Occupational Stress & its Effects
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Are you doing everything you can to help ensure increased employee wellbeing in the workplace?
It is essential for employers to focus on ensuring a healthy and happy workplace environment, as happy employees means increased productivity and decreased turnover and absenteeism.
However, occupational stress is a major concern for Australian businesses today. It costs Australian workplaces approximately $10.9 billion per year in untreated mental conditions ($4.7 billion in absenteeism, $6.1 billion in presenteeism and $146 million in compensation claims).
What is Occupational Stress?
Occupational stress (or work-related stress) is ongoing and progressing stress an employee experiences due to the responsibilities, conditions, environment, or other pressures of the workplace.
Pressure in the workplace is a given and can motivate employees to perform better. However it can also have a negative impact when it builds up and gets too much for an employee to handle, impacting their wellbeing.
What causes Occupational Stress?
Occupational stress can be caused by various factors, including:
Strict workplace policies that make employees feel restricted and trapped
Lack of opportunities to grow or develop (personally or professionally) within the business
Workplace conflicts (bullying, belittling and discrimination)
Lack of support from co-workers, managers and leaders making employees feel alone with no guidance
Being overworked
Performance expectations that exceed employee’s ability or level of training provided
Regular termination threats
Loss of wages, pay cuts and benefits
All these factors can result in decreased employee wellbeing and therefore lack of motivation to work.
So, what signs should you look out for?
As an employer, it is crucial to identify early signs of occupational stress in employees. This may include:
Lack of motivation to complete basic role responsibilities
Regularly missing deadlines
Displaying feelings of general stress, chaos and confusion
Physical signs such as anxiety, abnormally high blood pressure, sleeplessness, and irritability
Abnormal feelings of depression
Inability to perform or communicate in a productive manner
Feelings of excessive burnout
Even a slight change in employee behaviour can be a sign that they are experiencing occupational stress.
What does this mean for your business?
Occupational stress does not only effect employees, it also has a major impact on the business, in the form of:
Decreased productivity and increased job dissatisfaction due to employees feeling unmotivated to work
Low employee morale and increased workplace conflicts
Increased absenteeism
Increased number of workers’ compensation claims
Increased turnover
The effects of occupational stress and poor employee wellbeing can be quite damaging to the performance of a business. Therefore, it is essential for employers to monitor early signs and check in with employees on a regular basis.
For Tips on overcoming occupational stress, stay tuned for our next week’s article!