How to Manage Workplace Stress: 7 Practical Steps to Protect Your Wellbeing
Last updated: October 2026
Workplace stress can affect almost every part of your life. You might find yourself worrying about deadlines after hours, struggling to concentrate during meetings, feeling irritable with colleagues or waking up already anxious about the day ahead.
Sometimes the pressure comes from a heavy workload. In other situations, it stems from unclear expectations, difficult workplace relationships, limited support or the feeling that you have little control over your working day.
If you are experiencing workplace stress, you do not have to manage everything alone. Practical changes to your daily routine can help, but lasting improvement may also require changes to your workload, workplace conditions or access to professional support.
This guide explains how to recognise workplace stress, identify its causes, develop practical coping strategies and have constructive conversations about the changes you need. It also explains when professional support may help and where to find reliable Australian resources.
Table of Contents
Recognise the signs of workplace stress
Identify your workplace stressors and triggers
Practise stress management techniques during the workday
Manage workload, boundaries and recovery
Talk to your manager about workplace stress
Manage stress in remote and hybrid work
Know when to seek professional support
Frequently asked questions
References and further reading
1. Recognise the Signs of Workplace Stress
Learning how to manage workplace stress begins with recognising when pressure is becoming difficult to manage.
Some stress is a normal response to challenging situations. A busy period, an important presentation or a demanding project may temporarily increase your stress levels. Problems can arise when pressure becomes persistent, recovery is inadequate or work demands consistently exceed the resources available to you.
According to Healthdirect Australia, stress can affect your thoughts, emotions, physical health and behaviour. Recognising these changes early can help you decide when to make changes or seek support.
Physical, emotional and behavioural warning signs
Workplace stress can present differently from person to person. Common signs include:
Physical symptoms
Frequent headaches or muscle tension.
Difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep.
Persistent tiredness.
Changes in appetite or digestive discomfort.
Feeling tense, restless or physically exhausted.
Emotional and psychological symptoms
Feeling overwhelmed by tasks that previously seemed manageable.
Increased irritability, frustration or anxiety.
Difficulty concentrating or making decisions.
Reduced confidence in your abilities.
Dreading work or struggling to switch off after hours.
Behavioural changes
Procrastinating or avoiding difficult tasks.
Withdrawing from colleagues, friends or family.
Making more mistakes or struggling to meet deadlines.
Checking work messages late into the evening.
Increasing your reliance on alcohol or other substances to unwind.
These symptoms do not necessarily mean you have a mental health condition. However, persistent stress can affect your wellbeing and may occur alongside anxiety, depression or other difficulties.
If several warning signs appear regularly, take them seriously rather than assuming you simply need to work harder.
The aim is not to eliminate every stressful experience. It is to recognise when pressure has become difficult to recover from and determine what needs to change.
2. Identify Your Workplace Stressors and Triggers
It is difficult to manage workplace stress effectively without understanding what is contributing to it.
A useful starting point is to distinguish between a stressor and a trigger.
A stressor is an ongoing condition that contributes to pressure. Examples include excessive workload, insufficient staffing, unclear responsibilities or inadequate managerial support.
A trigger is a particular event or situation that prompts an increase in stress. It might be receiving an unexpected request, preparing for a difficult meeting or seeing a message from someone with whom you have a strained working relationship.
Understanding both can help you decide whether you need to change a workplace condition, prepare for a difficult situation or develop a different coping response.
Complete a simple workplace stress assessment
For the next one or two weeks, keep a brief record of your experiences. At the end of each working day, write down:
What happened? Identify the tasks, conversations or situations that felt difficult.
How did you respond? Record your thoughts, emotions and physical reactions.
How intense was the stress? Rate it from 1 to 10.
What contributed to it? Consider workload, deadlines, interruptions, uncertainty or relationships.
What might help? Identify one practical change you could try.
For example, you might notice that your stress consistently increases when several urgent requests arrive at once. The underlying issue may not be your ability to organise tasks; it may be that priorities have not been clearly established.
