Understanding work-related stress

Last October I had to leave my job for an all-too-brief sabbatical due to “work-related stress.” The stress was caused equally by my organization’s culture, an unrealistic workload and my own pressure on myself to achieve very high standards in my work. Fortunately, my organization was very understanding and showed they valued me as an employee by letting me take the time away that I needed. When I came back, I wanted to help my organization change its culture and share some of the techniques I was learning to deal with stress with my colleagues, so that we didn’t lose any of the great people working for us to burnout.

As part of that effort, I researched and wrote a brief on work-related stress. In this post and the next few that follow, I am going to share my findings. As always, I welcome all discussion, additional resources and others’ experiences in dealing with this issue. This is particularly timely right now because I am working on a committee to help determine our organization’s strategic directions, and I want to make sure that creating a supportive, healthy environment where employees can thrive and give their best is one of our strategies for success.

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Work-related stress has been 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” (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health). Stress most often occurs when employees feel unable to meet constant demand, become increasingly overwhelmed and are depleted of energy.

Work-related stress over long periods places a relentless strain on the body and mind, leading to emotional and physical fatigue. The end result, if not corrected, is burnout. Burnout produces feelings of hopelessness, powerlessness, cynicism, resentment, anger and failure, and results in stagnation, deterioration of quality of work, decreased creativity and reduced productivity. The ultimate end result of burnout, if not corrected, is that the employee will leave the organization, sometimes after great damage has been done to the employee’s work, relationships and health.

Useful Resources

• The American Institute of Stress
• Health and Safety Executive, the United Kingdom
• Helpguide, A Source of Non-Commercial Information on Mental Health, Active Healthy Lifestyles and Aging Well
• National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, CDC
• Maslach, Christina and Michal Leiter, The Truth About Burnout: How Organizations Cause Personal Stress and What to Do About It (1997)