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If work stress feels unmanageable, pause long enough to reduce the immediate pressure, identify what is driving it, and ask for a specific change or support. You do not have to solve the problem by coping better on your own: workload, unclear priorities, conflict, schedules, safety, and inadequate tools can all contribute, and some require workplace-level action.
What to do right now
- Take a brief pause if you can. Step away, rest, stretch, or check in with someone supportive. If several tasks feel urgent, ask which one needs attention first.
- Name the main pressure. Is it workload, unclear priorities, conflict or bullying, an unpredictable schedule, job uncertainty, missing tools or safety concerns, caregiving demands, or difficulty disconnecting from work? More than one factor may be involved.
- Choose one concrete request. Ask about clearer priorities, a deadline adjustment, help redistributing work, more predictable scheduling, adequate breaks, needed tools, flexibility, or help addressing conflict. A specific request gives the conversation a practical starting point; it cannot guarantee that your employer will agree.
- Contact an appropriate support person. Depending on what feels safe and relevant, that could be a trusted coworker, supervisor, HR contact, union representative, or another person you trust.
- Make a next-step plan. Decide who you will contact and what you will ask. If the first person cannot help, consider another appropriate channel or a formal workplace resource.
The CDC recommends communicating about job stress and working together on possible solutions. OSHA likewise describes identifying workplace stressors and discussing ways to address them as part of prevention.
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Identify what is making work feel unmanageable
Stress at work can show up as feeling overwhelmed, tired, anxious, helpless, irritated, or unmotivated. Those experiences matter, but by themselves they do not establish a mental-health diagnosis. Think about the conditions around them, not just how you are responding.
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- Workload and priorities: Too much work, competing deadlines, or uncertainty about what matters most.
- Relationships and treatment: Conflict, bullying, or a lack of support.
- Schedule and control: Unpredictable shifts, insufficient breaks, or little flexibility over how work is done.
- Resources and safety: Missing tools, inadequate training, or concerns about safe working conditions.
- Work outside work: Caregiving responsibilities colliding with work, or being unable to disconnect when the workday ends.
Not every stressor can be fixed in the same way. A priority-setting conversation may help with conflicting tasks; a schedule request may be more relevant to unpredictable hours. A safety concern or bullying may call for a more formal route than an informal check-in.
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How to raise the issue and ask for a change
Keep the conversation focused on the work condition, its effect, and the change that might help. For example: “I have three deadlines due tomorrow and cannot complete all of them to the expected standard. Which should take priority, or can one deadline move?” Adapt the wording to your situation and to whom you are speaking.
- Describe the pressure as specifically as you can, using a workload, schedule, tool, or interaction example.
- Explain its practical effect on your work or wellbeing without feeling you must prove a diagnosis.
- Make a clear request, such as adjusting a deadline, clarifying priorities, providing a needed tool, or discussing more predictable hours.
- Agree on a next step or a time to revisit the issue, if possible.
If a supervisor is involved in the problem or you do not feel safe raising it with them, consider another appropriate contact, such as HR, a union representative, or a trusted support person. Which route is available and suitable depends on your workplace and circumstances.
Use support while the underlying problem is being addressed
Short-term support can make the next step easier, but it does not replace addressing harmful or unsustainable work conditions. The CDC suggests taking breaks to rest or stretch, checking in with supportive colleagues, friends, or family, exercising or spending time outdoors away from work, and making time for enjoyable activities outside work.
These are options, not guaranteed treatments. The World Health Organization’s workplace guideline gives a conditional recommendation with low-certainty evidence for universal psychosocial stress-management interventions, and a conditional recommendation with very-low-certainty evidence for leisure-based physical activity. That is not a promise that a particular technique will resolve distress.
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Ask about formal workplace resources
You can ask whether your employer offers an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) or another mental-health resource. Availability, eligibility, confidentiality terms, and services vary; check the program’s own information before sharing sensitive details or relying on a benefit.
If distress persists, worsens, interferes with daily life, or makes it hard to work safely, consider seeking help from a qualified mental-health or healthcare professional. There is no diagnostic threshold in these workplace recommendations that you need to meet before asking for help.
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What employers can change
Workplace stress is not only an individual coping issue. CDC and OSHA describe employer actions that can address causes, including reducing excessive demands and bullying, increasing flexibility and worker control, training supervisors, supporting workers, and providing access to EAPs. Which changes are appropriate depends on the conditions involved.
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If you are in immediate crisis
In the United States, call or text 988 or visit 988lifeline.org for free, confidential, round-the-clock crisis support, as directed by the CDC. If you are outside the United States, contact your local crisis service or emergency services; 988 is not a universal number.
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