How to Deal With Anxiety at Work: Tips & Resources

You don’t need to suffer in silence if you’re dealing with workplace anxiety. Whether you have Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) or your anxiety is tied to specific issues at work, there are things you can do about it.

This article is not a substitute for professional therapy. It’s meant to help you spot where your anxiety is coming from, take practical steps to deal with it, and know what options — including workplace accommodations — are available to you. A resource section at the end covers causes, triggers, and treatment in more depth.

Key Points and Facts About Workplace Anxiety

Workplace anxiety and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) are different. Work-only anxiety is tied to specific people or situations. GAD is constant and can affect every part of your life, not just work.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 19.1% of U.S. adults experience an anxiety disorder in a given year, and 31.1% will experience one at some point in their lives (based on national survey data).
Common triggers include public speaking, dealing with authority figures, taking on new tasks, and feeling pressure to be perfect.
Anxiety tied to a boss or coworker usually has an identifiable trigger. You can often work through it with observation and direct communication.
Anxiety over a task or skill gap tends to ease once you build the knowledge or bring in help.
If your anxiety substantially limits your ability to work, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) may require your employer to offer reasonable accommodations.

The Difference Between Workplace Anxiety and GAD

It’s important to identify whether you’re experiencing anxiety from work only, or whether it shows up in other areas of your life too.

Typical examples of situations that can lead to anxiety include:

Having trouble paying bills
Finding a job
Starting a new job
Giving a presentation
Going through a performance review
Starting a big project
Attending a social gathering
Meeting new people

More severe reactions, like an anxiety disorder, produce a different experience:

Constant and uncontrollable worry that interferes with your daily routine
Random panic attacks
Recurring nightmares

If all of your anxiety is work-related, keep reading. If it isn’t, it may be worth talking to a doctor about GAD specifically.

Next, figure out whether your anxiety comes from people, or from a certain project or task.

Anxiety Caused by a Work Colleague or Your Boss

When you’re dealing with anxiety around people, figure out whether it’s one specific person, a small group, or everyone you work with who triggers it.

It’s natural to feel nervous before an important meeting, a presentation, or meeting new people. But if you feel anxious around people all the time, there may be an underlying issue, and it’s worth seeking counseling to find a solution.

When you’re anxious around one person specifically, it’s usually easier to find the problem and work out a solution. This lines up with how workplace accommodation requests actually happen: in a 2026 AbsenceSoft survey, 36% of employees said they went directly to their manager to request an accommodation, and managers were the primary point of contact for another 35%. Going to your boss, or to HR, is a normal and effective first step.

Let’s go over a few things that may help.

You Are Anxious Around One Person in Particular

Are you the only one who is anxious around this person, or does everyone feel that way?

Everyone Is Anxious Around the Boss

If the situation is the same for everyone, the person may simply be intimidating to work with. If you have to work closely with them, study their behavior to find out what sets them off. For example:

The boss becomes rude when asking for yesterday’s production numbers and gets a vague answer.
The boss reacts when an employee looks idle rather than busy.
The boss is tense right after coming under scrutiny from their own boss.
The boss reacts to loud talking or chit-chat in the office.
The boss is on edge when running late for a meeting.

Your goal is to identify the triggers and avoid contributing to them. Give the boss what they need, and the tension usually starts to ease.

If you’re providing information, make sure it’s accurate and delivered a couple of minutes ahead of schedule. If your boss is under a lot of pressure, look for ways you can help.

Genuine kindness is rarely met with anger. Even if it isn’t returned right away, it can slowly change the working relationship.

You’re the Only One Anxious Around the Boss

Before assuming this is the case, confirm that you’re actually being treated differently. Could you be in a higher-responsibility role, where your boss expects more and holds you to a higher standard? If so, that may explain the difference. If not, read on.

Let’s look at what to do if it really is just you.

Say your boss is fine with everyone except you. You know it’s a “you problem,” and you need to find out why. Did you do something specific? Are you doing something now?

You need concrete information, and the way to get it is to ask. But don’t walk up and say, “Why are you treating me this way?” Instead, wait until you have specific examples.

For instance: your boss needed a report in a hurry, you rushed to get it to him, and he set it aside without looking at it. Or you gave a suggestion in a meeting that others welcomed, but your boss shot it down. Use those specifics when you ask your boss what’s bothering them about your work.

Feeling Anxious Around Coworkers You Don’t Report To

You may feel anxious around coworkers you don’t report to, whether you work with them directly or indirectly. Either way, figure out what’s driving the feeling.

