Interview with Fernando Callejo: on the challenge of job stress

We talk to a psychologist who is an expert in work-related stress, a problem that affects many companies.

In the world of work and organizations, not everything has to do with reaching productivity results and getting paid for it. Between one phenomenon and the other, there is something that we must take into account and that is in fact primordial: health.

There are many ways in which a work dynamic can wear down the quality of life of workers: through an overly competitive organizational climate, by demanding too much effort, through monotony and boredom.... All this has as a common denominator one of the most common problems in any company. It is work-related stress..

For this reason, it is important to learn about this psychological phenomenon from experts who are dedicated to addressing this source of discomfort in organizations. In this sense, psychology has been researching the subject for decades.

Interview with psychologist Fernando Callejo: the challenge of work-related stress

On this occasion we talk to Fernando Callejoco-founder of the Madrid psychology center UPAD Psicología y Coaching, to talk to us about the characteristics of work-related stress and how this problem can be tackled through psychological intervention in companies.

Research suggests that work-related stress is on the rise, do you think it is a problem that has to do with the individual or with the conditions he or she may find in a company?

Personally I think that, as is usual in psychology, it is a problem of adaptation between a person and that environment or situation.

Therefore, there would be situations with certain characteristics, which would favor the appearance of stress responses (objectives, tight deadlines, limited resources, etc.), but at the end of the day, situations do not affect in the same way to anyone who faces them, so I prefer to put the emphasis here, on people.

In the end, stress is nothing more than a person's interpretation of whether his or her resources or capabilities will be sufficient to achieve his or her goals or challenges.

In your experience, what do you think are the most common causes of stress at work?

Based on my experience, people who may be more vulnerable to stress are those who have high levels of self-imposed demands or perfectionism, oriented towards achieving high results in their jobs; those who attach great importance to their work environment and whose self-concept and self-esteem are largely based on their results or professional success.

Are the consequences of stress only psychological or also physical?

Stress has an important psychosomatic component, that is, it affects both the mental and physiological level.

This is because when stress responses are activated, the body experiences a rise in its level of activation and the parasympathetic nervous system gives way to the sympathetic nervous system, which predisposes the body to make great efforts to keep itself safe or to face a certain threat through the production of hormones, enervation of large Muscle groups and alteration of the body's physiological systems of functioning (cardiac, respiratory, circulatory, digestive, etc.).

This is why the symptoms of stress can be visible in each and every one of these systems. Stress, both in psychological and physical terms, is a great strain on the organism of those who experience it, and it is not unusual to find people subjected to high levels of stress who age prematurely, present alterations in the physiological systems mentioned above, or even develop certain psychological disorders.

In other areas of the natural sciences such as biology or chemistry, the word stress is used as a synonym for the resistance of a natural agent to another external stressor. The positive aspect of all this is that in psychology we can intervene on the stressed agent to develop a more adaptive response to stress, which mitigates the consequences of experiencing it.

There is a lot of talk about the importance of work climate in preventing stress at work and reducing its effects. But... what exactly is the work environment?

The work environment has to do with several factors, among which we could highlight the culture of the organization, the leadership style exercised by those in charge, the adequate delimitation of functions, the communication and interpersonal relationships of formal and informal nature that occur among workers, and even their motivational conditions, supported by an adequate human resources policy that favors the perception of fairness in the organization as a whole.

There is also a lot of talk about good relationships between colleagues, and how this is capable not only of preventing stress but also of reducing its intensity. In fact, problems between colleagues are a stressor that should always be taken into account. Why do you think it is so important?

Well, in the end we are a social species, for which it is vitally important to be able to develop support networks to turn to in difficult moments, such as situations that usually generate stress.

If the relationships that develop in the workplace lack a solid foundation of interpersonal trust and are competitive in nature, at delicate moments they will pose an additional threat that will likely result in the employee experiencing higher levels of stress.

This is why it is important to create a good team culture that supports and knows how to deal with the different conflicts that may arise in high-pressure situations.

One of the most studied causes of stress at work in recent years is the relationship between employees and supervisors. How important is emotional leadership today?

Let's see, one change we are currently going through as a generation is the move from the industrial age or "old school" style of interprofessional relationships to a "new age" style. The debate is not new in this regard, but the nature of work is constantly changing, and with it inevitably the way we relate to each other has to change as well.

Before more was better, now better doesn't have to be more. What I mean is that there has been a qualitative change.

Where production used to be based precisely on that, achieving more products in less time, we now find other sectors in which greater care for people and attention to detail are needed.

Jobs more typical of the service sector or the knowledge sector, in which human relations make the difference between one company and another and require greater delicacy and emotional management.

As the tycoon Richard Branson says, "if you take care of your employees, they will take care of your customers", and here the important thing is to know what it is precisely to take care of your employees.

At UPAD you are experts in personnel selection. Do you think that work stress can be prevented by carrying out a good selection process and choosing the most suitable candidate for the position and not only taking into account the variables related to the tasks to be performed?

Logically, selecting candidates who not only have great professional skills, but also have a favorable attitude for the development of teamwork or for a positive coping of such situations that can generate stress, can help reduce its occurrence.

But it is very complex, because of our dynamic nature and the very dynamic nature of business challenges, to ensure stress prevention, since at any moment objectives can change and become impossible. Or we ourselves can go through difficult times emotionally because of other situations that occur in our lives.

You frequently work with companies to improve the work environment within them. What strategies do you use for your clients?

Fundamentally, the first thing to do in an organization that may require a change in this regard, as in any other field of psychology, is to start by assessing which are the factors that are currently having a negative impact on the perception of the work environment by the various workers that make up the organization.

It would be essential to start by applying some kind of questionnaire in this direction. Once the factors involved have been identified, we would need to make them aware, set some desirable objectives to be achieved and count on the collaboration and commitment of the company's employees and managers to improve the aspects involved.

Interventions can be multiple, including the application of different techniques such as coaching (individual or team), group dynamics, training in certain key aspects, such as adequate interpersonal communication or, in more general terms, the creation of a new organizational culture in which bases to follow, values to identify with and appropriate interrelationship policies that are publicly and positively recognized at the organizational level are identified.