"I DON'T QUITE EVER FEEL AS HELPLESS AS I DID THEN": A STUDY OF PERCEPTIONS OF CONTROL IN WORKPLACE STRESS For Hmmm Squad's 8th birthday (thereabouts), long-absent founder member Thomas "Noise" Morton (me) returns from his travels in exotic Halesowen and Worcester to tell you about what he (I) has (have) been up to: Namely a piece of original research into experiences of stress in the workplace, done as part of an MSc in psychology. Feeling in control - or not - at work is a known factor in workplace stress. But the details of exactly what is going on with this and why remain uncertain. Troubled by the niggling feeling that the standard accounts of the link between lack of control at work and stress-related illness just weren't quite doing justice to the actual experience of this, I set out to interview five people who had taken time off work due to stress, to get their side of the story - and then painstakingly analysed their accounts for common themes to see if this did indeed verify the standard psychological models or rather suggest more research was needed in certain directions (Spoiler alert: It was the latter, of course).

1. A study of perceptions of control in
workplace stress

3. Background
 In the UK, 300,000 people with long term mental
health issues are forced to stop work each year
 That’s 50% more than those with physical health
conditions (Stevenson & Farmer, 2017)

4. Work stressors (according to the HSE)
(Cousins et al. 2004; MacKay et al., 2004)
 Demands (including workload, work patterns and work
environment issues)
 Control (how much say a person has in the way they do their
work)
 Support (including encouragement, sponsorship and
resources provided by the organisation, line management and
colleagues)
 Relationships (including promoting positive working to avoid
conflict and dealing with unacceptable behavior)
 Role (including whether people understand their role and
whether the organisation ensures they do not have conflicting
roles)
 Change (how large or small organisational change is
managed and communicated)
 What is less well established is the relationship between

5. Why control?
 A role for control in the workplace is well acknowledged
as a factor in workplace stress, but exactly what that role
is or how it relates to other factors is still contentious
 Multiple models: disagreement on how control should be
defined and very mixed support for what role it actually
plays
 Eg. The JDC model says more control modifies
(reduces) the stress of demands – but support from
studies is weak

6. Why qualitative?
Qualitative:
 Can be led by what emerges and make the most of
novel and complex info
 Rich, nuanced and contextualised data at a depth
that quantitative research can’t access
 Cannot generalise but may give pointers for new
avenues for research, reveal gaps and flaws and
insight to help fine tune existing models
Quantitative:
 Dominates the field
 Large-scale samples usually of people going about their
everyday work, answering brief standardised
questions/measurements
 Impossible to avoid deciding beforehand how control is
to be defined and measured, guided by conceptually
limiting assumptions

7. The study
 Five interviewees from different workplaces
 All had taken time off of work due to stress
 In depth interviews (about an hour) loosely guided
by 10 questions about feelings and experiences of
control, demands and wellbeing, both at work and
in general
 Responses transcribed and analysed line-by line for
themes in common using Thematic Analysis (Braun &
Clarke, 2006)

9. 1. Dysfunctional Workplace
Environment
i. Poor organisation and lack of structure
ii. Unmanageable demands
iii. Unresponsiveness
iv. Poor relationships
2. Psychological Response i. Fear and threat
ii. Powerlessness
iii. Loss of objectivity and perspective
iv. Individual differences in coping
3. Impact (e.g. on home life, health and wellbeing)
4. Post-Traumatic Growth

10. 1. Dysfunctional Workplace
Environment
• Despite varied workplaces, roles and demands, all
interviewees reported an environment that they felt was not
functioning as it should be prior to their taking time off.
“We just seemed to, to roll from one drama to the next drama to the
next drama and I think everybody was trying to put on this
appearance of being in control, but we weren’t, I don’t think anybody
was because it was chaotic, when you scratched the surface it was a
mess, things weren’t getting done.” (Isla)

11. i. Poor organisation and lack of
structure
• Concepts of control extended to having an ordered and stable context in
which to work.
• Lack of this was a stressor in itself leading to feeling personally out of
control and anxious.
• Lack of this also made existing demands unmanageable or created more
demands to deal with.
• Included disruption due to staffing issues, high levels of change and
unpredictability, and poor planning, communication and guidance.
“Job control is basically, you know, that you have the tools and
systems in there to put on what you need to do, and also you have
quite a clear understanding of what your role is... there was no list of
tasks, no time scales, no anything, so I really didn’t feel in control and
I really just kind of didn’t know what I was doing and it was just the
most destructive thing in the world.” (Scott)

12. ii. Unmanageable demands
• E.g. having to deal with large workloads under extreme time pressure,
respond to unpredictable urgent demands, take on two or more clashing
tasks or roles simultaneously, or all of these factors combined.
• Such demands could be relentless, unpredictable and poorly thought out,
with employees feeling unable to say no to them.
“The time would just absolutely fly by and you wouldn’t, you know, I
wouldn’t personally feel that I’ve really grasped anything… literally,
there weren’t enough hours in the day.” (Jack)
“I was expected to do jobs and tasks that I had no clue what I was
doing… I had no control over all these jobs being thrown at me from
all directions... They were unreasonable demands, and they couldn’t
have been met.” (Bridget)

13. iii. Unresponsiveness
• A lack of response to concerns or suggestions for change, either by line
managers or by organisations as a whole.
• Included taking for granted employees would cope even when they
attempted to communicate they could not, and a lack of clear policy to
deal with issues and concerns.
• Interviewees also felt their own work efforts, along with suggestions and
proactive attempts to improve things, were ignored or dismissed.
“If people don’t want to listen and, as we said, people just go ‘That’s
the way it is’... you know, that doesn’t make it right... Just ‘cause
‘That’s the way it is’ does not mean that should, should be how it
always is.” (Jack)

