Greg's been finding life difficult. He's been honest about his past and is working hard to build a new life. But at every turn, there seems to be a new challenge. The latest was having to wait until two days before the final sign off to hear his interview results. He used a tried and tested method to handle the stress. He let his emotions out. He became angry. And he's not alone. Thousands of people do the same thing every day.

Workplace anger is increasing
21st century life is demanding. So much to do and so little time to do it. Continuous change, heavy workloads and lack of job security add to the strains of everyday life. So it's not surprising that workplace anger is on the increase.

Researchers say that the most common cause of workplace anger is feeling let down by the people you work with. People who:

• are dishonest
• are poor timekeepers
• are not pulling their weight
• are rude, arrogant or insulting.

How can you tell when people are angry?
It sounds like a silly question but not everyone screams, shouts or gets violent. Other common signs to watch out for are:

• poor timekeeping – arriving late, taking long breaks, leaving early
• heavy sighing – everything is difficult or a chore
• lots of sarcastic, flippant or negative comments about particular people or incidents
• strong reactions to things that others see as trivial
• refusal to speak or work with someone
• saying one thing and doing another
• unpredictable, inappropriate or shocking behaviour

Most of us do one or more of these things at some time. They point to anger when they come together and last for more than a couple of days.

Effects of workplace anger
Anger is a powerful and debilitating emotion. Angry people are unhappy people. They're stressed. They're disgruntled. They make less effort at work. They don't care about other people. They ignore the rules and do their own thing. They get more and more wound up.

Anger doesn't relieve stress. It makes it worse. And workplace anger can spill into people's private lives. They become depressed and disillusioned. Their blood pressure goes up. It's a vicious cycle.

As Hannah said about Greg, "everyone suffers". Communication falters. Teamwork falls apart. Productivity drops. Standards drop. Stress levels go up. People look for new jobs.

Tackling workplace anger
Everyone has bad days. Days when they're on a short fuse. Days when they're easily annoyed and lose it for a couple of minutes. If it goes on for longer, there's a problem. And anger rarely disappears by itself. It needs a helping hand.

So what can you do if you need a helping hand or want to offer someone else one? Workplace advisers say that it's important to:

• avoid keeping things bottled up – it helps if people can admit to feeling angry and talk about it before things go too far
• think about lifestyle – some things, like heavy drinking, fuel anger. Others, like exercise and being creative, can help to calm things down
• get clued up – find out more about stress, how to cope with it and where to get help.