Are you being bullied, or is this something closer to abuse? Bullying and abuse at work is unacceptable, and in those cases, speak with your boss or HR.

Build a clear case with specifics and solid evidence of what’s happening. Then take HR’s advice and see if the situation improves.

Handling bullying and abuse complaints is exactly what an HR department is for. You may feel like you should handle it yourself, but that risks your job for no good reason. File a formal complaint, protect your position, and let HR do its job.

Dealing With Anxiety Over a Certain Task

You may also feel anxious before work because of a specific project or responsibility you’ve been given.

Here’s an example. I was thrown into a role I wasn’t qualified for, covering for someone who quit without notice. I knew some of the responsibilities but not all of them, and I knew I wasn’t fully qualified. The role normally took about two months to learn, but I was only covering for three weeks. Learning the whole process wasn’t worth the time, but the coverage still had to happen.

So I brought in two people from the department who had experience in the areas where I didn’t. I handled the management side, where I was confident. If I’d tried to do it all myself, I’m sure I would have failed, and spent three stressful weeks doing it.

The lesson: when you’re anxious about a task, the best fix is to understand the material and get good at it. If that’s not possible in the time you have, find people with the knowledge and bring them in.

When I was younger, I was shy and avoided talking to people when I could. Now I run meetings regularly and speak up when I disagree with something. Knowing my subject well gave me the confidence, and that same anxiety turned into something closer to excitement.

The pattern holds for most work situations: if you’re responsible for something you don’t know well, you can either live with the anxiety or put in the work to learn it. Once you do, the anxiety tends to shrink.

Another way to work through it is to run through the worst case. Think about your specific situation. What’s the actual worst outcome — getting fired, feeling embarrassed, getting a reputation for not knowing your stuff? For more on this approach, see how to predict an outcome.

Look at the realistic consequences and decide what you can live with. If you can’t live with them, that tells you what you need to do to relieve the anxiety — usually the same fix as above: learn the task and get good at it.

Anxiety Because of the Job Itself

Sometimes the anxiety isn’t about a task or a person. It’s about the job itself. It may be a bad fit, and you feel trapped, like there’s no way out.

That feeling can actually be a signal. Change is hard, and a job search takes effort, but if you’re in the wrong line of work, moving toward something you’re passionate about can change your day-to-day and your outlook.

The first step is research: find out what it actually takes to move into the work you want, then build a plan. This isn’t a walk-into-the-office-and-quit situation. It takes preparation — night classes, online courses, or a few months of groundwork before you see traction. It’s worth it in the end.

Deciding to move on can lower the anxiety you feel right now, because you know it’s temporary and you’re already working toward something else.

Know Your Options: Workplace Accommodations

If your anxiety substantially limits your ability to work, the ADA may require your employer to provide reasonable accommodations. This is worth knowing even if you never need to use it.

Common accommodations include:

A flexible schedule or the option to work remotely
A quieter workspace, or changes like fewer interruptions or better control over noise and lighting
Switching communication channels — for example, chat instead of phone calls — for tasks that trigger anxiety
Time to step away and decompress during the workday
Being excused from non-essential high-stress tasks or meetings

Start by talking to HR or checking your employee handbook. You generally don’t have to disclose a diagnosis unless you’re formally requesting an accommodation.

Resources

The sections below go deeper into workplace anxiety and point you to trusted sources on the subject. Bookmark this page if you want to come back to it.

The Definition of Workplace Anxiety

Workplace anxiety is stress at work that becomes constant and turns into anxiety. It can come from how you interact with the people you work with, or from the job itself. For more, see Verywell Mind’s An Overview of Work Anxiety.

What Causes Workplace Anxiety?

The cause depends on the person. Some people are triggered by one specific situation, while others react to something completely different.

It works something like how people take offense. One coworker might joke about not knowing what he’s doing, even though he’s skilled, and laugh it off. Another coworker might take real offense at the same joke. For more, see WebMD’s Workplace Anxiety: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment.

Workplace Anxiety Triggers

Triggers work differently from person to person. Common ones include:

Public speaking
Interacting with authority figures
Taking on new challenges
The need to be perfect
Facing a task you don’t know how to do
Meeting new people

For more, see Healthline’s 11 Anxiety Triggers and How to Identify and Manage Them.

Workplace Anxiety Symptoms

Common symptoms of workplace anxiety include:

Fear of going to work
Avoiding friends and family
Excessive worrying
Crying
Feeling irritable
Feeling tired
Constant tension
A persistent need to be perfect
Insomnia
Trouble concentrating
Trouble remembering things
Losing interest in things you normally enjoy
Overeating or eating too little

How Anxiety Works in the Brain

Anxiety can interfere with how your brain processes fear and stress.

