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Work Stress - What Work Stress?
by Paul O'Shea

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. We've all heard this aphorism and with the current work environment there are some that question if they are getting stronger. All of us experience stress; it's in all facets of life. Jobs are stressful when we are overworked or fear job loss. Students find school stressful when they have too much studying and too little time. Family life is stressful when family members argue or don't contribute to the unit. It's all around us and it can make us feel irritable, give us stomach aches, or make it difficult to sleep. Let's face it, stress can cause physical, emotional and mental reactions, but how we respond to it can determine the gravity of its effects.

Job stress can be defined as the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources, or needs of the worker. Job stress can lead to poor health and even injury.

The concept of job stress is often confused with challenge, but these concepts are not the same. Challenge energizes us psychologically and physically, and it motivates us to learn new skills and master our jobs. When a challenge is met, we feel relaxed and satisfied. Thus, challenge is an important ingredient for healthy and productive work. The importance of challenge in our work lives is probably what people are referring to when they say, "a little bit of stress is good for you."

Physically, when our body experiences stress, it prepares to fight, prevent harm and heal injury. Responding to a signal from the brain to the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland is activated to release a hormone (if you really want to know it's AdrenoCorticoTropin Hormone or ACTH) that in turn releases two types of chemicals causing the body to be more alert or awake. This chain of events increases heart rate and makes us feel more energetic. The human body always tends toward homeostasis, automatically introducing other chemicals to calm it down - so we don't injure ourselves. But what happens when we experience too much stress? That's when you experience physical manifestations and possibly days away from the job.

A list of some interesting statistics from the American Institute of Stress says:

Approximately one million employees in the United States are absent daily due to stress and stress-related conditions.

Seventy-eight percent of Americans say their jobs are stressful. The vast majority of these people have said the stress has gotten worse over the past ten years.

Worker's compensation claims for job stress -- rare just two decades ago -- have skyrocketed. California alone shells out one billion dollars annually on medical/legal fees due to job stress. Nine out of ten suits are successful, paying out more than four times that for regular injury claims.

One of the major sources of stress in a person's life can be his or her job. Deadlines, problems with coworkers, boss trouble, and long hours can all contribute to feelings of being overwhelmed and helpless.

And from National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) studies from the following companies state:

One-fourth of employees view their jobs as the number one stressor in their lives. Northwestern National Life

Three-fourths of employees believe the worker has more on-the-job stress than a generation ago. Princeton Survey Research Associates

Problems at work are more strongly associated with health complaints than are any other life stressor-more so than even financial problems or family problems. St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance

Job Stress and Health
Some employers assume stressful working conditions are a necessary evil because companies must turn up the pressure on workers and set aside health concerns to remain productive and profitable in today's economy. But research findings challenge this belief. Studies show that stressful working conditions are actually associated with increased absenteeism, tardiness, and intentions by workers to quit their jobs- all of which has a negative effect on the bottom line.

Recent studies of so-called healthy organizations suggest that policies benefiting worker health also benefit the bottom line. A healthy organization is defined as one that has low rates of illness, injury, and disability in its workforce while remaining competitive in the marketplace. NIOSH research has identified organizational characteristics associated with both healthy, low-stress work and high levels of productivity.

Examples of these characteristics include the following:

Recognition of employees for good work performance
Opportunities for career development
An organizational culture that values the individual worker
Management actions that are consistent with organizational values

On the basis of experience and research, NIOSH favors the view that working conditions play a primary role in causing job stress. However, the role of individual factors is not ignored. According to the NIOSH view, exposure to stressful working conditions, called job stressors, can have a direct influence on worker safety and health. But, individual and other situational factors can intervene to strengthen or weaken this influence.

Short-lived or infrequent episodes of stress pose little risk. But when stressful situations go unresolved, the body is kept in a constant state of activation, which increases the rate of wear and tear to biological systems. Ultimately, fatigue or damage results, and the ability of the body to repair and defend itself can become seriously compromised. As a result, the risk of injury or disease escalates.

In the past 20 years, many studies have looked at the relationship between job stress and a variety of ailments. Mood and sleep disturbances, upset stomach, headache, and disturbed relationships with family and friends are examples of stress-related problems that are quick to develop and commonly seen in these studies. These early signs of job stress are usually easy to recognize. But the effects of job stress on chronic diseases are more difficult to see because chronic diseases take a long time to develop and can be influenced by many factors other than stress. Nonetheless, evidence is rapidly accumulating to suggest that stress plays an important role in several types of chronic health problems-especially cardiovascular disease, musculoskeletal disorders, and psychological disorders.

Stress can weaken our cardiovascular system in two ways--by increasing heart rate and by increasing blood pressure. In more extreme cases and especially for people with cardiovascular disease, increased beating can cause damage to the heart. Many people experience a small change in blood pressure during stressful times. When this happens to a greater extreme, it can be very dangerous. Often, people who have extreme changes in blood pressure due to stress have other physical problems that aggravate their blood pressure as well.

