The Function Of Stress In The Workplace One Hour

The Functions of Stress in the
Workplace
James D. Tippett Copyright 2010
jdt@tipsonxl.com

Accidents
Absenteeism
Employee turnover
Diminished productivity
Direct medical, legal, and
insurance costs
Workers' compensation
awards as well as tort and
FELA judgments
Occupationally Related
Suicide
Why am I Here?
jdt@tipsonxl.com

We need IT!
jdt@tipsonxl.com

What is job Stress
Job stress can be defined as…
“ the harmful physical and emotional responses
that occur when the requirements of the job
do not match the capabilities, resources, or
needs of the worker”.
(Common definition among many sources)
worker
jdt@tipsonxl.com

Our View
“Stress is essential to our ability to survive, grow and succeed”
“Perception of a current level of threat to our overall well
being….
and our view of our ability to deal with that threat”
“The source of, and response to, stressors is learned”
“The specific definition of STRESS is different for everyone
and every organization”
jdt@tipsonxl.com

Occupational Health Psychology
“Growing field concerned with the psychosocial
characteristics of the workplace that
contribute to not only injury, but health
related problems”
jdt@tipsonxl.com

Stress-a-holics
• Type A’s – “Gimme an Epi fix”
• Our Learned Response
• 20th Century “Disease” – United Nations
• May deal mentally, but effects physically are
the same
• Normally Cured by heart attack or stroke
jdt@tipsonxl.com

Stress Statistics
• - One-third of Americans feel they are living
with extreme stress.
• - About half of Americans (48%) feel that their
stress has increased over the past five years.
• - Money and work are the leading causes of
stress (mentioned by three quarters of
Americans).
• Source: American Psychological Association study, 2007.
jdt@tipsonxl.com

Stress Statistics
• Three quarters of Americans experience
symptoms related to stress in a given month:
- 77% experience physical symptoms
- 73% experience psychological symptoms
• Source: American Psychological Association study, 2007.
jdt@tipsonxl.com

Stress Statistics
• Health care expenditures are nearly 50%
greater for workers who report high levels of
stress.
- Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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25
300
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.
More Statistics
• 6 Leading causes of death have been linked to Stress – Cancer,
Heart Disease, Lung Ailments, Suicide, Accidents, and
Cirrhosis of the liver
• Medical Researchers estimate that stress is now the
underlying cause of over 80% of all illness
• Approximately 25% of all prescriptions written in the US every
year are for stress controlling drugs such as tranquillizers, anti-
depressants and anti- anxiety drugs.
• $300 billion, or 7,500 per employee, is spent annually in the
U.S. on stress-related compensation claims, reduced
productivity, absenteeism, health insurance costs, direct
medical expenses and employee turnover
jdt@tipsonxl.com

Why?
jdt@tipsonxl.com

UK Statistics
• Laws related to Workplace stress reduction
• Statistics provide valid relationships
• Second leading cause of Disability in UK
415,000 cases
• Mandatory Workplace “Stress Tests”
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Stress Test
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Stress Test
• I have unrealistic Time Pressures
• I have a choice in deciding what I do at work
• My manager encourages me
• I receive respect from co-workers
• I am clear on my roles and responsibilities
• Relationships at work are strained
• Staff are consulted about change at work.
jdt@tipsonxl.com

Societal Issues
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Number of anxiety, stress, and neurotic disorder cases involving days away from work in
private industry, 1992-2001. Source - CDC
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0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
1 2 5 10 20 21-30 31 or
more
Median
days away
from work
BLS Days Away From Work
All Injuries
Neurotic reactions to
stress
jdt@tipsonxl.com

0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
White Collar Blue Collar Service
BLS Data by Occupation
(Injuries with days away - 1997 - of 3,418 cases)
Neurotic Reaction to Stress %
jdt@tipsonxl.com

Workplace Injury and Illness
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Men ................................................. 66
39
Women ...............................................
33 61
66
33
39
61
BLS Injury Statistics % of total injuries 1997
All Injury and Illness
Neurotic Reaction to Stress
jdt@tipsonxl.com

