Does stress ever help an employee perform better?

Stress, in all its forms, can be lifechanging. In the workplace, multiple measures are taken by HR in attempts to eradicate, or least cut down, on factors which induce employee stress.

And for good reason. A recent report from workforce consulting firm, Life Meets Work found that stress from leaders causes ripples throughout their organisation – negatively impacting on everything from employee engagement to the bottom line.

"Companies often focus on fixing individual employees to help them be less stressed and therefore more engaged. Yet, our study found that employee engagement was better predicted by the leader's ability to manage stress than the employee's current stress level," explained Kenneth Matos, psychologist and Vice President of Research for Life Meets Work. "A leader's inability to manage stress ripples through the entire organization in a negative way."

But how far can we say all stress is negative stress?