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Is your work stressing you? Find out the better way to deal with
Stress in work place if not managed properly will definitely cause harm both to employer and employee. Job stress has become a common and costly problem in the American workplace, leaving few workers untouched. This article covers:
Will underpaid job results in stress?
Find out the most stressful jobs?
What are the causes of work place stress?
According to a study, 40% of the American employees feel that their job is very stressful. As the issue of job and related factors causing stress is a persistent one, workplace stress needs to be dealt in a proper way. Otherwise there are chances of stress becoming a chronic problem. Moreover stress at work impairs the job activities and also causes physical problems like head ache, back ache and later on heart problems. At the extreme chances of death is also there due stressful work. Japanese even have a term for it -karoushi. Work related stress results in decreased productivity, increased management problems and increased incidence of illnesses among employees. Stress related problems are the most common causes of sickness absenteeism all over the world. In one study it was found that 13 million work days are lost every year in UK due to stress and related problems. The other side of the problem involves the employers, who suffer production loss, get bad reputation and are prone to litigations
resulting in liabilities. The cost of stress related problems is to the tune of 700 million pounds per year to the employers according to a study conducted in UK and about 150 billion dollars according to a study conducted in US.
Work Related Stress
The common causes of work place stress are
The common causes of work place stress are
Unreasonable demands for performance
Lack of interpersonal communication between the employer and the employees
Lack of interpersonal relationship among the employees
The fear of losing one's job.
Long working hours
Less time to spend with the family
Under utilization of skills
Underpaid jobs
A promotion that did not materialize
In a survey conducted to find out the most stressful jobs the following were found to be in the top four professions which caused more stress.
Nursing
Teaching
Managers
Professionals
Unlike stress in general,
the work related stress affects men and women equally. Older employees are affected more than their younger counterparts. Stress at workplace could be due to
External cause like dangerous working condition or poor interpersonal relationship with the colleague.
Internal causes like physical or psychological illnesses
Acute cause
Long term cause
But in the long run the stress becomes chronic problem causing serious health problems.
Stress Management at Workplace
If an employer finds that his staff is under stress, he should not ignore it. He should take steps to help them. If he finds it difficult to provide a solution for it, he should get the help of another capable person. If the employee is suffering from non work related stress, even then it should be looked into as it may later lead on to work related stress. There is no single stress relief method. The stress management at workplace thus has to combine steps to eliminate the source of stress and
provide relief for the short and long term effects by utilizing popular stress relievers. Also identify the best candidate for work by assessing his emotional intelligence and not just his qualification.
Continue to: Steps to Relieve Stress at Workplace