

Keynotes that challenge thinking and spark honest discussion
Engagement training for managers and leadership teams
Accountability and ownership workshops
Practical resilience programmes for today’s workplace
Or for a really different kind of learning in your workplace, take a look at The Leadership Race – where community service meets real-world learning – accountability, collaboration, problem solving and innovation – all rolled into one package.

Contact us to talk through your requirements, or call us on 01425 479888.