By Mohammed Hassan, Content Team Academic

One of the most significant sources of stress is your workplace.

The modern workplace significantly contributes to rising stress levels due to constant deadlines, distractions, and workplace bullying, all of which can be overwhelming. The line between a healthy worker and overwhelming anxiety is often misinterpreted.  When the two align, it can have a negative impact to the individual, making it difficult to work around.

Workplace anxiety is not simply about being shy or nervous before a deadline or if the week has been busy. It’s deeper rooted, with a sense of uneasiness which can affect all areas of working life, including a drop in one’s performance, confidence, focus and even health (ACAS, 2025).

Therefore, it is essential to understand how anxiety arises and is fuelled, as well as what individuals and workplaces can do to try to prevent any stress triggers, thereby creating a healthier work environment.

Workplace Environment

Workplace anxiety is characterised by excessive and ongoing worry or fear relating to one’s job or work environment. It can be present at any stage of one’s career, from a new graduate to a CEO of a company. It manifests as fear of failure, being worried and stressed 24/7 over a specific matter, avoidance of certain people, difficulty concentrating, and physical symptoms, which may lead to other ailments. It can be short-term for some, whilst it may be a long-lasting issue for others and lead to social anxiety disorder (Priory, 2023).

What Causes It?

• High Workload: This is an important factor to consider when looking at causes of worsened stress levels. When one may feel they are constantly under pressure with around-the-clock deadlines, deadlines can develop many symptoms of anxiety. For example, one may be working in a busy marketing agency, where they may feel that they are on edge all the time, fearing they might miss something important. This may lead to vicious cycles of overthinking, as they may not want to be seen as unproductive or incompetent. Over time, anxiety can become constant and not just situational.

• Job Insecurity: With the recent pandemics and economic instability, obtaining and managing jobs has become increasingly difficult. The fear of redundancy and instability can lead to unwanted stress.

• Lack of Control: If one needs to always be planning and organising every step of their workload, disturbances in this can often trigger anxiety.  This sense of powerlessness and not being able to predict one’s role at work may be a trigger.  These sudden changes and lack of control can lead to demotivation and limited decision-making, which in turn leads to heightened anxiety (Very Well Mind, 2023).

What are the Symptoms of Workplace Anxiety?

It can affect an individual mentally and physically, leading to a variety of symptoms. It often manifests as constant overthinking and failure to make any decisions. Other potential symptoms include tension headaches, stomach issues, and fatigue as potential symptoms. Initially, these can at first be mistaken for other diseases or can be misdiagnosed, but it is later realised as a symptom of anxiety.

As a result, there can be many consequences that are later shown such as burnout. This results from being overworked and in constant fight or flight mode, where the prolonged stress causes disengagement and reduced performance level. There is also decrease in one’s productivity, which may worsen one’s anxiety, as they may experience more mistakes unable to combat with the stress and deadlines. This leads to impairment of relationships due to miscommunication and interpersonal tension (Lyra, 2023).

It can be a draining and stressful journey, and if left untreated, it can lead to a breakdown. However, strategies can be put in place for individuals to manage and combat workplace anxiety.

It should start from recognising the signs and being aware of what can contribute or may trigger one’s stress. This may be by tracking the patterns of when you are most tense or struggling to relax. It is often shown that elevating negative thoughts and words can be a positive start. For example, the cognitive distortions of oneself, where they may think that making one small mistake will get them fired, or their low performance will make them a laughingstock.

Employers can also try to create healthy work environments, encouraging more conversations about the stigma around mental health, as well as proper guidance on how to tackle stress. Offering flexible arrangements with regular small breaks can be a good turning point, as it could de-stress employees and make them more comfortable in the work environment. Creating a safe space where the employee can express any concerns to their employer, without the fear of being mocked or judged, can also naturally decrease anxiety levels.

After COVID-19, many workplace rules and regulations were altered, which led to more isolation and a lack of communication. Leading to one to forget the normal day-to-day interactions, as when the lockdown had been lifted, the return to offices caused anxiety to rise, and it felt like everyone was disconnected. This is an important factor for organisations to realise and evolve with challenges by balancing flexibility and how support is given to their employees (Anxiety UK, 2025).

Workplace anxiety may stem from either external pressure or one’s own internal insecurities. However, it is not a sign of weakness; it’s important to normalise conversations around mental health and how it may affect people through work. It should be addressed, as help is always available in various forms.  Furthermore, it is important to raise awareness of workplace anxiety as it continues to increase  (Health Assured, 2024).

In summary, addressing workplace anxiety, especially in relation with the Covid 19, is crucial to get control of a balanced and healthy workplace environment. It would help individual employees understand their triggers and stabilise their stress levels, as well as bringing awareness to others and reducing stigma.

References

Anxiety-UK. (2025). COVID -19 and Anxiety. https://www.anxietyuk.org.uk/blog/covid-19-and-anxiety-part2.

ACAS, (2019, May). Stress and anxiety at work – policy paper. https://www.acas.org.uk/research-and-commentary/stress-and-anxiety-at-work https://www.acas.org.uk/research-and-commentary/stress-and-anxiety-at-work.

Health Assured, (2024, December). Managing someone with workplace anxiety. https://www.healthassured.org/blog/managing-anxiety-at-work.

Lyra. (2023, May). A Guide to Managing Work Anxiety. https://www.lyrahealth.com/blog/work-anxiety/.

Priory Group, (2023.) Workplace anxiety: what to do if you feel too anxious at work. https://www.priorygroup.com/blog/what-to-do-if-you-feel-too-anxious-to-work.

Very well Mind. (2023, December) An Overview Of  Work Anxiety https://www.verywellmind.com/work-anxiety-4692762.