How To Deal With Common Workplace Stress That Kenyan Professionals Go Through

By Perminus Wainaina

Does this sound familiar? You walk into the office one morning and a coworker has been let go? Meaning you now have to work for two.

Minutes later, you realize your supervisor, Peter, has taken credit for all your hard work again or you’re downright bored about the nature of your work and you just can’t wait to run out of the door at the end of the day?

As a long serving Career Consultant in a recruitment firm, I hear a lot of bizarre office stories from the boss who couldn’t allow staff to do their work to the human resource manager who could stop harassing people, but these are workplace specific challenges.

READ ALSO >>> How Career Coaching Changed My Life

Some offices will experience them while others won’t.

What you almost certainly will encounter, though, are more personal challenges like receiving a bad performance review or being overworked to the point of burnouts.

Let’s look at some of these frustrations:

Common workplace frustrations in Kenyan companies

1. You just got yourself a bad performance review

You thought things were going great but now you’re staring at a performance review that states ‘Does not meet the expectations’. You might be feeling angry, embarrassed, and confused. How will you regain your professional confidence? And you’re wondering what next?

2. You feel overwhelmed with work

Your work schedule has become dramatically tight such that you have no time for yourself.  You find yourself juggling between priority work and high priority work.  The normal office day has become so suffocating for you than it used to be.

3. Your Voice is ignored in the office

You really hate the idea of being invisible but you are right in the middle of it. No matter how good your ideas are, somebody will probably take credit for them and just like you remain unheard as always.

4. You are dying for financial freedom

You feel that your financial growth is stunted. You’re filled with worries about how you’ll cope financially if you were to suddenly lose your job. You also feel that your current salary can be better.

5. You’re worried you’re going to lose your job (‘job insecurity’)

This is a common workplace stress facing Kenyan professional today. You become uncertain about your job security for no apparent reasons.

Having said this, stress and frustrations in the workplace doesn’t go away by itself; in fact it can only get worse.

This is the time you’ll hear statements like ‘the accountant who resigned yesterday or the assistant HR who got dismissed from work’. You just have to identify the problem and develop mechanisms to change the problem

Good news is that these issues don’t have to lead you to misery and burnout at your office.

4 great ways to deal with these office frustrations

1. Identify the problem and work on getting the solution

Part of solving the problem is trying to identify where the problem is, what’s causing it and possible things you can do to change the whole process.

If you’ve just received a bad performance review, then you’ll know that you definitely need to work on your professional skills or even change your work approaches.

The bottom line is to identify what’s causing your frustration and develop a mechanism to get around this problem.

 2. Seek professional Career advise

After you’ve identified the problem, then now it’s time to seek professional help.

80% of professionals I’ve coached on career growth are either stuck in their current careers, feel frustrated by routine work, feel overwhelmed by their job demands or they probably want more financial growth.

A good example is Angela, who took the coaching session late last year. She felt like she had no sense of direction in her career after 9 years of work with only two promotions and a constant salary. Her frustrations had started interfering with her work performance.

She however says that coaching came in and turned her situation around. She gained a mind shift that completely changed her attitude and eventually her career and productivity.

Why not take charge over your career just like Angela. Book a one on one career coaching session that will give you clarity on where your career is headed and keep those frustrations off your professional plate!

3. Accept feedback and work on recommendations

The main reason as to why you could be experiencing job insecurities or performance review issues is partly because you either don’t accept feedback or you fail to work on the recommendations.

If you don’t get feedback ask your colleagues or your supervisor for some. You’ll be surprised at how ready people are to give you points that you can improve on. This will be a great opportunity to improve your professional self.

Change your attitude towards the negative feedback and work on the recommendations. This way you shall be able to see a clear picture of whether the problem is coming from within or from other external factors.

4. Start networking and share your experiences

Office frustrations are common in all workplaces. They maybe of different nature, different levels or even generated differently but they all lead to stress.

Sharing these experiences with other people in your networks could be a great opportunity to identify similarities and differences and even learn how to handle them from your colleagues’ personal experiences.

You may find you even enjoy meeting like minded people who understand the pressures you may be facing at work and elsewhere in your life.

Finally,

When you start feeling like you’re losing it, take some time off. Remember, everyone’s work situation is different, but many of the frustrations are common to all professionals. Just having the right understanding of when and how to act accordingly will do the trick!

 

I am a certified career coach, HR consultant and currently lead a team of 15 employees here at Corporate Staffing Services. As a career coach I help people discover their ideal career and the type of work they would most love to do. I also coach them on how to land their desired job, handle office challenges well and climb the corporate ladder faster and easier.

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