Workplace stress is a widespread challenge, with more than 80% of U.S. workers reporting they experience stress on the job. April is National Stress Awareness Month, so it’s the perfect time to plan some fun stress-busting activities—and we’ve got some great ideas for you. We also share suggestions for how to leverage the stress management resources you already have, and take a look at elements of workplace culture that have a significant impact on employee stress levels.
How to celebrate Stress Awareness Month in the workplace.
Let’s face it. Life is stressful. And while small perks or events won’t “cure” stress at work, they do tend to boost morale and make people happier. Here are a few ideas for what to do for Stress Awareness Month:
Support healthy eating.
When people eat better, they feel better. Offer a healthy meal service discount or a small gift card to a health food store. Better yet, host a healthy lunch on the house and pair it with a seminar on stress management.
Offer time for exercise.
Working out or even just taking a walk during the workday can improve mood and help employees relax. During Stress Awareness Month encourage employees to carve out a block of time each day for movement. If you have an onsite fitness center, you could offer free 15-minute personal training sessions with a health coach.
Look to nature.
Spending time in nature reduces stress, so why not bring nature into the work environment? A plant for a desk or home office, a soothing desktop water fountain, or even a small lightbox that replicates natural daylight are all great ideas that can help ease stress and improve mood. Encourage managers to take meetings with their team members outside. Walk-and-talks are a great opportunity to take a break and get some fresh air during the workday.
Give away gratitude journals.
Psychologists have documented the positive emotional and physical health effects of practicing gratitude. Give everyone a small notebook to record the things they’re grateful for. At the end of the month, you could create a gratitude wall—in-person or virtual—that allows participants to share entries if they want to.
Surprise employees with a company-wide paid day off.
Employees are asking for a break. In fact, in an AbsenceSoft 2024 Leave and Workplace Accommodations Report, employee leave requests have risen for the second year in a row, with mental health challenges being the main reason employees gave for requesting leave. If your organization and industry allow, try offering employees a surprise company-wide day off to focus on their mental health. Encourage people to stay away from work and resist the urge to check emails during the break.
Send out self-care kits.
Gifting employees with a self-care kit can help them manage their stress—all while sending the signal that you care about their well-being and encourage them to take the time to manage their health. Whether mailed to homes or desk-dropped, employees will appreciate a gift of self-care like candles, essential oils and diffusers, stress balls, healthy snacks, loose leaf tea, a gift card to a bookstore, a journal, chocolates—get creative!
Provide meditation tutorials.
Meditation can be a daunting thing to start on your own, so offer employees a discounted subscription to a meditation app. If space allows, transform a vacant office into a meditation space for employees to use throughout the day. If you have a dispersed workforce, consider sending calendar invites for a company-wide meditation session.
Host an onsite yoga class.
Yoga can help relax both the mind and the body. Entice employees to take a yoga class at work or virtually by raffling off a yoga mat and accessories. If you can, host the class outside to get a double boost for mental health.
How to help employees manage stress all year long.
Once National Stress Awareness Month is over, take a look at the programs and resources you offer to help with reducing stress in the workplace year-round. Chances are, you already have many of the building blocks in place. You may just need to promote these resources more and make it easy for employees to access them.
Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
EAPs offer a great deal of help for stress, yet they’re among the most underutilized benefits employers provide. In addition to connecting employees with mental health professionals, EAPs can help employees with the things that cause stress in life—like marriage and relationship concerns, lack of sleep, finances, legal issues, trauma and loss, and life transitions.
Stress management and resilience training.
These programs help people learn strategies to manage emotions, react to stressful situations and adapt to change. They also teach resilience, which is critical to our ability to deal with adversity and recover quickly after a challenge. Check out our webinar and discover tools that will empower your employees to become more resilient.
Mental health benefits.
Whether you provide mental health support through the EAP, text/chat apps, or even onsite mental health counselors, make sure employees know exactly what’s available. For example, many employees have no idea that most EAPs offer a generous number of free, confidential visits with a counselor. Employees also need to know that they don’t need to be experiencing a full-blown crisis to use these services—they’re available for the daily stressors of life, too.
Paid time off and leaves.
A survey finds 25% of U.S. workers took no vacation days in 2025. Encourage employees to take advantage of vacation and leave benefits to recharge and refresh. Develop a plan to temporarily restructure responsibilities so they don’t return to a mountain of work. Company-wide three-day weekends, mandated week-long shutdowns, holiday closings and time off to volunteer are also good policies to implement to reduce workplace stress and burnout.
How to establish a supportive workplace culture.
When asked about what’s causing so much stress at work, employees cite unrealistic expectations, lack of transparency and communication, and lack of support and recognition as the major causes. In addition, stressors in people’s personal lives understandably tend to spill over into the workplace.
So, while stress management programs and meditation apps are helpful components of a well-rounded approach to reducing employee stress in the workplace, they often treat the symptoms, not the cause.
What has a more lasting effect on stress is taking a critical look at workplace culture and the subtle signals around work expectations. Employers also need to assess whether they provide enough support for certain aspects of employees’ lives outside of work that contribute to stress.
Here are a few things to consider in your organization:
Flexibility.
Employees want the freedom to structure their work schedule to reduce stress in their life. This might mean a compressed workweek or alternate work hours. Work location is also key—many employees still want to work remotely, even if it’s a couple of days a week.
Permission to set boundaries.
Setting boundaries for our mental health is so important. This means hours when we don’t respond to email, a set time for logging off, and maybe even a block of time during the workday when we engage in self-care, like a walk or meditation. Most importantly, leaders and managers need to model these behaviors, which effectively “grants” employees permission to do the same.
Recognition.
If you don’t have an employee recognition program, it may be time to start one. Research shows publicly recognizing the hard work and contributions of team members decreases stress and increases feelings of connection and belonging. There are many ways to recognize employees—from formal recognition platforms to simple handwritten notes. The important thing is to make it a regular part of the culture.
Support for caregiving.
Child and elder care are huge sources of stress for employees, so let them know the EAP helps to locate providers. Also, explore solutions that bring care to the office—like onsite daycare—or add benefits like childcare allowances or backup childcare. Allow flexibility and time off to care for and attend doctor appointments with older family members. If you’re interested in additional ideas, check out our blog post on how employers can support employees who are caregivers.
Financial wellness support.
Financial stress at work is real. Almost two-thirds of respondents to a recent survey said money is a significant source of stress. Employees also say they want their workplace to provide more resources to help them with their financial wellness. Employers can alleviate some of this stress by offering financial wellness in the workplace services like repayment programs for student loan debt, financial education to help with managing debt and creating a budget, savings programs and financial counseling.
Building a culture that reduces stress and empowers your people.
There are lots of different strategies for reducing stress in the workplace. Our best advice is to offer a robust array of benefits and programs that can help employees manage stress in the moment, but more importantly, to strive toward a workplace culture that seeks to reduce stress at its source.
At WebMD Health Services, we’re committed to partnering with you to design personalized, culture-fit solutions that help your employees manage stress. Discover how our tailored well-being programs and solutions can help you create a thriving, more resilient workforce. Request a personalized demo today, and let’s start building a healthier workplace together.
