Pressure cooker

1. A tightly-covered cooking pot in which food is cooked very quickly by the pressure of hot steam.

2. A situation or place that causes anxiety or difficulties.

Continue by assessing stress and your work culture

1. Does the corporate culture where you work encourage a pressure-cooker environment?

2. Are your job responsibilities, and to whom you report, clearly defined?

3. Do you get regular feedback which helps you do your job better?

4. Do you have the support systems (either people or equipment) to carry out your job efficiently and successfully?

5. Do you feel uncertain about your job or the stability of the company?

Evaluate your answers

1. Some companies equate maximum productivity with pressure. Some managers also feel this is a good way to weed out all but the most productive, highly motivated employees. These organizations often create stress both in the work environment and at home. The message they send employees is that work always comes before personal commitments.

You have the following option:

• Decide if the experience, compensation or prestige is worth the cost in terms of your health and possible damage to your personal life.

• One of the most widespread causes of stress in the workplace are poorly defined job responsibilities and having too many supervisors or not knowing to whom you report.

You have the following option:

• Get some answers: a written job description and clarification about to whom you report.

• Without feedback on your performance, you can easily become frustrated. The issue here is recognition. These are your options:

• Establish short-term, measurable goals (increase in sales, number of items produced, etc.) with supervisors.

• Establish times to review progress and get feedback.

Knowing you can do a job well and being prevented from doing so because of lack of support creates tremendous stress. The key issue here is lack of control.

You have these options:

• Identify what resources you lack to do your job efficiently and successfully.

• Justify the need for these resources in terms of benefits to the company (increased sales, better customer service, faster order fulfilment, etc.). Worrying about job security produces stress. If you are worried about the future of your job or company, you can regain a sense of control by building a 'lifeboat'.

A lifeboat represents work alternatives in the event of your losing your job. Identifying these options in advance of a crisis puts you in control.

• Work out the minimum income needed to meet monthly obligations.

• List all the ways you can earn money.

• List what you would like to do for a living.

• Develop realistic short-term alternatives and long-term goals to strive for.

III. Suggest the Ukrainian equivalents of the phrases below:

lashing out with an angry comment; professional counseling; to dread going to work; to suffer from forgetfulness: to take days off sick; energy level rebounds; to remove oneself from the stressful environment; work habits; to get regular feedback; work always comes before personal commitments; to become frustrated; measurable goals; to meet obligations; to experience stress-related fatigue; pressure-cooker environment.

IV. Find English equivalents to the following phrases:

відчувати втому, пов’язану із стресом; оточення, яке нагадує скороварку; робота важливіша, ніж особисті зобов’язання; енергетичний рівень поліпшується; брати вихідні через хворобу; з острахом іти на роботу; виконувати зобов’язання; порада професіонала; розчаровуватися; помірні (не надто складні) цілі.

V. Answer the questions:

1. In what ways do people deal with stress at work?

2. What organisations are considered to be stressful?

3. What actions does a Stress Management Action Plan incorporate?

4. What does the Victorian maxim mentioned in the text mean?

5. What does the term ‘a pressure-cooker environment’ mean?

6. Why do some employers equate maximum productivity with pressure?

7. What would you do if your employer told you that work always comes before personal commitments?

8. What will be your advice to a person who doesn't get regular feedback on his/her performance?

9. What advice would you give to a person who dreads going to work?

10. What are the ways to relieve the symptoms and eliminate the cause of stress in the workplace if your job responsibilities are poorly defined and you do not know to whom you report?

11. What is a "lifeboat"?

12. You feel tired, but your energy level rebounds when you remove yourself from a stressful situation. What does it mean?

VI. Translate into English:

1. Якщо ви з острахом йдете на роботу, вам необхідно визначити причину стресу на робочому місці і внести необхідні зміни.

2. Втома пов’язана із стресом, якщо рівень вашої енергії поліпшується, коли ви покидаєте стресове середовище.

3. «Рятувальний човен» ─ це альтернативні шляхи заробляння грошей у разі втрати роботи.

4. Деякі роботодавці намагаються переконати своїх працівників у тому, що робота є важливішою, ніж особисте життя.