Job Stress Can Spoil an Employee's Work

Job related stress can affect a person’s attitude toward work, contributing to poor quality of work performance and affecting health and happiness.

As the number of workers with occupational stress increases dramatically each year, we should examine some of the sources of stress.

• Employee relations. Probably the number one cause of occupational stress is the inability of people to work with other people or to work for certain people. An objective evaluation of communication patterns between supervisors, colleagues and subordinates can reduce stress.

• Unclear job descriptions. Workers often do not understand assigned duties, while supervisors often have a different perception of worker duties. Competition between workers with similar duties is often stressful and causes conflict.

• Participation in decision-making. Organizations that include employees in decision-making processes report increased job satisfaction, a spirit of team effort, family pride, better working relationships with other employees and greater commitment and dedication toward overall goals. Employees in such situations show decreased feelings of alienation toward the organization.

• Delegation of responsibility. Administrators who feel they must do everything themselves, feel no one else can do the job as well, do not permit individual or organizational growth.

• Under-promotion and over-promotion. Employees placed in a situation working above their experience of capacity can find it just as frustrating as being placed in a situation working below their potential and capability. Keeping open lines of communication between employer and employee is essential in making decisions on promotions.

• Office politics. This is a source of stress for many employers. An outside objective evaluation can often pinpoint the source.

• Job security. In times of economic uncertainty and technological change, workers often feel great stress about job security. Forced retirement, retraining, management shakeups, and realignment of duties can make employees feel less secure of their jobs. Workers often do not understand policies on leave of absence, sick leave, resignations or terminations.

• Restriction on budgets, cutbacks and employee layoffs. Counseling and good communication patterns- keeping the employee informed through newsletters, notices, and personal letters- can alleviate part of this distress.

• Poor physical working conditions. Poor lighting, heating and cooling, as well as dangerous equipment are examples of poor working conditions. Overcrowding and noise pollution are distracting and stressful.

Decreasing occupational stress produces benefits for the employer and employee. Working toward this goal should be a high priority for any business or industry.

Harold H. LeCrone, Jr., Ph.D Copyright © 1992