badworkplace

Posts Tagged ‘Stress’

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Health and Safety at Work: Stress on the Job

In 1, WORK - Bad Workplaces, WORK - Safety, WORK - Workplace Violence on 11/16/2009 at 3:19 pm

Just as you should seek information about accidents and safety for any job for which you are interested, you should also seek information about stressors and the level of stress on those jobs.

Stress is not a simple phenomenon. It refers to individual responses to strong stimuli, which are called stressors. While some stress can be positive— it can motivate you to work to your top level of performance— other stress or too much stress clearly is negative. Positive stress is beneficial whereas negative stress can be harmful if it is not recognized and dealt with at an early stage.

Stress can be caused by “good” as well as “bad” things. Excessive pressure, unreasonable demands on your time, and bad news can all cause stress. But receiving a promotion with a raise can be stressful, too: like the stress of wondering if you can handle the new job, or the disappointment of receiving a smaller raise than you had expected and thus not being able to afford something you had planned on being able to afford.

Positive stress is experienced by meeting deadlines, becoming more innovative, being more productive, and accepting challenges. Negative stress occurs when the pressures of life, including work, increase to a level where the individual can no longer cope. In other words, pressure is healthy until it exceeds the person’s ability to cope and then it can cause illness. Negative stress is the form you want to avoid.

Negative stress can be seriously debilitating and the effects can be long-lasting. Management and organizations suffer because of absenteeism, reduced productivity, increased compensation premiums — medical insurance based on stress are higher than other claims.  Thus, finding answers to questions such as the following will tell you indirectly if too much stress is associated with a particular company or job:

  • What is the level of turnover on this job?
  • What are the major sources of stress on this job?
  • What are the normal working conditions for this job?
  • Does this job involve ever having to handle or be exposed to chemicals, biological agents, or the like?
  • Does this job involve having to come into contact with people who are known to be sick?
  • Does the company have a wellness program?
  • Does the company have an Employee Assistance Program?

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Did Raymond Clark Resent Annie Le?

In WORK - Bad Workplaces, WORK - Workplace Violence on 09/20/2009 at 11:46 pm

Throughout our history workers have vocalized or otherwise expressed their anger at being stuck in boring, unchallenging, or underpaid jobs.  Now these stressed workers have a larger problem:  keeping any job. As women began to gain ground in society and in the workplace, more men attacked women because that secondary anchor for women was a challenge to male authority and potency.

Diversification and stratification of the workforce are two environmental changes that affect employee relationships both inside and outside the organization.  Some males simply are not accustomed to relating to women as coworkers, supervisors, or subordinates in the workplace. Some are quick to resent women who show great confidence and don’t appear as submissive as the male prefers.

Some workers are emotionally affected when they find themselves working in close proximity to any workers from other cultures, races, sex, sexual preference, or age. They may be uncomfortable with their relationship with coworkers, their coworkers’ personalities, work patterns, communication styles, etc.  In such cases the worker may elect to act out his displeasure either by attacking the employee directly or indirectly.  Such workers are more likely to feel threatened when they already harbor negative attitudes toward coworkers who differ from them.

In addition, employees who are “stuck” in low-level jobs may resent workers whom they see as moving up in the company or moving on to better jobs. Le seemed to be a young woman on her way up; Clark seemed to be in what appears to be a dead-end job with no status.  Many of us have difficulty believing that we could be the cause of jealousy, especially to such a degree that the jealous person would harm us.

People experience stress when they face anxiety or frustration from aspects of their work that they cannot control. They may not be able to fully utilize their skills and knowledge or receive the respect or recognition they expect for their accomplishments.  Employees may become frustrated from overly repetitive work or from unclear or conflicting job responsibilities that lead to confusion and frustration.  Some work processes separate people and create feelings of isolation, which may in turn cause stress for some workers.

The point of all of this information is to help us identify coworkers whose stress and anger are building toward a violent eruption, like a volcano.