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Stress

How a Bit of Stress Can Keep Your Workplace Running Smoothly

A bit of stress helps you focus on the right things—fixing problems others miss.

Key points

  • Constant positivity can backfire, preventing honest conversations about stress and real challenges.
  • People who worry more often identify early warning signs that others may overlook.
  • A bit of neuroticism can be a strength in roles where anticipating problems is crucial.
  • Solving unseen problems provides immense value, even if the effort goes unnoticed when things run smoothly.

Optimism in demand

Optimists are in demand, especially in the workplace. It can be lovely to work with people who are cheerful and chipper and who brighten up a social environment with their positive attitude.

A generally upbeat atmosphere in the office can boost the mood of others, make collaboration feel easier, and promote a creative and open environment.

A positive outlook has clear benefits, but not everyone is cheerful all the time—and that’s perfectly fine. People vary in how much they express their emotions, and not everyone needs to be highly expressive to contribute positively.

The broaden-and-build theory shows that positive emotions help us see more possibilities and make better decisions. This doesn’t mean everyone should force constant cheerfulness. A workplace can still be productive and creative even if not everyone is visibly upbeat all the time. What matters is building an environment where optimism can thrive naturally without forcing it.

Avoiding toxic positivity

While genuine happiness is great, faking it does not provide the same benefits. No one is happy all the time, and it’s unrealistic to expect constant cheerfulness. Just as excessive stress limits our creativity, faked happiness can narrow a person’s focus instead of broadening their perspective. It’s often referred to as toxic positivity.

Toxic positivity is the pressure to stay upbeat and optimistic no matter what, to the point where it becomes performative. Instead of allowing room for real emotions like stress or frustration, it encourages people to put on a facade, making it harder to have honest conversations or confront real challenges.

Constant, uninterrupted positivity isn’t just exhausting—it’s unrealistic. It shuts down honest conversations about stress, anxiety, and the very real challenges we face.

Over time, a relentless and uncompromising “good vibes only” approach can create a culture where problems are ignored, individuals feel isolated, and people’s real thoughts and fears fester beneath the surface. Ignoring real problems is rarely a productive long-term strategy.

The adaptive role of stress

Some people are simply more sensitive to stress. This is a biochemical fact as well as a social observation. People with lower adjustment (higher neuroticism) feel it more keenly, notice small tensions, and are quicker to pick up on potential conflicts or challenges. They might worry a bit more, but this hyper-awareness of potential problems can be useful when they are able to identify and solve the problems.

These employees often pick up on early warning signs that chronic optimists might overlook. While the workplace’s upbeat coworkers might brush off a missed deadline or an awkward client interaction, the more emotionally reactive colleague is already preparing for the next steps—just in case.

This helps us understand the value of anxiety. A bit of worry isn’t just normal; it’s evolutionarily adaptive. Stress, in moderation, sharpens our focus and helps us anticipate and prepare for potential dangers. We cannot always float through life and pretend problems don’t exist—we evolved to worry, plan, and adapt. This makes a bit of neuroticism a strength at work, as long as we’re in environments that let us focus on solving the problems within our role.

Getting the balance right

Anxiety-prone people often feel job demands more intensely. When your mind is wired to anticipate problems, stress can hit harder, especially in roles that come with constant pressure, like high-stakes decision-making or emotional labor. While a little anxiety can sharpen focus, too much can overwhelm even the most capable person. And when you’re expected to handle multiple demands at once, it’s easy to get stretched too thin.

This is where balance comes into play. The Job Demands-Resources model explains stress at work. Job demands like workload, deadlines, or emotional strain require sustained effort and come with a cost. People who are naturally more prone to anxiety will feel these demands more keenly, so they need stronger resources to stay functional. That might mean clear role definitions, more autonomy, more support, or more time to work independently. Without enough resources, the weight of these demands can lead to burnout and decreased productivity.

In roles where the job is to worry—like security, risk management, or crisis response—balancing job demands and resources is critical. You can’t expect someone to anticipate every problem while juggling unrelated tasks. People can only worry about so much at once, so it’s essential to focus their energy on what’s within their control and relevant to their role.

This is where understanding your own stress comes in. Knowing how it fits into your job helps you direct it toward what truly matters. There’s real value in solving problems others don’t even see, and while keeping things running smoothly often goes unnoticed, its value is immense.

References

Bakker, A .B, & Demerouti, E. (2007). The Job Demands-Resources model: State of the art. Journal of Managerial Psychology. 22(3), 309–328.

MacRae, I., Furnham A., & Reed, M. (2018). High Potential: How to spot, manage and develop talented people at work. Bloomsbury.

Mazzetti, G., Robledo, E., Vignoli, M., Topa, G., Guglielmi, D., & Schaufeli, W. B. (2023). Work Engagement: A meta-Analysis Using the Job Demands-Resources Model. Psychological Reports, 126(3), 1069-1107.

Sosnowska, J., Hofmans, J., & de Fruyt, F. (2020), Revisiting the neuroticism – performance link: A dynamic approach to individual differences. Journal of Occupational and Organisational Psychology, 93, 495-504.

Wille, B., Beyers, W., & De Fruyt, F. (2012). A transactional approach to person-environment fit: Reciprocal relations between personality development and career role growth across young to middle adulthood. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 81(3), 307–321.

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