Job Stress is Epidemic

Job stress is out of control in the American workplace—forty per cent of workers report that that their job is extremely stressful. And job stress causes serious health problems, problems that cause suffering and hardship for employees and huge expenses for employers.

Job stress can be defined as the damaging mental and physical responses to the demands of a job, demands that are not in line with the needs and abilities of workers. According to Dr. Paul Rosch, President of the American Institute of Stress,

"Increased levels of job stress as assessed by the perception of having little control but lots of demands have been demonstrated to be associated with increased rates of heart attack, hypertension and other disorders. Job stress costs American businesses a good deal of money, more than 0 billion annually due to increased absenteeism, employee turnover, diminished productivity, medical, legal and insurance expenses and Workers' Compensation payments. Put into perspective, that's ten times the cost of all strikes combined."

Research studies show job stress to be the major source of stress for Americans. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), job stress is more strongly associated with a variety of health problems more than are any other life stressor-including family and financial problems.

Typically two factors account for job stress, one on the individual characteristics of workers side the other on the nature of the job side. There are some jobs that would stress anyone out and there are some people who would be stressed out by any job. But the research is clear: The American workplace has indeed become more and more demanding in the past few decades. Americans work months longer than do German and Japanese workers each year and they typically get paid less for their work.

Job stress is a mindbody problem that requires mindbody solutions. Persistent job stress chronically triggers the fight or flight response, a mindbody event that pours toxic stress hormones into a worker's blood and tissues. These hormones create conditions for dissatisfaction, unhappiness and a broad range of health problems, including heart disease, cancer, musculoskeletal damage and pain, depression, alcoholism and marriage and family problems—to name just a few.

Setting up a gym or workout space in a company helps some, but while physical exercise allows workers to release some of the toxic affects of stress, it does nothing to prevent stress.

Mindbody fitness training adds significant benefits to physical work outs alone. It exercises the body and it gives workers the psychological hardiness and resilience they need to prevent stress by short-circuiting the fight or flight response. And it empowers workers to flush out stress hormones from their blood and tissues and so prevent harm and illness.

Developing greater mindbody strength, stamina and flexibility is an important solution to job stress problems. But an organization needs to address the degree to which it's creating unnecessary stress for its workers. Any company unwilling to do so is probably not a company worth working for. Changing jobs may be difficult, but it's a better option than being unhappy and sick.

The ideal solution is for an organization to create a company culture that understands that dealing squarely with the problem of job stress is a win for both workers and for the company. A company can create a culture where unnecessary stress is minimized, and where workers get the knowledge, tools and support they need to cope effectively with necessary stress.

Then workers can be at their productive best while enjoying more satisfaction and better health, and a company can enjoy greater success, including dramatically reduced health care and insurance expenses.