Similarly, if you feel anxious before meetings with your manager, it may be worth exploring whether unclear expectations, previous interactions or fear of criticism are contributing.
Look for recurring patterns rather than judging yourself on the basis of a particularly difficult day.
Separate what you can influence from what you cannot
Some workplace pressures may be outside your immediate control. You may not be able to change organisational restructuring, staffing decisions or a manager's behaviour.
However, you may be able to influence how tasks are prioritised, when you take breaks, how you prepare for meetings or when you raise concerns.
This distinction can prevent you from spending all your energy trying to control circumstances you cannot change.
Importantly, individual coping strategies are not a substitute for addressing unsafe or unreasonable working conditions. Excessive job demands, poor support, inadequate role clarity and harmful workplace interactions can all contribute to psychosocial risks. Safe Work Australia explains these risks in its guidance on workplace mental health.
If workplace conditions are the main source of your stress, those conditions may need to change.
3. Practise Stress Management Techniques During the Workday
Practical stress management techniques can help you respond more calmly to pressure, regain focus and create short periods of recovery throughout the day.
You do not need to overhaul your entire routine. Start with one or two techniques that suit your circumstances and practise them consistently.
Try slow, comfortable breathing
When you feel tense before a meeting or after receiving difficult news, pause briefly and bring your attention to your breathing.
Try the following:
Sit comfortably and relax your shoulders.
Breathe in gently through your nose.
Breathe out slowly without forcing the breath.
Continue for one or two minutes, provided it feels comfortable.
The purpose is to create a brief pause rather than force yourself to feel calm immediately. If focusing on your breathing makes you uncomfortable or light-headed, return to your normal breathing.
Take brief movement breaks
Remaining at your desk for long periods can contribute to physical tension and fatigue.
Where your role allows, stand up, stretch gently or take a short walk between tasks. A brief break can also provide an opportunity to step away from a frustrating situation before responding.
If you cannot leave your workstation, changing posture or looking away from the screen for a short period may help interrupt continuous work.
Challenge unhelpful thoughts
Stress can make difficult situations seem more threatening than they are. You might think:
"If I make one mistake, everyone will think I am incompetent."
"I must finish everything today."
"If I ask for help, people will think I cannot do my job."
Instead of accepting these thoughts as facts, pause and examine them.
Ask yourself:
What evidence supports this thought?
Is there another reasonable interpretation?
What would I say to a colleague facing the same situation?
What is the most useful next action?
For example, replace "I must finish everything today" with "I need to clarify which tasks are most urgent and agree on realistic deadlines."
This approach draws on principles used in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), which helps people identify and evaluate unhelpful thinking patterns. CBT is one established psychological approach used to address a range of mental health difficulties.
The aim is not to pretend that a difficult situation is positive. It is to respond to it more accurately and constructively.
Practise brief mindfulness
Mindfulness involves paying attention to the present moment without immediately judging your thoughts or feelings.
You could spend a few minutes noticing the sensations of your feet on the floor, the sounds around you or the physical tension in your shoulders.
When your mind returns to work problems, gently bring your attention back to the present.
Mindfulness is not suitable or effective in exactly the same way for everyone. Treat it as one possible strategy rather than a requirement for managing stress.
A practical starting point: Choose two techniques and practise them for two weeks. Notice whether they help you recover more easily from stressful moments, concentrate more effectively or respond less reactively.
4. Manage Workload, Boundaries and Recovery
Stress management is not simply about learning to tolerate pressure. It also involves examining whether your workload, schedule and working conditions are sustainable.
If you regularly work through lunch, stay late to finish tasks or remain available to colleagues at all hours, consider whether your current arrangements allow enough time for recovery.
Prioritise your workload
When everything feels urgent, it can be difficult to decide where to begin.
Try dividing your tasks into three categories:
Essential: Tasks that must be completed within a defined timeframe.
Important but flexible: Tasks that can be scheduled for later.
Needs clarification or reassignment: Tasks that require additional resources, revised deadlines or agreement about responsibility.
