Stress is not a disease, but prolonged exposure to intensive work-related pressure can reduce effectiveness at work, and affect people’s physical and psychological health. Research has shown that the work environment is a major – and in many cases the primary – source of chronic stress in the lives of individuals.
In most countries, employers have a legal obligation to protect the occupational health and safety of employees, including the risks caused by work-related stress. Stress can potentially affect any workplace and any employee, but not all employees are necessarily affected, while individuals react differently to different situations.
However, it is not senior management that is worst affected by stress, as one would expect.
Stressors in the workplace:
Chronic stress produced in the workplace is strongly associated with numerous health conditions, which includes the risks of cardiovascular disease, depression, and anxiety.
Studies into the relationships between work, stress, and health, have indicated that, while stress are experienced at all levels in an organization, employees in the lower positions experience higher levels of chronic stress. Men in the lowest employment grades were, for example, more likely to have many of the risk factors for coronary heart disease, such as high blood pressure, a propensity to smoke, a lower height-to-weight ratio and less leisure time. These men showed a mortality rate three times higher than those at the highest levels.
Several factors contribute to the high levels of chronic stress at lower levels in the workplace:
- One of the major stressors results from the reality that the lower the grade of employment, the less the degree of control over work. Job control refers to the level of discretion that employees have over their own work.
- At lower levels, individuals usually have little or no authority over decisions affecting their work.
- High levels of stress are caused by a combination of lack of control over work and high demands of output – and this imbalance, known as job strain, is one of the leading causes of ill-health and absenteeism in the workplace.
- A lack of support, unclear information being conveyed, and inconsistent behaviour from supervisors were associated with poor mental health.
- An imbalance in the amount of effort being put into work and the perceived rewards is likely to be a source of stress. Rewards can consist of esteem and recognition, career opportunities (including job security and promotion prospects), and financial remuneration.
- Job insecurity and financial insecurity are also major stressors, with an adverse effect on health, including mental health.
- A perceived lack of fairness, as well as injustice in the workplace, are associated with increased levels of psychological distress and impaired health, with a significantly higher risk of absenteeism due to illness.
- Long working hours and shift work also take their toll.
- Inadequate social networking and lack of social support lead to feelings of social isolation at work, resulting in increased health risks – and more so in the case of female employees. Studies indicated that good levels of social support at work had a protective effect on mental health, with a reduced risk of absence due to sickness.
Strategies to reduce work-related stress, ill health, and absenteeism:
A complete picture of the prevalence of stressors in the work environment would include assessment of management policies and practices, the workplace environment, and employee health/absenteeism.
Following on extensive research into the effects of chronic stress, also in the workplace, Richard Sutton formulated a number of relevant strategies to increase employee engagement, reduce illness rates, and improve productivity, as outlined in his book “The Stress Code”.
- Involving employees at all levels of the corporate structure in decision making would promote perceptions of having more control and authority over their own work.
- Supervisors should strive to provide clear instructions and act consistently.
- Company policies should ensure that fairness and justice are practiced in the workplace.
- A focus on social support networks, increase levels of support from supervisors and managers, and mutual encouragement, should negate feelings of alienation and isolation in the workplace.
- Organizational practices should promote an environment where there is balance between effort expended by employees and their reward structure. Increasing rewards (praise, recognition, financial) for positive behaviour is usually more effective than reducing demands. (“Hard work never killed anyone.”) Practices in this regard should encourage individual development, as well as consciously increasing praise and appreciation when warranted.
Being mindful of signs that indicate problems of work-related stress and addressing these issues, can lead to greater efficiency in the workplace, as well as improved employee health and reduced absenteeism.
Sources:
The Stress Code. From surviving to thriving. Book by Richard Sutton. Published 2018, Pan Macmillan South Africa. P 318.
Workplace stressors & health outcomes: health policy for the workplace. Published Spring 2015. Behavioral Science & Policy Association. (www.behavioralpolicy.com)
Employment grade and coronary heart disease in British civil servants. Published December 1978 in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. 1978, 32. (www.jech.bmj.com)
Changes in health inequalities among British civil servants: The Whitehall 2 Studies. Published December 2002 in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. Volume 56, Issue 12. (www.jech.bmj.com)
The European Framework Agreement on Work-related Stress. 2004. The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. (www.asha.europa.eu). (In 2004, the European Trade Union Confederation, the Union of Industrial and Employers’ Confederations of Europe, the European Association of Craft Small and Medium-sized Enterprises as well as the European Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation and of Enterprises of General Economic Interest signed a framework agreement on work-related stress. The aim is to increase the awareness and the understanding of work-related stress, while employers and workers are provided with a framework to identify and prevent problems of work-related stress.)
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