Making Stress Work is the Oh My People pillar focused on stress prevention, burnout prevention and resilience at work. We teach organisations to read stress signals early and use them as information about boundaries, energy, and workability across four levels simultaneously: organisation, leadership, team, and individual.
Almost one in three employees experiences
work-related stress.
And yet, many organisations only react when it is too late: someone drops out permanently, a team gets stuck, or absenteeism skyrockets.
Making Stress Work means learning what the stress in your organisation is telling you, before it is too late. Those who understand what a stress response signals about boundaries, needs and environment can take conscious action. Drawing on positive psychology and recent neuroscientific insights, we build resilience that doesn’t break under pressure, but bends and bounces back.
Before we talk about tools or training, we start with two key questions for any stress policy: Who wants to? Who can? The first is about mindset, trust, and the psychological contract. The second is about capacity, stability, and predictability. If people want to but cannot, they get frustrated. If they can but do not want to, policies are written but never used. Many stress policies fail because they overlook one of these questions.
Stress on four levels
Stress never occurs on just one level. That is why we always address all four levels at the same time.
Organisation
The question we askHow many people have been off work in recent months? And what is really behind it?
We help you find out what is really behind your absence numbers and tackle the root causes, not just the symptoms.
Leadership
The question we askDo you know your own limits and what affects you? If you do not notice something in yourself, you probably will not see it in your team either.
We offer Stronger with Stress for leaders, resilience conversations, and peer learning. Self-leadership is the foundation for leading a team.
Team
The question we askDo your teams have a common way to talk about pressure, energy, and recovery?
We offer team interventions, help teams agree on disconnecting from work, and teach colleagues to spot each other’s warning signs. This way, the team becomes the first line of support.
Individual
The question we askHow many people in your organisation ignore what their body is telling them? Headaches and fatigue aren't random.
We offer Stronger with Stress, guidance on using sleep as a tool, setting boundaries, and integrating work and life. We help people learn to notice the signals and make conscious choices.
“Work-related stress is important information for the organisation; what are you doing with it?”
Elke Van Hoof, PhD in Psychological Sciences, author, lecturer, and expert
