Interview with Fernando Callejo: about the challenge of work stress

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

There are many ways in which a work dynamic can erode the quality of life of workers: through a excessively competitive organizational climate, through demanding too much effort, through monotony and boredom... All this has as a common denominator one of the most common problems in every company. It's about work stress.

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

Interview with psychologist Fernando Callejo: the challenge of work stress

on this occasion we spoke with Fernando Callejo, co-founder of the Madrid Psychology Center UPAD Psychology and Coaching

, so that he can talk to us about the characteristics of work stress and how this problem is dealt with through psychological intervention in companies.

Research suggests that job stress is on the rise. Do you think it is a problem that has to do with the person or with the conditions that they can find in a company?

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

Therefore, there would be situations with certain characteristics that would favor the appearance of stress responses (objectives, adjusted time frames, resources limited, etc), but after all, situations do not affect everyone who faces them in the same way, so I prefer to put the accent here, on the people.

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

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

Based on my experience, the people who may be most vulnerable to stress are those who They have high levels of self-demand or perfectionism, oriented to achieve high results in their jobs; those who attach great importance to their work environments and whose self-concept and self-esteem are largely based on their professional results or successes.

Are the consequences of stress only psychological or also physical?

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

This is so because when stress responses are activated, the organism experiences an elevation 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 stay safe or face a certain threat by producing hormones, enervation of large muscle groups and alteration of the physiological functioning systems of the organism (cardiac, respiratory, circulatory, digestive, etc).

That is why stress symptoms can become visible in each and every one of these systems. Stress, both in psychological and physical terms, is a great drain on the body of those who experience it, and it is not uncommon to find people subjected to great stress levels that age prematurely, present alterations in the aforementioned physiological systems, or even, that can develop certain disorders psychological.

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 thing about this whole matter is that in psychology we can intervene on the stressed agent to develop a more adaptive response to stress, which mitigates the consequences of its experimentation.

Much is said about the importance of the work environment when it comes to 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 the responsible, the adequate delimitation of functions, communication and interpersonal relationships of a formal and informal nature that occur between the workers, and even the motivational conditions of these, covered by an adequate human resources policy that favors the perception of equity in the whole of the organization.

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

Well, in the end we do not stop being a social species, for which it is of vital importance to be able to develop networks of support in which to be able to turn 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 stand out for their competitive nature, in delicate moments they will suppose an additional threat that probably translates into the experimentation of higher levels of stress for the worker.

Here is the importance of creating a good team culture, which 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, a change that we are currently going through as a generation is the transition from the industrial age or “old school” style of interprofessional relations to a “new age” style. The debate in this sense is not new, but the nature of jobs is constantly changing, and with it inevitably the way in which we relate to each other must also change.

Before more was better, now better does not have to be more. I mean that there has been a qualitative change.

Where before production was based precisely on that, getting more products in less time, now we We find other sectors in which greater care for people and attention to the details.

Jobs more typical of the service sector or the knowledge sector, in which relationships Human resources make the difference from one company to another and require greater delicacy and management emotional.

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 precisely it is to take care of your employees.

At UPAD you are experts in personnel selection. Do you think that work stress can be prevented by having 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 perform this one?

Logically, selecting candidates who not only have great professional skills, but also present a favorable attitude component for the development of teamwork or for a positive coping with these types of situations that can generate stress, can contribute to reducing their appearance.

But it is very complex, due to our dynamic nature and the very dynamic nature of the challenges business, guarantee the prevention of stress, since at any time the objectives can change and become impossible. Or we ourselves can go through complicated moments on an emotional level due to other situations that happen in our lives.

You frequently work with companies to improve the working 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 sense, as in any other field of psychology after all, is to start with evaluate which are those factors that right now are 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 begin by applying some type of questionnaire in this direction. Once those 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 workers and managers of the company to improve those aspects involved found.

The interventions can be multiple, going through 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 identify bases to follow, values ​​with which to identify and appropriate interrelationship policies that are publicly and positively recognized at a national level organizational.