Stress Management for Payroll Professionals

As payroll professionals, our work by nature is ripe for stress. The importance of pay in people’s lives, the time constraints inherent in running payroll, and the need for detail and accuracy coupled with the consequences of mistakes can weigh heavily.

To some extent, the stress of the profession can also be exhilarating because it makes us feel that we make a difference to others with every successful payday. Thus, some of these stress-inducing experiences are not all bad. They can motivate one to think differently and inspire ingenuity and a sense of purpose.

But what about when stress overly consumes us? For some, stress can become debilitating and impact well-being and the ability to work effectively. Ideally, the solution would be to avoid stressful situations, but that’s unrealistic.

Understanding the Impact of Stress

Stress-evoking situations exist all around us, and even celebratory events can evoke stressful feelings. You may be excited about getting that promotion at work, but with it can come anxiety and nervousness when consumed with thoughts of excelling in your new role. Also, the level of stress felt can vary by situation and individual.

Stress in the body can manifest in a variety of ways. The first few signs of stress are a racing heart, rapid and shallow breathing, and tightening muscles. When these subtle symptoms go unnoticed and unaddressed, they can lead to digestive issues, headaches, insomnia, high blood pressure, and an increased risk of a heart attack.

Since removing all potential stress contributors is impossible, addressing how we respond to stress is the optimal action. Harvard Business Review noted that it’s not the situation or event that causes stress; it’s how we react to it. Trying to ignore it or fight stress is not the solution, but reframing our response to it can be beneficial.

Stress Management Techniques

There are ways we can help ourselves when faced with overstimulating situations and events that evoke a stress response. By learning how to recognize your body’s first signs of stress, you can start taking simple steps to manage any negative impact of stress on the body.

Aly Luftman, a Phoenix-based registered dietitian nutritionist who works as a health promotion specialist for Optum, has some recommendations to manage your stress. Broken down by duration, these can be used based on the time that works best for your schedule:

• Stress Management: Breathing Techniques—On average, a person takes 20,000 breaths a day. How many of those do we notice? Try the following breathing techniques to help refocus yourself away from stress.
• One-Minute Focus on You

1. Close your eyes
2. Take a deep breath through your nose and exhale out your mouth

• Three-Minute Focus on You

1. Take a deep breath through your nose while raising your shoulders to your ears
2. Exhale out your mouth, releasing your shoulders down
3. Deep breath through your nose (a bigger breath than the first)
4. Exhale and sigh out your mouth (maybe even make a noise)
5. Deep breath through your nose (biggest breath of the day, hold your breath at the top)
6. Release, open mouth exhale—let something go!

• Five-Minute Focus on You—Consider doing this to your favorite song:

1. Stand up
2. March in place
3. Raise arms overhead
4. Stretch tall! Reach for the ceiling
5. Stretch to the left, then the right
6. Roll out your shoulders and your neck
7. Swing your arms and roll out your wrists

• 10- or 15-Minute Focus on You—Get outside. Take a short walk, or simply stand outside device-free (tuck your phone away to prevent distractions and be in the moment)
• 30-Minute Focus on You—Take your break. Truly honor this time throughout your day; Schedule it and make it happen. Taking your breaks is one of the best ways to prevent burnout and increase productivity and creativity at work along with reducing your stress

These steps may seem simple, but most of us don’t think to employ these techniques when we experience highstress moments.

All of these techniques are simple and have the power to help reframe our response to an ever-present, stress-filled environment. Our profession is focused on looking out for others by providing accurate and timely pay, and that alone carries a tremendous amount of responsibility. Staying the most effective at carrying out this responsibility requires, not only diligence and focus on the work you do, but also in taking care of yourself. Let’s have happy paydays.

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Vanessa Michelle Mosher is the Director, HRIS and Payroll, for PetSmart.