Two areas are involved: the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex. Under normal conditions, the prefrontal cortex regulates the amygdala’s response to danger, which is how a threat turns into a calm, workable response. Anxiety disrupts that connection.

With anxiety, the fear signal isn’t regulated the way it normally would be, so the fear builds instead of resolving. For more, see StoneRidge Centers & Pronghorn Psychiatry’s How Does Anxiety Affect the Brain? 4 Major Effects of Anxiety.

How Anxiety Medications Help

Antidepressants (including SSRIs) and antihistamines such as hydroxyzine are commonly used to treat anxiety disorders.

Benzodiazepines — including clonazepam (Klonopin), chlordiazepoxide (Librium), diazepam (Valium), and lorazepam (Ativan) — are typically used short-term, including for panic attacks.

Talk to your doctor before starting any medication to determine whether it’s the right treatment for you. For more, see WebMD’s Understanding Generalized Anxiety Disorder — Diagnosis and Treatment.

How Anxiety Affects Work Performance

Anxiety can make ordinary tasks feel much harder. It can leave you feeling disengaged, unfocused, and irritable, and it can bring on an intense fear of failure that makes any task tougher to finish. For more, see Parkdale Center — How Anxiety Affects Work Performance

Anxiety Before Work Every Day

Preparation is one of the best tools for reducing anxiety before the workday starts. When you know what to expect, you’re ready for it. Even people without regular anxiety can feel anxious before a big day if they’re running late and unprepared. For more, see Yahoo Finance’s Why We Get Anxiety Before Work and How to Handle It, by Lydia Smith.

Exercise and Anxiety

Exercise is another effective way to reduce anxiety. Swimming, biking, running, brisk walking, tennis, dancing, volleyball, and basketball can all help. For more, see Everyday Health’s How Exercise Eases Anxiety, by Diana Rodriguez.

Action Steps for Workplace AnxietyIdentify the Source

Figure out whether the anxiety is tied to a person, a task, or the job itself.
Note whether it happens with one person specifically or with everyone.

Address a Boss or Coworker

Watch for the specific situations that trigger the other person’s reaction.
Avoid contributing to those triggers, and give accurate information ahead of schedule.
Bring bullying or abuse concerns to HR with specific, documented examples.

Address a Task or Skill Gap

Learn the material or process well enough to do it with confidence.
Bring in a coworker with the right experience if you don’t have time to learn everything yourself.

Address the Job Itself

Research what a move to different work would actually require.
Plan the transition in stages rather than quitting on the spot.

Use Available Accommodations

Ask HR about a flexible schedule, remote work, or a quieter workspace.
Ask about switching communication channels for tasks that raise your anxiety.

Checklist for Workplace Anxiety

Pinpoint the trigger.
- Is it a person, a task, or the job itself?
- Note specific incidents and patterns.
Rule out GAD.
- Check whether the anxiety shows up outside of work too.
- Talk to a doctor if it does.
Take direct action.
- Use the steps above to address the specific trigger.
- Document conversations with your boss or HR.
Ask about accommodations.
- Contact HR or check your employee handbook.
- Request specific, workable changes rather than a general complaint.
Get professional support if needed.
- Consult a doctor or therapist.
- Ask about therapy, medication, or both.

FAQ: Workplace Anxiety

What’s the difference between workplace anxiety and GAD?

Workplace anxiety is tied to specific people, tasks, or situations at work. GAD is constant worry that isn’t limited to work and can affect most areas of daily life.

Can my employer accommodate my anxiety?

If your anxiety substantially limits your ability to work, the ADA may require your employer to provide reasonable accommodations, such as a flexible schedule, remote work, or a quieter workspace.

What medications are used to treat anxiety?

Common options include antidepressants (such as SSRIs), the antihistamine hydroxyzine, and short-term use of benzodiazepines like diazepam or lorazepam. A doctor should help determine the right option.

How does anxiety affect work performance?

It can leave you disengaged, unfocused, and irritable, and it can create an intense fear of failure that makes ordinary tasks harder to finish.

When should I see a doctor about my anxiety?

If the anxiety shows up outside of work, interferes with daily routines, or includes panic attacks or recurring nightmares, it’s worth talking to a doctor.

Conclusion

Anxiety at work shows up at different levels. Some of it you can work through on your own with the steps above. Some of it is worth bringing to a doctor or therapist.

Get clear on your specific symptoms and triggers first. That’s what points you to the right solution.

References: