Experiencing Job Stress? You’re Not Alone

Do you ever feel stressed at work? Salt Lake City recruiters say you’re not alone. An article by the American Psychological Association, “Coping With Stress At Work,” reported 65% of Americans cite work as a top reason for feeling stressed. A worldwide Towers Watson study of 892 employers found that stress is the biggest lifestyle risk, more than obesity or lack of physical activity. Recruiters in Salt Lake believe it’s important to foster a workplace that can identify the causes of job stress and find ways to reduce it. Employers who decrease job stress will increase talent attraction, satisfaction, retention, health, and productivity.

The best way to create a healthier workplace is to discover what’s causing employees stress. Some feel that 24/7 connectivity is responsible for a significant amount of stress on the job. There is an unspoken expectation by employers and employees that email should be monitored at night and on weekends leading to longer work hours and higher expectations. Other causes of stress in the workplace include:

• Low pay
• High workload
• Lack of growth opportunities
• Long hours
• Lack of support or control

The 2013 Towers study found a disconnect between management and employees’ perspectives on what causes workplace stress. Organizations need to develop leaders who can identify stress among team members and who are empowered to make changes to reduce stress in the individual, the team, and the company.

Salt Lake recruiters understand that workplace stress can lead to losing top talent, which makes stress on the job an expensive mistake. The cost to replace a team member can be up to 50-60 percent of an employee’s annual salary.

Mental health benefits, wellness programs, and EAP services can help reduce stress and promote a healthy workplace, but employees have to use them in order to be effective. Changing management behavior may be more productive than using company health benefits for reducing stress. Managers have the power to address several sources of stress identified by employees in the study. Some examples include:

• Aligning assigned work with a team members’ skill set
• Increasing communication with management
• Reassessing pay scales

Identifying the causes of workplace stress and implementing changes to reduce it will benefit everyone within an organization. It can also lead to increased productivity, revenue–and more important–employee engagement and satisfaction.