How to promote healthy stress at work
- Dafina Berisha
- Oct 14
- 2 min read
It’s time to rethink how we approach stress in the workplace and how we can support employee wellbeing from the inside out.
Not all stress is bad. In fact, the right kind of stress—known as eustress—is essential. It drives motivation, sharpens focus, and helps people step up to challenges. However, when stress becomes constant, unpredictable, and overwhelming, it shifts into distress, which results in a defocused attention, drained energy, and often leads to burnout.
Table of contents:
When stress stops helping
What HR leaders can do
Rethinking stress at work
The positive side of stress
Eustress is the healthy kind of stress we feel when we're challenged but supported. At work, this might look like:
Tackling a new project that expands our skills.
Taking on more responsibility with clear goals and resources.
Being trusted with autonomy in how to approach a task.
This kind of stress is both motivating and energizing. It fosters higher levels of engagement, which enables employees to grow, adapt, and experience a sense of achievement when they succeed. Studies even show that good stress actually strengthens memory. Distress, on the other hand, impairs memory, making it harder to retain information, which often goes hand in hand with brain fog.
When stress stops helping
Problems arise when stress stops being manageable. When employees are under relentless pressure, unclear expectations, or lack recovery time, distress tends to build up. Over time, this turns into burnout—a state of exhaustion where people feel drained, disengaged, and unable to perform at their best.
Burnout doesn't happen overnight. It often shows up in stages:
Exhaustion: Constantly running on empty, feeling depleted no matter how much rest.
Cynicism: Growing feelings of disconnection, negativity, or lack of motivation.
Reduced performance: Struggling to concentrate, problem-solve, or maintain previous levels of productivity.
For both employees and organizations, the costs of burnout are significant—from lost talent to higher absenteeism and lower engagement.
What HR leaders can do
The goal isn't to eliminate stress, but to create the conditions where stress fuels growth instead of leading to burnout. Here's how HR can support that balance:
Encourage healthy stretch: Offer opportunities for growth, skill development, and autonomy so employees feel challenged but capable.
Protect against overload: Set clear priorities, push back against “always-on” work cultures, and normalize recovery through breaks, flexible schedules, and time off.
Equip managers: Train leaders to balance expectations with empathy and support, building psychological safety so employees feel safe to ask for help.
Rethinking stress at work
Stress is a natural part of any workplace. The question is whether it's channelled in ways that supports motivation and growth—or left unchecked until it erodes wellbeing and performance. By designing work environments that encourage "good stress" while buffering employees from distress, HR leaders can create a culture where employees thrive instead of burning out.
Healthy stress fuels growth — when it’s managed right. Let’s build workplaces where people thrive, not burn out. Get in touch here to learn how.
