The Healthy Workplace Nudge

Chapter 4Stress: Portrait of a Killer

Sylvia was exhausted and ready to leave the office by 3 p.m. Another day of fire drills and meetings. And her day wouldn't be over for another three hours. Two more mind-numbing meetings, a dreaded confrontation with her boss about a project gone bad, and trying to find time to encourage a depressed team. She wanted them to feel like the company cares, even though she knows it doesn't. As she thought about home, she glanced at the stack of reports she must read by tomorrow, now four inches higher than when she came in this morning.

Sylvia was two employees short on her 12-person team. Robin, Steve, and Janet gave their best, almost every day. They pulled a lot of extra weight. But she had to babysit five good people who took no initiative. Two other team members were absolutely toxic. They made every task difficult and every meeting contentious. Both were easily offended and used any offense as a weapon with Human Resources.

Sylvia's hands were tied. She tried to restrain the toxic twins, or at least contain their damage, but “policy” got in the way. She knew she shouldn't, but sometimes the pressure caused her to complain to a trusted few of her peers. Naturally, Sylvia felt overwhelmed by her circumstances. To add to the stress, she felt like her job could be in jeopardy.

Sylvia lived 25 miles from the office, but traffic made the commute at least an hour, or even longer with weather or accidents. She got home at about 7:15 and then switched ...