4 Ways to Reduce Stress at Work: It's the little things that can make a big difference.

"We're well into the corporate well-being boom, and things are looking pretty grim. The effort is there, but by and large, most attempts to move the needle on well-being have been frustrating failures.

At this point, we have a good idea why. Well-being programs are a bit like calorie counts on restaurant menus: They were developed to help those who had no idea that fettuccine Alfredo has 200% of your daily fat allowance, but the only people who read them are those who planned on ordering steamed broccoli anyway. The biggest predictor of using a well-being gym membership program at work is having a gym membership you're glad to have someone else pay for.

It's understandable why we've tried to go big with our well-being solutions. Big problems require big solutions.

But if we turn to science on how stress affects the body and mind, we've missed an important lesson: Chronic, low-level daily stress is the true death of us (both figuratively and literally), and at work, there is a lot of it. It's feeling your pulse quicken when your sharp-tongued boss approaches your office, knowing that all you'll face is harsh criticism; it's that moment of heart-pounding anxiety you have when after 45 minutes, you still haven't found a parking spot and your meeting starts in five. Spending eight hours a day weaving in and out of a stress state will have a devastating impact on your health. And most of us are doing just that.

The good news is, many of these low-level stressors are under our control. To move the needle on well-being at work, we need to make several small changes, incorporated into our daily lives, and practiced with the same vigor that well-being aficionados put into their gym routines.

Here are four simple rules you can follow to reduce your stress and the stress of those who work for you and around you. These rules certainly aren't exhaustive, but the basic principles behind them can be applied broadly to lots of situations at work.

Rule No. 1: Take the guesswork out of your email communications.

Uncertainty-based stress can wreak havoc on your health. At work, it's the feeling you get when your boss shoots you an email on Friday evening that reads, "We need to talk. How's next Thursday?"

It's not entirely your boss's fault that she left you hanging. The busier we get, the more likely it is that we shed important stress-reducing details in our communications with people, especially over email. We get good at explaining the "what" (a meeting on Thursday) but not the "why" (to talk about your request for more days off). Power differences exacerbate uncertainty-based stress, and so the higher up you climb, the more likely it is that the recipient of your vague "let's meet" email will lose five hours of sleep perseverating on whether they are going to get fired.

The solution is simple. When you communicate, whatever the subject, hit people over the head with blinding clarity. In the above example, one simple sentence ("I would like to meet because you want another Friday off, but we really need you this month") could reduce uncertainty-based stress for the next week. That's a lot of stress-reduction bang for very little buck.

Rule No. 2: Take creature comforts seriously.

No, I don't mean putting an espresso machine on every floor or a beer tap in the break room.

I mean reducing noise pollution in the office, guaranteeing parking spots and creating functional distance between offices so people can connect easily.

Stress is often a bottom-up process -- the more physically uncomfortable we feel, the more mentally worn down we become over time. Office temperature alone is a huge predictor of workplace productivity (one study found that it accounted for nearly 39% of the variance in workplace performance; just under 70 degrees Fahrenheit is best). Most of us underestimate the effects that small, environmental factors have on our physical well-being at work, and in turn, on our cognitive resources and our mood.

To that end, be proactive and start the conversation at work. What small changes will make your body more comfortable, and will reduce the stress you experience before you even walk into the office? Remind your boss that small changes that cost little to effort and money, like ensuring consistent indoor temperature (the thermostat should not swing from 60 degrees Fahrenheit to 80 depending on the weather), can improve their financial bottom line down the road.

Rule No. 3: Don't train bosses to be therapists.

Too many bosses feel it's their job to treat the "whole person" at work -- to talk to employees about their personal life stressors, like financial hardships or relationship problems. The problem with this approach is that it implicitly expects people (often middle managers) to become healthcare professionals. Providing employees with healthcare resources is a good thing; becoming that resource yourself isn't. Having "uncomfortable but necessary" conversations with employees is a dangerous endeavor that can backfire.

In fact, one of the most tried and true methods scientists like me use to increase people's stress in the lab is to have them disclose something personal to someone they aren't close with or who evaluates their work. In other words, organizations are using a method scientists use to increase stress in the lab to try to decrease it in the real world.

Instead, bosses should replace therapy hour with structured, task-focused check-ins with co-workers, and use this time to sniff out conflicts early, before they get out of control.

For example, if you think there is a free rider on your team, have everyone report on the work they expected to do at the start of the project, and then go over any unplanned work people did once a week or so. This early-detection method will do loads more to decrease stress people feel from relationship conflict at work than playing therapist will do.

Rule No. 4: Give people control over the small things.

Most of us feel like we're operating at a control deficit at work -- we want more of it, but everyone seems reluctant to hand some over. (Micromanagers, I'm looking at you.) A lack of control at work is so stressful, it can lead to an early death.

In many workplaces, big decisions -- like whether the work-from-home policy is about to get nixed, or the New Jersey office is going to close -- aren't things that employees have control over.

But we fail to appreciate that even small acts of control can boost morale at work.

Bosses should try to move the needle on small, daily choices, like who caters lunch, whether you can wear jeans to work, and whether it's OK to leave your Zoom camera on (or off). Sometimes we get so bogged down in policy and rule-making, we forget to give people wiggle room.

Employees should document the small ways in which they wish they had more control at work, then ask for latitude and choice. We all have a pluralistic ignorance when it comes to seeking out control over the small things: We assume that if no one else is complaining, everyone is fine. But trust me: If there is a policy that all cameras must be on during meetings, you're probably not the only person who's unhappy about it.

There's no silver bullet to improving well-being at work. Big structural changes are often beyond our control, and big workplace stressors -- like bad bosses and unrealistic workloads -- do indeed require large-scale changes. But we can control the daily life stressors that eat away at our mental and physical well-being. Start small and be consistent. Over time, you will see sustainable change.

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Dr. West is an associate professor of psychology at New York University and the author of "Jerks at Work: Toxic Coworkers and What to Do About Them." She can be reached at reports@wsj.com." [1]

1. C-Suite Strategies (A Special Report) --- 4 Ways to Reduce Stress at Work: It's the little things that can make a big difference.
West, Tessa. 
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 05 May 2022: R.4.