What Is Workplace Stress?
People experience stress in many parts of their lives. Although stress is an essential element of many activities at work and at home, stress becomes harmful when it reaches an intensity that begins to impair daily activities.
The focus of this brochure is harmful stress that arises from work situations, as opposed to stress that is generated by an employee’s personal life.
Harmful workplace stress has been associated with:
– Jobs that demand a lot from the employees while allowing them little control over how the job is performed,
– Work environments that are unsafe and/or uncomfortable, and
– Organizational practices that exclude employee participation or input.
Is Workplace Stress Costly?
While the number of compensated, work-related stress claims may have decreased as a result of the numerous reforms of the workers’ compensation insurance rules for injury causation, the costs of workplace stress remain high. Stress that arises from work activities is a contributor to such costly problems as low business productivity, occupational injuries and illnesses, absenteeism, poor employee morale, and high health care expenditures.
What Is the Competitive Impact of Workplace Stress?
In addition to the financial cost of workplace stress, employers should also be concerned about the adverse impact of workplace stress on a business’ ability to compete in the marketplace. Investing in workplace stress reduction can yield significant payoffs in business productivity and competitiveness.
What Can Be Done About Workplace Stress?
There are many ways to reduce the level of workplace stress. Implementing successful workplace stress-management measures depends on:
• Valuing your employees’ well-being while they are at work,
• Being flexible when tackling any workplace stress problem, and
• Creating and maintaining open lines of communication between you and your employees.
By fostering two-way conversations with y
our employees about stress issues, employers can encourage employees to suggest solutions to the problems they experience on the job. Your employees’ knowledge of the workplace should be considered in evaluating any suggested solution to workplace stress problems.
Just as workplace activities can produce stress in an employee’s life, personal factors can do the same, because an employee’s personal stress can magnify the effect of harmful workplace stress. It is difficult to say where one ends and the other begins. While this post offers employers a practical approach to identifying and reducing harmful workplace stress, it also recognizes that employees must take responsibility for reducing harmful stress that arises from their personal lives. This brochure also assists employers by focusing on the workplace factors they can control, an approach that can lead to a reduction in the influence of factors that employers cannot control.
Stress is a part of everyday life; we all experience it to one degree or another. When you look for workplace stress, do not be surprised if you find it. Remember, just because stressful conditions are present, this does not, by itself, mean that your workplace has a stress problem. What counts is the degree to which you and your employees perceive that jobs, conditions, and practices are hampering performance.
Do not try to eliminate all stress from workplace life. It cannot be done—in the workplace or anywhere else. Focus on only those job characteristics, conditions, and practices that appear to have a substantial impact on performance and can realistically be improved. A few “quick fixes” can make a big difference in performance. The best way to focus on the “real” stress problem in your workplace is to get feedback from your employees.
Situations that are stressful for everyone may be unavoidable (e.g., downsizing, layoffs, and plant closures). Even in these situations, respectful and considerate management of your employees
can help everyone get through the difficult time with a manageable level of stress.