April is stress awareness month! It should come as no surprise that the workplace is one of the leading causes of stress in a person’s life. The modern office environment is fast-paced, high-pressured, and increasingly impactful on our everyday lives. In this blog, we’ll examine the causes, consequences, and solutions to workplace stress. 

According to the Occupation Health and Safety Administration (OSHA): “More than 80% of US workers have reported experiencing workplace stress, and more than 50% believe their stress related to work impacts their life at home.” So what causes workplace stress?

Causes

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “The most stressful type of work is that which values excessive demands and pressures that are not matched to workers’ knowledge and abilities, where there is little opportunity to exercise any choice or control, and where there is little support from others.

Poor work organization
Work organization refers to the structure of a job. These are the organizational systems that, when properly managed, will maximize productivity and efficiency. 

Poor work design
Work design involves the careful consideration of various factors including the nature of the tasks, skills of employees, and overall goals of the organization. Good work design maximizes productivity and efficiency while considering the needs of individual employees. 

Poor work conditions
Work conditions are your job environment. Poor work conditions introduce workers to negative health and safety.

Poor management
Poor management refers to inadequate leadership. When workers lack care and support from superiors, stress occurs. 

Poor work-life balance
A lack of separation between work and external life strips the worker from their autonomy and restricts their ability to reduce stress outside of the job.

Job insecurity
A worker who lacks job security will experience stress.

Consequences

Decreased productivity
Stressed workers will underperform in the workplace. This lowers employee morale and company productivity.

Increased workplace accidents
Workers preoccupied with stressors are more prone to accidents due to their reduced awareness, impaired cognitive functioning, and increased fatigue. 

Health problems
Long-term stress threatens the physical and mental health of workers. Physically, stress can heighten the risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, headaches, bad sleep, and pain. Mentally, stress can bring on or worsen depression, anxiety, substance abuse, fatigue, anger, and lack of motivation. 

Increased absenteeism
Stressed workers miss more days of work as exposure to long-term stress negatively impacts workers’ physical and mental health.

High turnover rates
As workers experience stress and any of the consequences above, they are more likely to leave a job.

Mitigation

Communication
Talk to supervisors or human resources about workplace stress. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, reach out to a coworker or boss to discuss concerns. Effective communication lessens the burdens on individual workers. 

Boundaries
Establish boundaries to enforce a sufficient work-life balance. Practice self-care and participate in stress-reduction activities outside of work.

Support
Ask for help! Work supervisors and human resources should be your first line of defense. If your concerns are ignored or result in a workplace accident and injury, contact the Poirier Law Firm. With over 20 years of workers’ compensation experience, Julie Poirier is here to fight for you, the worker. We prioritize workers’ rights and demand workplaces do the same.