S

Syed Faizan Haider Naqvi

MSc, PGDip, BSc, I Dip,

Grad IOSH

Workplace Health & Safety

Industrial Occupational Health and Safety Practitioner

Stress in the workplace 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. Workplace 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".

Job stress is increasing globally in all countries, organizations, professions, and among employees, employers,
families and society in general. Occupational stress has been known as a serious health issue for
organizations and employees. Thus, the stressful situations of the workplace due to occupational stress lead to
negative consequences like anxiety, headache, stomach distress and cardiovascular disease. So, occupational
stress can be described as any discomfort that perceived by individuals who their capabilities and resources
cannot be coped to demands, events and stressful situations in their workplace.

Three out of every four American workers describe their work as stressful.

And, the problem is not limited to these shores. In fact, occupational stress has been defined as a "global
epidemic" by the United Nations' International Labor Organization. While the physical effects of this epidemic
are often emphasized, the economic consequences also are alarming. Workplace stress costs U.S. employers
an estimated $200 billion per year in absenteeism, lower productivity, staff turnover, workers' compensation,
medical insurance and other stress-related expenses. Considering this, stress management may be business's
most important challenge of the 21st century. Of course, stress is a factor in every one's life, particularly during
major events such as marriage, divorce or buying a home. But according to the Holmes- Rahe Life Events
Scale, which rates the levels of stress caused by such events, many of the most stressful events are related to
the workplace: firings, business readjustments, changes in financial status, altered responsibilities, a switch to
a different line of work, trouble with the boss, variations in work hours or conditions, retirement and vacations.

Sources of stress vary tremendously. For factory workers, stress often is related directly to the work situation,
such as dealing with dangerous heavy equipment or working in an uncomfortable environment. In contrast,
office workers are more likely to experience stress related to inter-personal relationships on the job. "People
pressures" such as unclear supervision, tension among team members and fear or aversion of conflict can
cause stress. "For many people the core of their social life is the people with whom they work,". "But work is
not a social situation, so you begin to get some things that are antagonistic to good relationships, such as
rumors and power plays among executives who are competing for the next promotion”.

Occupational stress is not related only to what goes on at work. Conflicts between the demands of the
workplace and of home life are increasingly common. According to a survey completed for the U.S.
Department of Labor, 10 percent of people who are married or living with children under 18 experience severe
work-family conflict, and an additional 25 percent report moderate levels of conflict.

Joel Harmon, associate professor of management and chair of the management, marketing, information
systems and sciences department on the Florham-Madison Campus, says, "The greatest reported cause of
stress is workload. Employees work more today than they did 25 years ago -- the equivalent of a 13th month
every year. Staff are getting downsized but the work remains, so workloads are getting upsized." Changes in
office procedures are happening more rapidly than at any other time in history. "Fifty years ago, the nature of

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someone's job did not change during their entire tenure at that job, "Now, everything is different." And, in the
current "information age" things move at a faster pace than ever before with faxes and instant e-mail
messages. Some professions are especially prone to stress resulting from changing technology. Take airline
pilots, for example: "They are flying more complicated planes, carrying more people under more pressing time
demands and with much more airport traffic than ever before.

Technology in automation has enabled employers to eliminate many jobs. Not only does this result in a fear of
being replaced by a machine, but those who keep their jobs must undergo retraining and tend to have a higher
level of responsibility, and thus greater stress, thrust up on them. "Other organizational changes, "especially
increased use of part-timers, management changes, increased diversity and pay cuts or freezes," lead to
increased levels of job insecurity. "Now only about half of managers and employees rate security as good or
very good, down from 75 to 80 percent in the 1980s."

The physical effects of excessive stress have long been recognized -- from heart attacks and strokes to ulcers
and other gastrointestinal disorders. Continual stress also takes a toll on the body's immune system, causing
frequent colds and other illnesses. Psychologically, stress can lead to depression, anxiety and even panic
attacks. Specifically, the stress produced by aggression in the workplace has "been associated with physical
and psychological distress, resulting in decreased productivity, commitment and loyalty, Also, victims of or
witnesses to violence in the workplace may suffer from a range of trauma-related illness including post-
traumatic stress disorder.

Sixty percent of lost workdays each year can be attributed to stress. In addition, an estimated 75 to 90 percent
of visits to health care providers are due to stress-related conditions, costing employers in increased health
care costs. A list of physical and psychological warning signs of stress exhaustion appears on this page. Stress
also can have a direct effect on the way people handle their jobs. Employees under stress may make more
mistakes, have trouble concentrating, become disorganized, become angry or just stop caring about their work.
The Wall Street Journal reported that one third of people surveyed considered quitting their jobs because of
stress and 14 percent actually did (Maxon, 1999).

Job stress can be prevented and controlled effectively by integrating primary, secondary, and tertiary
intervention. Therefore, primary intervention is proactive which its aim is to help healthy people to be immune
of illnesses. The second intervention is ameliorative that modifies employees’ responses to stressors like
stress in order to help them to control stressful situations. At last, tertiary intervention which is reactive and its
purpose are to minimize the consequences of stress-related that they have happened once. In fact, this
intervention tries to help employees to cope more effectively with reactions in stressful conditions. So, the
integration of these three interventions required a meaningful participation which involves in job control,
organizational fairness, and mutual support among employees and supervisors.

Additionally, setting clear objectives can minimize role ambiguity and role conflict. Role ambiguity which can be
defined as an employee’s unawareness about the job's duties, responsibilities and the expectations which
should be performed in the organization satisfactory and role conflict is conflicting between determined
demands and required skills and responsibilities in a workplace. Both role ambiguity and role conflict are the
source of employee’s stress. So, providing a clear objective of responsibilities and duties by supervisor and
managers can decrease occupational stress among employees. Furthermore, increasing employees’ sense of
control through programs such as job development and enrichment, decision making, and delegation of
authority in order to increase the employees’ sense of control over their jobs and the work environment. Also,
an appropriate organizational communication can immune the employees from work stress which uncertainty
and feelings of isolation are the main sources of it. Thus, having a proper communication helps them to know
what is going on in the organization, thus, they will have a good relationship with all members and parts of their

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organizations; and consequently, communication will decrease occupational stress. Finally, exercise and
enough sleep are recommended to reduce occupational stress. Exercise relieves stress at work, by doing
Exercise; it can reduce illnesses, speed up metabolism, increase blood flow and oxygen to brain. Also, enough
sleep or well-rested, is much easier to keep emotional balance so as to cope with job and workplace stress.

Contact:

Syed Faizan Haider Naqvi

+971 56 6914 708

[email protected]

https://www.linkedin.com/in/syed-haider-grad-iosh-msc-idip-pg-dip-osh-a3387a100/

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