WORKPLACE STRESS
Introduction
According to the American Psychological Association (APA), workplace stress, aka Occupational
Stress is the mental disturbance caused or enhanced due to the job description of a person.
Currently Work related stress (WRS) is at its maximum due to the uncertain economic situation
all over the world. Moreover, due to improved connectivity and the ability to research across
seas, different organizations are finding out new methods to improve their functioning.
Therefore, these organizations would eventually be fighting for the same number of consumers
as their competitors worldwide. This is one of the reasons that the managers are trying to
extract as much output as possible from the existing employees. As a result, employees also
work in different departments, regardless of their expertise and job description. This gives rise
to workplace stress due to decreased job satisfaction.
Workplace stress does not only affect a person’s physical health but it also affects one’s
psychological condition. It is natural that if a person is stressed out at work, he is less
productive and motivated. This in turn acts negatively on the organization’s effectiveness and
productivity. However, if workplace stress is managed, the employees become more eager to
work and perform for the organization.
Numerous studies show that the workplace stress is by far the most common and major source
of stress in the American Adults. Various studies have been done in order to determine the
most and the least stressful jobs, but in actual it’s not the job description that defines if there
would be low or high occupational stress, but in actual, it is the “employee to workplace fit”
that matters.
Many other environmental and external factors also contribute to the occupational stress.
However, these factors are not directly related to the stress caused due to work. For example, if
a person uses/abuses drugs, he might be more prone to workplace stress.
Coping with Workplace Stress
Every person has a different tolerance level for occupational stress. Employees can better cope
up with stress, if regular training is conducted for the skills and procedures required within
one’s job description.
For example, if a person finds MS Excel stressful, he can be trained to use MS Excel for
increased familiarization. When the employee has better adapted to the source of stress, it will
be easier to adjust with it.
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