Imagine this: It’s an important day at work. You have a big presentation that you’ve spent weeks preparing for. It’s an important point in your career that could lead to a promotion you’ve been waiting for, for months. You’re all set to begin your presentation when your team member informs you that they have been asked to take over the presentation and lead the meeting in your stead. How would you feel?
Angry, right?
Anger is “an emotional state that varies in intensity from mild irritation to intense fury and rage” according to Charles Spielberger, a psychologist who specializes in the study of anger.
Just like any other emotion, anger carries with it a tsunami of physiological and behavioural changes. For example, when an individual is getting angry, their blood pressure and heart rate go up, and they may express their feelings verbally or with physical violence.
Anger is quite common in our lives, but what happens when people feel angry in the workplace?
Is there a place for stress and anger at work?
We spend one-third of our lives at our workplace. It’s a huge part of our lives where we experience a range of emotions, ranging from positive to negative. While it’s appropriate to express the positive ones, negative emotions like breaking down or getting angry at the workplace are considered unprofessional. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist in the workplace. Here are the 5 most common reasons why employees feel angry at work.
Common Reasons For Anger At Workplace
1. Toxic workplace
Are the employees at your workplace gossiping all the time, don’t communicate well, or are just uninterested in their jobs? These might be signs of a toxic work culture. A toxic work environment is where the work, the atmosphere, the people, or any combination of these things, trigger or cause serious disruptions in employees’ behaviour. This could lead to irritability, stress & anger at work. Here are a few signs that you’re in a toxic work environment.
2. Micromanaging boss
Micromanagers are overly-involved supervisors who observe or intervene in their employees’ work to an excessive degree. They call frequent meetings, demand details to the last minute, send countless emails and expect employees to be around for every beck and call. Needless to say, this type of behaviour in the workplace can lead to severe stress, resulting in hostility and anger issues at work.
3. Excessive workload
Excessive workload can be one of the main causes of stress in the workplace. Over time, when employees are pushed to the breaking point, stress takes the shape of anger and comes out in ugly ways. Research proves that with increasing mental workloads, there is a significant increase in anger levels among employees. Working too much can lead to a lack of sleep, reduced appetite and an increase in substance use. It can be difficult to maintain a calm state of mind when your regular bodily functions are going haywire, resulting in anger and hostility.
4. Improper recognition & compensation
Human beings are social creatures. Besides our basic needs like food, clothing and shelter, we crave the feeling of belongingness from others in our social groups. At the workplace, employees expect to be recognized and rewarded for the hard work they put into their job. This recognition can be in two forms:
- Monetary: The compensation employees receive in the form of salary, perks, incentives and bonuses.
- Non-monetary: Awards, special mentions and public recognition are some ways employees expect to be recognized for their work.
When there is no recognition for their hard work and efforts, it inevitably leads to stress & anger at work.
5. No growth
41% of people across the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, India & Singapore said lack of prospects for upward mobility was the main reason they had resigned from a job. (World Economic Forum, 2022). Upward mobility is the rate at which employees grow into new roles, advance opportunities and better compensation. When employees see no growth in their jobs and feel like they have reached a dead end in their role at the organization, it can be a major contributor to stress & anger at work, resulting in violence or heavy attrition rates.
Employees get stressed and angry at work for a variety of reasons listed above. But there are times when their anger stems from sources outside the workplace. Many employees, while dealing with stressful events in their personal lives, can carry the resulting anger to the workplace. Financial pressure, a family spat or a recurring illness - the list is endless. No matter what the reason, anger issues at work are just the beginning of bigger issues and need to be tended to with the right approach.
To manage anger issues in the workplace, we need to create a harmonious work environment that makes employees feel valued, recognized and unrestrained. MindFry can help you create a workplace that leaves no place for stress & anger. Book a demo here to know more about it.