Estimate how long the essential tasks will take. If they cannot realistically fit into your available working hours, you may have identified a workload problem that requires discussion with your manager.
Avoid automatically extending your working day to accommodate every new request. Doing so may conceal the extent of the problem and leave you with less time to recover.
Protect time for focused work
Frequent interruptions can make an already demanding day more difficult.
Where practical, set aside a period for concentrated work. You might silence non-essential notifications, close unnecessary browser tabs or arrange a meeting-free block in your calendar.
Let colleagues know when you are available and when you need uninterrupted time, while respecting your workplace's communication requirements.
Establish boundaries between work and personal life
Clear boundaries can make it easier to disengage from work when your working day ends.
Consider these practical changes:
Set a realistic finishing time when your role permits.
Avoid checking non-urgent work messages during personal time.
Take your allocated breaks and leave entitlements.
Create an end-of-day routine to record unfinished tasks and plan your next steps.
Make time for relationships, hobbies, exercise or other activities that help you recharge.
If you work from home, closing your laptop and putting work equipment away can help establish a physical boundary between work and personal life.
Some roles require after-hours availability. In those circumstances, clarify expectations around availability, response times and recovery periods rather than assuming you must always be accessible.
Support your recovery outside work
Regular physical activity, sufficient sleep, balanced meals and social connection can support general wellbeing.
You do not need a perfect routine. Begin with manageable changes, such as taking a short walk, maintaining a reasonably consistent sleep schedule or arranging time with someone you trust.
These habits can help you cope with pressure, but they cannot compensate indefinitely for an unreasonable workload or an unsafe workplace.
5. Talk to Your Manager About Workplace Stress
Discussing workplace stress can feel uncomfortable, particularly if you worry about being judged, damaging your career prospects or appearing unable to cope.
However, a constructive conversation may help identify practical changes before the situation becomes more difficult.
Prepare before the conversation
Arrange a private meeting and prepare a few notes.
Focus on three things:
The issue: Describe the workload, deadline, process or workplace condition contributing to stress.
The impact: Explain how it is affecting your ability to complete work safely, accurately or within agreed timeframes.
The proposed change: Identify a realistic adjustment that could help.
For example, instead of saying only, "I am overwhelmed," you could explain:
"The current workload includes three competing deadlines this week. I am concerned that I cannot complete all three to the required standard. Could we review the priorities and agree which deadline takes precedence?"
This approach makes the practical problem clearer and creates an opportunity to discuss solutions.
Make specific requests
Depending on your circumstances, you might ask to:
Reprioritise tasks or adjust deadlines.
Clarify responsibilities and performance expectations.
Review meeting frequency or reduce unnecessary interruptions.
Access additional training, staffing or practical support.
Discuss flexible working arrangements where appropriate.
Obtain information about an employee assistance program (EAP), if available.
You do not need to disclose every personal detail to explain that a work-related issue is affecting your wellbeing.
What if your manager is contributing to the stress?
If your manager's behaviour is part of the problem, consider whether a direct conversation feels safe and appropriate.
Where possible, describe specific behaviours and their effects rather than making broad accusations.
For example:
"When several new tasks are assigned late in the afternoon without changes to existing deadlines, I find it difficult to plan my workload. Could we agree on how urgent requests will be prioritised?"
If the concern involves bullying, harassment, discrimination, intimidation or other serious behaviour, you may need a different approach. Depending on your workplace, options may include HR, a health and safety representative, a union representative or an appropriate external authority.
Keep factual records of relevant incidents and communications where it is safe and appropriate to do so.
If your first conversation does not lead to change, consider following up in writing and using the appropriate workplace reporting process.
Understand your workplace health and safety rights
Workplace stress is not solely an individual responsibility.
In Victoria, the Occupational Health and Safety (Psychological Health) Regulations 2025 commenced on 1 December 2025. They establish specific requirements for employers to identify psychosocial hazards, control associated risks and review risk controls in relevant circumstances.
