Manage Employee Stress With Relaxing Microbreaks

If you’re an HR professional, then you probably know how it feels to watch an employee teeter on the brink of burnout. It’s a scary feeling—but you can help prevent it.

I know because putting that prevention in place is part of my job as the founder CEO of WellFests (a workday wellness program supplier). We have a lot of tools in our workplace wellbeing toolbox at WellFests, but one of the most impactful ones is the concept of microbreaks—a simple yet powerful technique to manage employee stress and prevent burnout. 

Let’s explore how these brief, intentional pauses can transform the workday for you and your team. 

The Problem: Stress in the Workday

As leaders, managers, and professionals we’re all too familiar with the stresses our teams face in their daily workflows. This stat says it all: over 80% of U.S. employees deal with work-related stress on a daily basis. If left unchecked, this stress leads to burnout, high turnover, and low morale. Luckily, you can help counterbalance this and manage employee stress with a simple, practical tool—microbreaks.

Why PTO is a Short-Term Solution

Before we dive into the meat and potatoes of microbreaks, let’s understand the scale of the problem. While paid time off (PTO) is great, it’s not always enough to keep stress at bay. In fact, more than half of employees work while they’re on vacation, and nearly 40% say that the stress of the workday returns the moment they log back into their inbox.

Additionally, the pressure to catch up on pending projects after returning from time off can be overwhelming. That’s where microbreaks come in—they help manage daily stress and prevent burnout before it begins.

What Are Microbreaks?

Microbreaks are short, intentional pauses during the workday, usually lasting between sixty seconds and 10–15 minutes. They’re meant to help you reset and recharge, shifting your focus away from work and back to yourself and the present moment. Just a 2–3 minute break can make a big impact on your efforts to manage employee stress.

Here are a few more benefits of microbreaks:

• Short mental breaks can help you stay focused over longer periods
• A ten-minute break can reduce fatigue, boost energy, and improve overall wellbeing
• Moving the body every thirty minutes can reduce muscle tightness and support physical health

By normalizing microbreaks throughout the workday, you’ll help your employees stay focused and self-aware while also creating a healthier, more resilient, more emotionally intelligent company culture.

Practical Tips for Introducing Microbreaks to Manage Employee Stress

Now that you understand the impact of workday stress and the benefits of microbreaks in reducing burnout, let’s explore how to encourage your team to take these essential breaks. Here are five practical strategies to start with.

1. Educate Your Team – Share the benefits of microbreaks and explain how these small pauses can reduce stress and improve focus.
2. Provide Easy Access – Make resources like guided breathing exercises, mindfulness apps, or stretching routines readily available. To make this simple, Wellfests teamed up with The FruitGuys to create Take a Breather On Demand. It’s a subscription service that lets teams access a video library of microbreaks anytime, anywhere. 
3. Lead by Example – As a leader, be the example for your team. Take your own breaks and share your experiences.
4. Build in Breaks Between Meetings – Encourage your team to leave a few minutes between meetings for a quick reset. This simple practice will give them time to take a microbreak and refresh before their next task.
5. Incorporate Mindfulness Into Meetings – Start or end your meetings with a brief mindfulness exercise, like a breathing session or a short stretch. Again, Take a Breather On Demand can be a great resource.

By making microbreaks a part of your company culture, you can communicate to your team that you care about their mental and physical health.

Try Microbreaks Today

Curious about what it’s like to take a microbreak? Check out the video below, where I walk you through an eight-minute break to help relieve the tension in your neck and shoulders. 

This guided microbreak is just one example of what a microbreak can look like. If you want to experiment with microbreaks across your team to manage employee stress, you can find more than 150 guided videos like it in the FruitGuys Take a Breather on Demand video library. 

By making these small breaks a regular part of your company culture, you’re not just boosting productivity—you’re showing your team that their wellbeing matters.