Can AI Help With Workplace Stress Management?
Workplace stress management is a key area of concern, with stress costing the global economy billions in lost productivity and poor mental health. We discuss how AI could address this, in conversation with Jonathan Kreindler, the CEO of Receptiviti.
With the global business environment becoming more competitive each day, the onus is on employees to bring their best to work and push performance. This could lead to high-stress levels, negatively impacting employee well-being and engagement. That’s why companies are actively exploring innovative approaches to workplace stress management – right from small changes like flexible hours to company-wide experiments like the four-day workweek.
Could technology help in managing workplace stress, using employee data to suggest stress mitigation tactics? Can artificial intelligence (AI) make it possible to mine data for positive mental health? We spoke to Jonathan Kreindler, the CEO of Receptiviti, a culture analytics platform that uses psychology and natural language processing to identify data that can help manage workplace stress.
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Stress in the Workplace and Why You Need AI to Help
If you look at recent metrics on workplace stress, it’s clear that the timing couldn’t be better for AI-based workplace stress management tools.
Stress can cause a dip in productivity, disengagement among your workforce, and even attrition, as employees seek low-stress jobs. “The costs have been well documented,” says Kreindler, “with recent studies citing costs to employers close to $190 billion and contributing to 120,000 deaths each year.”
And if you need further convincing, the following metrics suggest why workplace stress management is so necessary:
- An average employee loses 7.1 days owing to exceptional levels of stress at work
- 35% of instances of high-stress scenarios are associated with mental health issues
- Direct cost from short-term leaves amounts to over $13 million
Clearly, organizations must sit up and take notice. This is where AI comes in – AI algorithms can monitor organizational data and track the cause of stress right down to its very roots. It can also intervene at the right moment, guiding employees towards activities that can aid in workplace stress management such as meditation or calming music.
Given this potential, HR and healthcare tech companies are working toward leveraging AI for workplace stress management. Let’s explore a few examples.
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Three Ways AI can Address Stress in the Workplace
Kreindler points out that employee communications could reveal valuable data on stress levels and where you need to intervene with workplace tress management tools.
“For example, someone who says ‘I should discuss that with my teammates, then I can respond to her’ is dealing with more stress than someone who says ‘let’s talk about that with the team before we do anything.’ In language, it’s barely noticeable, but it’s there,” he adds.
Receptiviti uses AI to spot these subtleties and aid in workplace stress management – let’s now look at these tools in greater detail.
1. Analyze workplace communications for stress, with Receptiviti
You can use Receptiviti to analyze conversations across Slack, Gmail, and the Microsoft Office Suite. The data is completely anonymized, and the AI tool looks for linguistic patterns proven to be linked with workplace stress.
Receptiviti then creates an organizational map, spanning different units, divisions, and verticals – you can apply these insights to curb stress right at the roots and improve your employee’s emotional health.
2. Undertake an AI-augmented wellness course, via Open Dialogue
Open Dialogue offers a 30-minute online session every week to help professionals cope with stress in the workplace. Interestingly, the AI is complemented by a human coach, ensuring that every employee’s individual needs are met.
This approach to workplace stress management comprises a four-week course, with proven frameworks for positive well-being. Its conversational AI technology delivers the coaching experience as per your employee’s convenience.
3. Empower your workforce with health data, using BioBase
BioBase is an AI and analytics-based workplace stress management platform from a startup called BioBeats. The company raised $3 million last year to deliver a mobile application with AI-led personalization.
BioBase gathers individual health data to give your employees real-time insights into their mental health. There are also on-demand therapists and custom recommendations offered by its powerful AI engine.
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The Way Forward: Start by Calling Out Stress in the Workplace
It’s no secret that a culture of high productivity and competition risks increasing stress levels among the workforce. This is why organizations have recently started to look for ways to create a non-toxic high-performance culture at work.
AI-led workplace stress management can play a significant role in this regard, identifying the cause of stress, suggesting remedial measures and monitoring health data to ensure that stress doesn’t cross a specific threshold.
Stress is often swept under the rug in modern workplaces. As Kreindler puts it, “Recognizing it is the first step to dealing what the World Health Organization now recognizes as a medical condition – ironically, it’s one that’s being exacerbated by the way we work.”
By putting the requisite measures in place, you can become aware of stress at the early stages and deploy mitigation methods. This will be key to workplace stress management, as you strive towards building a happy, productive, and future-ready workforce.
Have you explored how AI can help in workplace stress management at your company? Tell us about your experience on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter. We’d love to hear from you!