Psychosocial hazards may arise from work design, job demands, management practices and workplace interactions. Examples include bullying, aggression, inadequate support and excessive demands.
For more information, consult WorkSafe Victoria's psychological health guidance.
If you work in another Australian state or territory, consult the relevant workplace health and safety regulator because the applicable legislation and arrangements may differ.
Understanding these responsibilities can help you recognise when workplace stress requires more than individual coping strategies.
6. Manage Stress in Remote and Hybrid Work
Working remotely can reduce commuting time and provide greater flexibility, but it may also introduce challenges that affect wellbeing.
Without clear boundaries, the working day can gradually extend into the evening. Reduced informal contact with colleagues may contribute to isolation, while frequent video meetings and digital notifications can make it difficult to concentrate.
Create a clear start and finish to the day
Establish a simple routine that marks the beginning and end of work.
At the start of the day, review your priorities and identify your most important tasks. At the end, record anything that needs attention tomorrow, close work applications and put away your equipment where possible.
This helps create a clearer separation between work and personal time.
Reduce digital interruptions
You do not need to respond immediately to every notification.
Where your role permits, disable non-essential alerts, check messages at planned intervals and agree on reasonable expectations for response times.
If your team regularly schedules meetings without breaks, suggest shorter meetings or protected periods for concentrated work.
Maintain connection with colleagues
Remote workers may miss informal conversations that help build relationships and resolve small problems before they escalate.
Consider scheduling regular check-ins, asking for clarification when expectations are unclear or making time for informal conversations with colleagues.
These measures cannot resolve every source of work-related stress, but they may improve communication and reduce avoidable uncertainty.
Review whether the changes are working
After two weeks, ask yourself:
Am I sleeping more consistently?
Is it easier to stop thinking about work after hours?
Have interruptions or unnecessary meetings decreased?
Is my workload more manageable?
Have the workplace conditions contributing to stress actually changed?
If your stress remains high despite consistent efforts, consider whether the underlying problem requires changes to workload, staffing, management practices or other working conditions.
7. Know When to Seek Professional Support
Self-help strategies can be useful, but there are times when additional support is appropriate.
Consider speaking with your GP or a qualified mental health professional if workplace stress:
Persists or becomes increasingly difficult to manage.
Regularly disrupts your sleep or concentration.
Affects your relationships or ability to function outside work.
Is accompanied by ongoing anxiety, low mood or loss of interest in usual activities.
Leads you to rely increasingly on alcohol or other substances to cope.
You do not need to wait until you reach a breaking point to seek assistance.
How counselling may help
Counselling can provide a setting to explore the pressures you are experiencing, identify patterns in your responses and consider practical ways forward.
Depending on your needs, counselling may help you:
Recognise and respond to unhelpful thinking patterns.
Develop strategies for managing difficult emotions.
Improve assertive communication and boundary-setting.
Explore how workplace experiences affect your confidence and relationships.
Identify realistic next steps when you feel stuck.
CBT and other psychological approaches may be appropriate depending on the difficulties being addressed, your preferences and the practitioner's qualifications and scope of practice.
Counselling is not a replacement for addressing unsafe workplace conditions, and it cannot guarantee that external pressures will disappear. It can, however, offer support while you consider your options and work towards meaningful change.
Workplace stress support at The Lotus Rooms
At The Lotus Rooms, counselling is tailored to the individual rather than delivered through a single predetermined approach.
Depending on the concerns being explored, sessions may draw on solution-focused principles and other relevant therapeutic approaches to help clients identify goals, examine unhelpful patterns and consider practical changes.
If workplace stress is affecting your wellbeing, you can learn more about our counselling services and decide whether professional support may be suitable for you.
Where to find support in Australia
Your GP: A useful starting point for discussing persistent stress, sleep difficulties, anxiety or other symptoms and considering appropriate care.
Employee assistance program (EAP): Check whether your employer offers counselling or other support services.
WorkSafe Victoria: Provides information about psychosocial hazards, employer responsibilities and workplace psychological health.
