Stress in the Workplace

I think most organizations these days at least pay lip service to the idea that stress at work is bad for productivity, but my question is, does that change anything?

A certain amount of stress at work is probably inevitable- one way or another, you are getting paid to perform, and there is a certain amount of stress involved in that. But what about other stressors, beyond the usual? Does your workplace walk the walk when it comes to stress reduction, and if so, what does that look like?

I've mostly experienced stress in my workplace due to staffing shortages. At one point, our normally eight person team with two managers was down to four and one. The one remaining manager was practically living on ibuprofen and tums, and the rest of us were doggedly trying to cover the basics before we burned out completely. Anyone who was working in Alberta in 2007 likely experienced something similar, but I think the worst part for everyone, and certainly for the manager, was the lack of corporate support. At a time when we were all running as hard as we could to stay in place, we were being told that our numbers were dropping and we needed to up them.

We were stressed, miserable, and being told everything we did wasn't good enough. It did nothing to improve our numbers that's for sure.

What have your experiences with stress been like?