n LEADERSHIP
STRESSED OUT
Employees and managers both have a role to play in reducing workplace stress
BY Jessica Kriegel
WE THINK WE KNOW WORKPLACE
STRESS. We avoid it, we are over-
whelmed by it, we relish it, we handle it,
we thrive from it. But do we really un-
derstand it?
According to Cal/OSHA guidelines,
harmful workplace stress arises in
“jobs that demand a lot from the em-
ployees, while allowing them little con-
trol over how the job is performed” and
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“organizational practices that exclude
employee participation or input.”
This definition makes clear that
harmful stress isn’t just the looming
deadline, overloaded inbox, budget
crunch or commuter traffic on the way
to work. Stress involves having too
much responsibility for those problems
in the workplace over which we have
too little control. Running an interna-
tional banking consortium might not
be as harmfully stressful as working in
a mail room with inefficient equipment.
HOW OUR JOBS CREATE STRESS
Studies confirm that workers who per-
ceive they are subjected to high de-
mands but have little control are at in-
creased risk for cardiovascular disease.
Today’s U.S. workers work longer hours