Stress in the workplace

People can experience stress when they feel they are unable to cope with the pressures or demands upon them. This feeling is a natural reaction to excessive pressure or even to excessive boredom. It isn't a disease, but if stress is excessive and goes on for some time, it can lead to mental and physical ill health.

Work-related stress is a major health and safety issue. While some jobs, such as hospital and emergency services, air traffic controllers, social workers and teachers, may be inherently stressful; there are few working environments that are immune from stress.

The 1997 ACTU National Survey on Stress at Work found that one in four people took time off work because of stress.


Common causes of work-related stress include:

• Communication difficulties between workers and management
  
• Bullying, harassment or intimidation
  
• Work overload
  
• Job insecurity
  
• Too much change in the structure of a workplace and the way work is organised
  
• Understaffing
  
• Inadequate resources
  
• Unresolved health and safety issues
  
• Excessive performance monitoring
  
• Poor work organisation
  
• Insufficient training
  
• Longer hours
  
• Difficulties dealing with clients or the general public
  
• Lack of control over how work is done

When a person is exposed to chronic, prolonged work-related stress, they may experience physical and psychological symptoms such as:

• Frequent headaches
  
• Back aches and other muscular aches and pains
  
• Cramps in the neck, shoulders or arms
  
• Poor memory, trouble concentrating
  
• Feeling frustrated and irritable or angry
  
• Feeling weepy or tearful
  
• Loss of energy and motivation
  
• Feeling anxious, helpless or afraid
  
• Apathy and hopelessness
  
• Changes in appetite and weight
  
• Sleep difficulties
  
• Continual tiredness, even exhaustion
  
• Generally feeling worn out or run down

Chronic stress can cause or worsen a range of ill-health problems, which can severely affect quality of life. These include:

• Asthma
  
• Psoriasis
  
• Peptic ulcers
  
• Digestive disorders and irritable bowel syndrome
  
• Sexual problems
  
• Depression
  
• Alcohol and drug use

Long term, prolonged exposure to stress has been linked to serious illnesses including:

• Diabetes
  
• Heart disease
  
• Suppression of the immune system cells involved in fighting cancer

Most people react to the same kinds of stress in similar ways. To be affected by work-related stress is not a sign of personal weakness. It's not uncommon for employers to blame workers for being stressed or to talk about workers needing to have better 'coping' skills. However, workers all over Australia are reporting job insecurity, understaffing, increasing workloads, longer hours and poor management practices as main causes of stress at work.

Under state and territory health and safety laws, employers have a legal duty to provide a healthy and safe workplace and safe systems of work. This includes providing a working environment where the risk of stress is eliminated or minimised.

Stress prevention policies

Stress prevention policies should be developed jointly by employers and workers and their representatives. Employers need to provide information, training and advice to workers and supervisors.

Policies should focus on good work organisation and ensure that work-related stress is approached in the same way as other health and safety hazards at work. Where possible, the hazard should be eliminated. If hazards cannot be eliminated, they should be minimised – better ways of organising work should be found that eliminate or reduce the causes of work-related stress.

Some basic steps in eliminating or reducing work-related stress include ensuring:

• Management styles are consultative, so that workers participate in determining the expectations of the job and the arrangement of their own work situation, including any changes or restructuring.
  
  
• Pay arrangements do not encourage excessive overtime and unpaid overtime is discouraged and is compensated quickly with time off in lieu.
  
  
• Work hours, including shift schedule, rest breaks and overtime arrangements are structured to ensure adequate rest and recuperation from the physical and mental effects of work.
  
  
• Workloads are distributed fairly with realistic targets.
  
  
• Leave provisions, including family and sick leave are adequate.
  
  
• Performance or target based pay systems are avoided.
  
  
• The work environment is safe and comfortable, with adequate facilities provided for workers.
  
  
• All health and safety hazards are eliminated or controlled.

Tips for alleviating the effects of work-related stress

Although removing or controlling the causes of work-related stress is essential to ensure a safe working environment, it is not always possible for workers to quickly or easily remove stressors from the workplace.
The stress alleviation techniques described below may assist people who are unable to escape from work stresses to reduce the effects of stress on their health.

Eat regularly and well
Stressful working environments may mean that people skip breaks at work, including lunch and other meal breaks. Furthermore, workers exposed to stress may gain weight by eating to relieve stress, or lose weight due to stress-related loss of appetite.

Take regular exercise
Regular exercise is important for maintaining good health. Exercise and maintaining physical fitness can reduce the severity of our response to stressful events. Aerobic exercise has been shown to increase sleep length and decrease general fatigue. Regular exercise can also reduce musculoskeletal and psychological symptoms associated with stress. When people feel stressed, it may be difficult to maintain motivation for an exercise program, but the benefits are worth the effort.

Relaxation techniques
If practised regularly, relaxation and meditation techniques have also been shown to mitigate stress response. To be successful, daily practice may be needed for six to twelve months followed by regular practice two to three times a week.

Get a good night's sleep
One block of 7 to 8 hours uninterrupted sleep per day is preferable. Avoid strenuous exercise in the last one to two hours before bedtime, as it raises the heart rate and makes sleep more difficult. Avoid caffeine and other stimulants close to bedtime.

Family and social life
Feeling too tired and/or having a lack of interest in social and/or family life is frequently reported as a consequence of work-related stress. Irritability and/or difficulty in 'switching off' from work may also negatively affect personal and social relationships. Additional effort and planning to spend time with family and friends and to make time for hobbies and other non-work-related activities may be necessary to overcome these risks.

Limit the use of tobacco, alcohol and other drugs
Alcohol within one to two hours of bedtime can lead to disrupted sleep patterns, as can caffeine, found in high concentration in coffee and many soft drinks. The use of sleeping pills is hazardous – some are highly addictive and they may cause a person to remain sleepy when it is time to wake up. While over-the-counter painkillers can alleviate headaches and other pain in the short term, prolonged use of these substances can have a range of negative health effects. If you feel you are overusing either alcohol or other drugs as a result of work-related stress, or for any other reason, you should seek medical advice.


This fact sheet has been adapted from the ACTU publication, "Stop stress at work – A guide for workers"

For further information and advice contact the Workers Health Centre
02 9749 7666
admin@workershealth.com.au

Facts 018 © Workers Health Centre, 2004