Stress at work is often unavoidable but how much is too much? And what can you do to handle aggressive colleagues and spineless bosses? Matthew Taylor reports.

Few people believe they are on the road to mental disorder but anyone who fails to address excessive stress is making themselves vulnerable to anxiety and depression.

And there is no doubt that economic strains are taking their toll on Bermuda's workforce, sending tension levels soaring.

Employee Assistance Programme Executive Director Martha Pitman said: "In the past year or so there's definitely been an increase in job stress due to the economy. And we are seeing more people coming to see us with financial stress."

While some stress is natural, Mrs Pitman said employees needed to spot when it was reaching overload before it's too late.

"If people don't deal with their stress they can get sick or severely depressed.

"Stress, as we all know, can be a great motivator, but it's become a problem when it interferes in your relationship and your day-to-day life.

"You notice yourself being more anxious, depressed and moody."

Sometimes apathy sinks in. "You don't care about your work, you are finding it harder to focus. You are more emotional, crying or feeling you can't cope.

"If that becomes more intense, because there is no let-up, it can play out with more severe mood problems.

"Or it can manifest itself in physical problems like rashes, chest pains and dizziness."

Overeating or not eating enough is another symptom of things going wrong.

"But there are lots of manifestations. When it starts to interfere in your ability to function properly or you realise your relationships are starting to deteriorate because you are irritable all the time those are warning signs."

Mrs Pitman, who has been at EAP for 15 years and its head for about nine years, said typically clients come because they are coping with too much work after downsizing in their organisation.

"Or there is some anxiety over potential job cuts. They don't know whether they are going to be affected or not."

It's a severe dilemma for those stuck in a job where they are overworked because now the options of swapping to something better are more limited.

And it's a tricky one for any counsellor to try to ease. "Typically it's about helping them balance their life a little bit more and set aside time for themselves."

Clients can be helped to reprioritise tasks to better manage their day so they do less, maybe via delegation, suggested Mrs. Pitman.

Workers are urged not to skip lunch but instead even get a brief bit of exercise to break up the day.

Taking a walk at lunchtime might seem like the last thing anyone would opt to do if they already have too much on their plate.

But Mrs Pitman explained: "Physical exercise helps the body process stress chemicals because when you are stressed your body produces chemicals that can wear on it.

"Exercise is not just a feel-good activity, it helps your body deal with those chemicals. But it's all about balance, not taking a huge amount of time away from work.

"Or try 15 minutes away from the phone or some meditation. It's all about being aware.

"When people come to EAP it's not that we are telling them anything new, it's just that they are taking that time out to discuss with someone else.

"It gives it a little bit of perspective of what they are doing that is counterproductive and helps them learn new ways of managing their workload and being more proactive."

Too often people reach for the wrong solutions.

"At this time of year people often over-shop spending money at that moment appears to reduce their stress but after they have spent it they get the stress because they have spent too much money. So in the long-term it causes problems."

Drink is another classic crutch which creates more problems than it appears to solve as it causes relationship strains, drains finances and is a depressant.

Thankfully what might seem like a seemingly endless cycle of stress-induced misery can be broken through counselling.

Clients often return to express gratitude that things have improved, said Mrs Pitman.

"It makes our job rewarding that you get people coming back."

Sometimes minor alterations in people's schedule can make major differences to their stress level.

"It's about being aware of the signs of stress which can develop and then being more proactive with your health.

"Making sure you are eating and sleeping well and exercising – the things which tend to be ignored when you are under stress.

"A lot of people need help with balancing things a bit better, they get so anxious about everything they have to do, they don't take the time to step back a little bit and see if there are things they can do differently, the things that they can control."

But if clients are in crisis they are sometimes referred to the family doctor and perhaps a psychiatrist to see whether the doctor can give them time off to deal with their stress.

"If someone has slipped into a clinical depression they may need to take some time off work until the medication takes effect."

Sometimes clients needed to be guided towards marriage counselling.

But while workers can do their best to adjust their lifestyle to avoid stress, dealing with awkward co-workers and managers is much more tricky. And it's a growing problem said Mrs. Pitman.

"The work environment seems to be getting more stressful."

Partly it's because more is expected of fewer people.

"But also there seems to be toxicity in the work place – you can get some pettiness in the workplace which can create some unhelpful, stressful workplace environments."

And again the option to quit is less viable in a downturn. "So they have to stay in an environment which is really quite unhealthy for them."

Sometimes managers call EAP to mediate in conflicts between co-workers.

Employees are often counselled about how they can change how they react to other people and communicate better to avoid conflict.

But ultimately it needs managers to get involved hoping the problem will go away will only allow problems to fester.

"In Bermuda sometimes managers don't like to deal with conflict. And they often allow behaviour in the workplace that perhaps someplace else they wouldn't allow because of Bermuda's unique situation. In such a small community they don't want to see people lose their jobs.

"There's less willingness to let people go for behaviour which is unproductive."

EAP advise managers to refer to established workplace policies as well as the Employment Act.

"If someone is acting in a way which is very disruptive to the environment and unprofessional there are things you can do."

It means at least one meeting and possibly disciplinary action with managers being very specific about what is acceptable and what is not.

"There needs to be a time frame and consequences. Sometimes managers don't like to have those discussions so they avoid them.

"They need to deal with it. Inappropriate, almost aggressive behaviour needs to be dealt with because it can escalate.

"Managers sometimes don't realise they have the ability to discipline people if they are not acting professionally or acting in a threatening manner in the workplace."

Sometimes the boss is the bully. In that situation employees are coached in how to get try to get a different reaction from the boss as well as consider the formal recourses.

"They are in a difficult situation and they really just have to deal with that mindset and come up with a way to deal with a boss acting in an unfair manner."

But that scenario is seldom easy. The employee might take it up to a higher level at their company.

"But maybe they don't want to deal with the situation because the employee is more expendable than the middle manager who is causing the problems."

As well as EAP there are also psychologists who can help managers deal with all sorts of workplace problems.

Benedict Associates and Benedict's sister company Gestalt Training Institute of Bermuda offers an accredited training programme especially designed for managers so that they can become more adept in dealing with dysfunction in their teams.

Dr. Philip Brownell, of Benedict Associates, said deeper problems might be caused by a personality disordered employee or someone suffering from a relational breakup or some kind of psychological disorder such as depression or anxiety.

Here, the manager should refer the employee to an EAP counsellor or an external coach with more skill and training or even a psychologist or psychotherapist.

Dr. Brownell said disruptive employees can be anywhere in an organisation from receptionist to upper level management, or even at the partner level in professional organizations.

"How does one identify such a person? He or she will have a history of difficulties, they will be rigid and rather dogmatic in their way of doing things and they will tend to find fault with everyone or everything else.

"Sometime the dysfunctional employee will be sinking in obvious depression or dancing like spit on the griddle of anxiety, and everyone around them will sense it but not want to name the problem."

These problem people tend to split the organisation or the team in which they work into those who want to be supportive and those who want to blame them and avoid or get rid of them, said Dr. Brownell.

"These people make the work place a tense and unpredictable environment people prefer to avoid. "Communication, therefore effective work flow, declines. Sometimes open conflict breaks out and that makes the workplace a hostile environment."

The Gestalt Training Institute of Bermuda (GTIB) offers training in coaching skills that equip managers and the cost for a week-long training programme is around $5,500 to $6,000.

But Dr. Brownell added: "Not dealing with dysfunction in the workplace can be more expensive than dealing with it.

"Often it is a wise investment of time and money to attend to a problem and fix it rather than to hope some gifted individual might pop up among the management or that the problem might just go away."