Beyond Blue: Offers mental health information and support resources at beyondblue.org.au.
Lifeline Australia: Call 13 11 14 for free crisis support, available 24 hours a day. Visit Lifeline Australia.
If you are in immediate danger, call 000.
Frequently Asked Questions About Workplace Stress
What is the best way to manage workplace stress?
There is no single best method for everyone. Start by identifying the main sources of stress, then choose practical steps that address them. These might include clarifying priorities, taking regular breaks, setting boundaries, discussing workload concerns with your manager or seeking professional support.
If the main problem is an unsafe or unreasonable working environment, individual stress management techniques alone may not be enough.
How can I manage workplace stress when my workload is too high?
List your responsibilities, deadlines and available working hours. Identify competing priorities and discuss them with your manager.
Ask which tasks should take precedence, whether deadlines can be adjusted and whether additional resources or support are available.
Time-management techniques may help you organise your work, but they cannot create unlimited capacity. If the workload remains unreasonable, the underlying working arrangements may need to change.
How can I talk to my manager about stress without appearing incapable?
Arrange a private conversation and focus on specific work-related issues, their impact and possible solutions.
For example, explain that competing deadlines are affecting your ability to complete tasks to the required standard and ask for help prioritising them.
Being clear about a genuine workload or safety concern is a constructive way to address a problem. If you are concerned about your manager's response, consider seeking advice from an appropriate workplace support person before raising the issue.
Does working from home reduce workplace stress?
It depends on the person, role and working conditions.
Remote work may reduce commuting and provide greater flexibility, but it can also contribute to isolation, digital overload and blurred boundaries between work and personal life.
Clear expectations, reasonable workloads, regular breaks and deliberate communication can help. The most effective arrangement is one that supports both wellbeing and the requirements of the job.
When should I seek professional help for workplace stress?
Consider professional support when stress persists, affects your sleep or relationships, interferes with daily functioning or contributes to ongoing anxiety or low mood.
A GP can help assess your symptoms and discuss appropriate treatment or referrals. A counsellor or psychologist may also help you develop coping strategies and explore the factors contributing to your distress.
You do not have to wait until stress becomes overwhelming to ask for help.
Final Thoughts: Take Workplace Stress Seriously
Learning how to manage workplace stress involves more than finding ways to get through another demanding day.
It starts with recognising warning signs, understanding the conditions contributing to pressure and making practical changes where possible. Breathing exercises, movement breaks, realistic priorities and clear boundaries can all help, but persistent stress may require conversations about workload, management practices or workplace safety.
If the pressure continues, seeking professional support can help you understand what you are experiencing and consider a way forward.
You do not have to solve everything at once. Start by identifying one change that could make your working day more manageable, and take the next step from there.
At The Lotus Rooms, we recognise that each person's circumstances are different. If workplace stress is affecting your wellbeing, our counselling services provide an opportunity to explore your concerns and consider appropriate support.
References and Further Reading
Healthdirect Australia. Stress.https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/symptoms/stress
Safe Work Australia. Mental health — work health and safety duties.https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/safety-topic/managing-health-and-safety/mental-health/whs-duties
Safe Work Australia. Model Code of Practice: Managing psychosocial hazards at work.https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/doc/model-code-practice-managing-psychosocial-hazards-work
WorkSafe Victoria. Psychological health.https://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/psychological-health
WorkSafe Victoria. Psychological health regulations — frequently asked questions.https://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/psychological-health-regulations-frequently-asked-questions
Beyond Blue. Mental health information and support.https://www.beyondblue.org.au/
Lifeline Australia. Crisis support and contact information.https://www.lifeline.org.au/131114
The Lotus Rooms. Counselling services.https://www.thelotusrooms.com/service-page/counselling-services
Editorial note: This article provides general educational information and is not a substitute for individual medical, psychological or legal advice. Workplace health and safety obligations vary by jurisdiction. Readers experiencing persistent or severe symptoms should seek appropriate professional advice.
Comments