Job stress is always bad - bad for employers, workers and profits. Britain's Health and Safety Executive regards the myth that "a little bit of stress is good for you" as "wrong". It says: "Ill-health due to work-related stress, or conditions ascribed to work-related issues, is the second most common type of work-related ill-health reported." Says the UK body: "It's clear from the recognised symptoms of stress that it's actually bad for you."
The US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health agrees: "Job stress is often confused with challenge, but these concepts are not the same. Challenge energises 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".
Some 6.7 million working days are lost each year in Britain due to work-related stress, which costs society there at least £3.8 billion sterling. In the US, more than half (54 per cent) of some 550 million working days lost are in some way stress-related. Accordingly, the US institute says: "Policies benefiting worker health also benefit the bottom line."
These are some of the facts assembled in a booklet Workplace Stress in Ireland published last Wednesday by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. The booklet, launched by the Minister for Health, Mr Micheal Martin, written by this correspondent, focuses on the organisational causes of work-related stress and how it can be reduced to protect workers and organisations.
In a landmark case in Britain, Mr John Walker accepted £175,000 sterling damages for work-related stress against Northumberland County Council in 1995. Mr Walker complained of insufficient staffing and administrative support and subsequently had a nervous breakdown. Four months later he returned to work but had another breakdown due to his workload. He subsequently retired on medical grounds.
A research study by the UK body - Mental Well-being in the Workplace: A Resource Pack for Management Training and Development - said that the Walker case highlighted "the failure of the employer to deal with the organisational causes underlying and leading to the mental ill-health of their employee".
According to Ireland's Health and Safety Authority, the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act "requires every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the safety, health and welfare at work of all his/her employees". The Dublin-based European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions says: "The EU Framework Directive on Health and Safety compels the employer to recognise stress factors and to correct them."
The Congress booklet shows that certain working conditions are almost bound to create job stress, regardless of the coping skills, talents or temperament of individual workers. As the US institute puts it: "Although the importance of individual differences cannot be ignored, scientific evidence suggests that certain working conditions are stressful to most people."
Work stress can result in heart disease, chest pain, palpitations; muscular pains; stomach and bowel problems; breathing difficulties; poorer concentration and thinking; decreased creativity; reduced ability to learn; disturbed sleep; anxiety; tension; and depression. It can lead to smoking; excessive drinking; over-eating; depleted energy; low self-esteem; disturbed relationships at work and home; sexual problems; mental health problems; increased risk of accidents at work or on the roads; and suicide.
Working conditions outlined in the new booklet likely to cause stress include:
poor job design - e.g., too much to do, long hours, insufficient breaks, recovery periods not long enough, rigid schedules, too few staff, insufficient resources, ill-defined tasks.
person/job fit - jobs unsuited to workers' skills, interests, qualifications or temperament; work-life balance - no opportunities for term-time working, part-time work, annualised hours, home-working.
roles - unclear who is meant to do what;
ethos - worker creativity and innovation discouraged, workers' mistakes criticised.
relationships - isolation, lack of professional support, discrimination, bullying;
job security - poor pay, pace of change too fast, no job security.
work environment - noisy, dirty, poorly designed workstations.
Workplace Stress in Ireland is available from trade unions or from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, 31-32 Parnell Square, Dublin 1. Telephone: 01-8897777. Fax: 01-8872012. Email: congress@ictu.ie.
jmarms@irish-times.ie