NIOSH on Stress
But…individual and other
situational factors can
intervene to strengthen or
weaken this influence.
According to the NIOSH
view, exposure to stressful
working conditions (called
job stressors) can have a
direct influence on worker
safety and health.
Source:
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Stress Enablers and Artifacts
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Sources of Stress in the Workplace
• Traumatic or unexpected events
– Organization
– Group
– Individual
• Interpersonal Relationships
• Environmental
• Economic
• Socio-Political
jdt@tipsonxl.com

Sources of Stress in the Workplace
Organization
External
Stimulus
Organizational
Response
Organizational
Impacts
Regulatory
Economy
Competition
Customer
Exec
H.R.
Legal
Sales
Your
Boss
Organizational
Outputs
Happy
Productive
Stressed
Productive
Stressed
Un-Productive
Uber-Stressed
Checked Out
jdt@tipsonxl.com

Stress Management for the Soul
• Coping Style
• Reactional Analysis
• Sleep, Eat, Move
• Meditation
• Social Network
• Laugh - Lots
• You’re OK – They’re Not
jdt@tipsonxl.com

Stress Channeling
What do you do?
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Coping
• Level of Control (Rubin, Paplau, & Salovey, 1993)
• Predictability (Rubin, Paplau, & Salovey, 1993)
• Optimistic / Pessimistic (Rubin, Paplau, & Salovey, 1993)
• Approach or Avoid (Chang & Strunk, 1999)
• Opportunity or Threat
jdt@tipsonxl.com

Reactional Analysis
• Do as I Do –
– What was that all about?
• Friends and Enemies –
– Who is Who?
• Media Think –
– The Sky is falling
• Aggressive Driving –
– Impersonal Aggression
jdt@tipsonxl.com

Sleep, Eat, Move
• Sleep
– Heart, Melatonin Levels, Stress, Inflammation,
Alertness, Memory, Weight, Anti-Depression, protein
production – 8 hours
• Eat
– Well balanced
– Small
– Slow
• Move
– Exercise (Do anything) for 30 minutes per day!
jdt@tipsonxl.com

What’s the worst that could happen ?
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What’s Your Change Quotient?
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Individual Stress Management at Work
• Time Management
• E-Mail management
• Communication effectiveness
• Culture shift – Circles of Influence
• Stress conditioning
• Take a sip of the Kool-Aid
• Get Over It!
jdt@tipsonxl.com

10,080
jdt@tipsonxl.com

Stress recovery
Nutrition
Sleep
Coping
Support
Network
Perceptions
Level of
Control
Duration
Exercise
jdt@tipsonxl.com

NOT
• Sabotage or Subversion
• Workplace Violence
• Fear and Intimidation
• Aggression Dump
• Bullying Harassment
• Bingeing
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Stress Management for the
Organization
• FIRM
• Confront Reality – Brainstorm
• Focus on the Focus
• Organizational Transitions
• Build Ethics and Trust
• Social Intelligence - Accountability
• Celebrate Success
jdt@tipsonxl.com

Focus on Common Goal
• Why are we here ?
• Customer Service
• Security
• Business Continuance
• Skills enhancement
• Who is the best at what you do?
• Who is the competition?
jdt@tipsonxl.com

Performance Standards
• What is expected of me
• What consequences can I expect if...
• Consistent implementation
• Reasonable / manageable
• Must know roles and function
• Developed by consensus
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Circles of Influence
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Circles of Influence- GROW
jdt@tipsonxl.com
Norms and
Values
The way we Do
things around
here!
Organizational
Performance

Review
• The primary function of stress is to drive
positive results.
• The source of and response to stressors is
learned.
• What the Heck is going on?
• Its not just about me –
– Both organizational and individual solutions must
be adopted.
jdt@tipsonxl.com

What Has Been
Seen,
Can Not Be
Unseen!
jdt@tipsonxl.com

The Function Of Stress In The Workplace One Hour

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