Poor time management at work can cause stress

By Ruth Nakandi

Are you stressed at work and do not seem to know the reason why? The culprit could be your time management. Stress is usually caused by too much work, urgent assignments, working hours, unclear expectations and lack of co-operation among employees. Signs that show you are stressed may be waking up in the middle of the night, thinking about work, difficulties in falling asleep and before you know it, you will start going to work late.

If you experience stress at work, it may even be due to a bad relationship with your boss because of your poor time management. If you are continuously late and under much stress at work, your overall performance will decrease and this worsens the relationship between employees and employers. James Swart, Kobus Lombard and Henk de Jager the authors of European Journal of Engineering Education write that one of the primary key things to good organisation is planning which is closely linked to time keeping. Being well organised is the major asset to being successful.

One needs to plan the day well in advance. High priority work should come on top followed by those that do not need much of your importance at the moment. This will help manage your time well and be stress-free from a lot of work. Workers need to set deadlines for themselves and strive hard to complete tasks a head of the deadlines.

Do not wait for the supervisors to ask you every time and you become stressed because you want to meet the deadline. Be focused, organised and avoid keeping stacks of paper at your work station. Deus Mubangizi, the quality assurance manager of Uganda National Bureau of Standards says stress at work is mainly caused by frustration. Some workers are expected to perform to their ability yet they are not facilitated which affects their performance.

He says for workers to avoid stress, they should know their input in time and agree with their bosses about facilitation to meet the deadline.