Stress weakens the immune system. Many stressors have been found to decrease the amount of cells in the blood that fight infection. When our immunities are weakened, we are more susceptible to illnesses like the common cold, flu, and perhaps even more serious illnesses.

Stress Prevention and Job Performance
Nearly one-half of large companies in the United States provide some type of stress management training for their workforces. Stress management programs teach workers about the nature and sources of stress, the effects of stress on health, and personal skills to reduce stress, for example, time management or relaxation exercises. Stress management training may rapidly reduce stress symptoms such as anxiety and sleep disturbances. It also has the advantage of being inexpensive and easy to implement. However, stress management programs have two major disadvantages:

The beneficial effects on stress symptoms are often short-lived.

They often ignore important root causes of stress because they focus on the worker and not the environment.

Trying to reduce job stress by bringing in a consultant to recommend ways to improve working conditions is the most direct way to reduce stress at work. It involves the identification of stressful aspects of work and the design of strategies to reduce or eliminate the identified stressors. The advantage of this approach is that it deals directly with the root causes of stress at work. However, managers are sometimes uncomfortable with this approach because it can involve changes in work routines or production schedules, or changes in the organizational structure.

But even the most conscientious efforts to improve working conditions are unlikely to eliminate stress completely for all workers. For this reason, a combination of organizational change and stress management is often the most useful approach for preventing stress at work.

Once the sources of stress at work have been identified and the scope of the problem is understood, the stage is set for design and implementation of an intervention strategy.

In small organizations, the informal discussions that helped identify stress problems may also produce fruitful ideas for prevention. In large organizations, a more formal process may be needed. Frequently, a team is asked to develop recommendations based on analysis of data and consultation with outside experts.

Certain problems, such as a hostile work environment, may be pervasive in the organization and require company-wide interventions. Other problems such as excessive workload may exist only in some departments and thus require more narrow solutions such as redesign of the way a job is performed. Still other problems may be specific to certain employees and resistant to any kind of organizational change, calling instead for stress management or employee assistance interventions. Some interventions might be implemented rapidly (such as improved communication, stress management training), but others may require additional time to put into place (for example, the redesign of a manufacturing process).

Coping with Stress
Engineers are typically a logical, problem-solving group so this idea will make perfect sense - make a list of what interferes with the completion of assignments and what causes stress at your job. After completing this list, find ways to deal with these obstacles (you didn't think there was a simple answer did you?). Getting in touch with the specific things that stress you out can be half the battle.

Time management can also help relieve stress. That means organizing tasks by their importance and difficulty. Try to tackle the most difficult tasks first. You can also break assignments down into parts. A huge project can be daunting, but a project broken down into smaller sections can seem easier to handle. Taking breaks between these parts can make you more relaxed and productive. You can't always be the "little red hen" who does everything alone. Socialize with friends and coworkers and vent about work problems. They probably will share similar difficulties with you. Finally, if nothing else seems to help, think about switching jobs while still working. You should network by talking to friends about openings in other companies. Take a proactive role in moving your life in the direction you want it to go.

It's always a good idea to allow yourself time to relax. This need becomes critical when we are faced with a lot of stress. Otherwise, we could face feeling worse and experiencing more serious health risks. Ironically, this is the time many of us are least likely to take care of ourselves.

If you are in a situation in which you are too stressed, give yourself some time to unwind. Do something that you enjoy that is relaxing: Talk a walk. Talk with a friend. Laugh. Listen to peaceful music. Try a relaxation technique like yoga or Tai Chi. Take a soothing bath. Do absolutely nothing.

In the final analysis, stress is here to stay, but how we are able to deal with it is important. I've included some interesting references and even a stress calculator that evaluates how many stressors there are in you life. The site lists events that you have no control over, like a death in the family. Each of us must learn how to not sweat the small stuff, so we can deal with the important stuff.

References:
For information and/or assistance in dealing with stress: The American Institute of Stress, 124 Park Avenue, Yonkers, NY 10703. Tel: 914-963-1200. Website: http://www.stress.org

A bibliography of job stress publications provided by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health:
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/biblio.html

American Institute of Stress: http://www.stress.org. Davis, M., Eshelman, E. R., & McKay, M. The Relaxation & Stress Reduction Workbook. New Harbinger Publications, Inc. Oakland: 1995.

A stress calculator to categorize how stressed you are. This test should be used only as a guideline and is based on guidelines established by the drkoop.com Medical Advisory Board.
http://www.drkoop.com/tools/calculator/stress.asp

For examples of job stress interventions, see the Conditions of Work Digest, Vol. 11/2, pp. 139-275. This publication may be obtained by contacting the ILO Publications Center at PO Box 753, Waldorf, MD 20604 (Telephone: 301-638-3152). Or call NIOSH at 1-800-35-NIOSH (1-800-356-4674).

NIOSH provides information and publications about a wide range of occupational hazards, including job stress. NIOSH information about job stress can be found at: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/jobstres.html

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