What is stressful for one person may not be the case for another. What you should do is provide clear details about job expectations and the requirements to meet those expectations. For example, he recommends talking with applicants about specific expectations to find out how the applicants react to them. Shanes believes in getting to the root of job fit problems quickly. She explores what is working, what isn t, what kinds of help are available to the employee and whether the employee truly wants to succeed in that specific job.
Management has to follow up by managing employees in ways that capitalize on their characteristics.
While managers should have some responsibility for placing employees in the right jobs, employees also should take responsibility for identifying the jobs that will help them thrive. Assessing their own skills and preferences can help employees understand why they find some tasks or roles more stressful than others, Shanes says. For example, if a supervisor tells his employees that they must accomplish a certain amount of work, some employees may say nothing and then get stressed out. However, others might engage the supervisor and try to negotiate another arrangement. Situations for which employees should gauge their coping skills include relating to supervisors and co-workers, managing workloads, dealing with change and handling multiple responsibilities, O Connor says.