14. iv. Relationships
• Felt to be a key factor in feelings of control and workplace stress.
• Included chronic low morale, high emotion, conflict and bullying among
colleagues and feeling neglected and unsupported by superiors.
• Good relationships, support and communication was felt to have a
transformative positive effect, making even very high workplace demands
manageable.
“They weren’t healthy working relationships that we had as a team at
all… there was lots of, sort of history between some people... lots of
confrontation, lots of umm… emergency meetings and big sort of like
discussions within the team where it was all this outpouring of
emotion and ‘She said this’ and ‘She said that’.” (Isla)
“I felt ignored, I felt worthless, I just felt totally undervalued... There
was just this constant sort of belittling of my talent… You do just kind
of come to work out that it is all about support and being, caring for
you – essentially people having your back isn’t it, that’s what it’s all
about.” (Scott)

15. 2. Psychological Response
• When reporting their workplace experiences prior to their
time off, interviewees frequently referred to feelings of fear
and threat, powerlessness and a sense of clouded judgment
and loss of objectivity as a response to dysfunctional
environmental factors.

16. i. Fear and threat
• Some form of perceived threat or lack of safety over and above the strain
caused by work demands.
• Included fear of bullying or vindictiveness from colleagues, fear of doing
something wrong or being unfairly blamed and fear for job security.
• Continued outside of work and could include a sense of threat to their
control over own home life.
• No faith in safety and support mechanisms to stop things from getting
worse.
“I felt this threat hanging over me all the time that ((pause))
somehow I, I would be gone… it sounds ridiculous now I’m saying it,
but they’d plot against me to find something to get me so that I’d get
into trouble or I’d have to leave or something like that and it was
those feelings which became really intrusive.” (Isla)
“I had very physical, um, reactions, you know, even to the phone, and
when the phone went off and, you know, I’d be like ‘Oh, what’s this
now?’ and stuff and I’d be really worried.” (Jack)

17. ii. Powerlessness
• Vividly expressed and extended beyond the specifics of their workplace
role to impact upon their lives as a whole.
• Included a loss of control over their work life and environment, feeling
helpless in the face of perceived threat and also feeling trapped in a bad
situation from which there was no clear way out.
“For me it was just that feeling of feeling of being so helpless, that
was the only thing, when I think back to it now, that’s the feeling that
sticks with me… I don’t quite ever feel as helpless as I did then.” (Isla)
“It was like being in a lift, where the doors would open occasionally
at a floor and you’d look out, and then just as you’re about to step
out the lift would plummet again, an-and you’d come to another floor
and you’d think ‘Oh, I ha- I’m safe now, I can, I can cope now’ – and
then, the lift would fall again, and that’s what it feels like sometimes
to me when the demands at work get out of control, get skewed...
[trapped in the lift] but desperately wanting to get out of it.
(Blondinka)

18. iii. Loss of objectivity and perspective
• Warped perspective or judgment due to a prolonged stressful situation
and high emotion.
• Fears may be out of proportion with reality, though hard to tell under such
high-pressure conditions in a dysfunctional environment.
• Gradual, accumulative build-up of strain that had become normal to feel
and therefore difficult to gauge the severity of.
“That just shifted my perception of everything else, massively,
because you get paranoid don’t you, and you worry about stuff and
then you make a mistake and it’s because you’re so worried about,
you know, ‘Oh God what’s going to happen to me’, it’s not just a
mistake, it’s like the end of the world, so – everything’s heightened.”
(Isla)
“I’d felt like that for such a long time that it had become a normal
way to feel… I sort of couldn’t really see the wood for the trees in the
end, I’d lost all sense of, of reality, and my sense of purpose.”
(Bridget)

19. iii. Loss of objectivity and perspective
• Feelings of confusion and self-doubt and self-blaming.
“The big question no one tells you that you ask is, you start asking
yourself ‘Is it me? ((pause)) Is it me? ((pause)) Am I mad? Is it me?...
If, you know, if [random name] was in that place, would he have been
able to deal with it? Is it me, am I weak? Am I a weak person, is that
what it is? Am I a person who is just – unemployable? Am I ever going
to get a job again, because –’ you know, that sort of stuff. And, you
really have to kind of wrestle with that.” (Scott)

20. iv. Individual differences in coping
• Interviewees recognised that personality and perception played a part in
how they and others coped with stress.
• Some felt people differed in the amount of order and control that they
needed, though disagreed on whether a desire for control was helpful or
harmful.
• Individual differences in motivation, confidence and perception could
affect how people responded to pressure.
“I’d like to say that stress in the workplace has peaked, because
there’s so much more awareness of mental health and how
important it is to ensure that your employees are happy and are
healthy… but, I don’t know because people put themselves under a
huge amount of stress to conform with ((pause)) what, how, how
they are perceived and how their job is perceived to be. You have to
live up to expectations.” (Blondinka)
“People who, who don’t care about their jobs don’t get stressed.”
(Scott)

21. 3. Impact
• Direct impacts included spending more time away from home and family
life due to working long hours and unusual shifts or taking work home.
• Indirect effects included inability switch off, relax and enjoy life outside of
work due to work anxiety.
“At the weekend I will always spend a day, at least, working... I should
just not do it, because it’s my own time, but if I didn’t do it I’d have
no lesson to teach on Monday so, I feel as though I have to do it... I
get frustrated ((pause)) because I feel as though there are other
things that are more important that I should be doing, like with my
family.” (Isla)
“I’d wake up on a Saturday morning, I-I’d have this terrible kind of
black cloud an-and I wouldn’t then want to kind of feel, to do
anything, which is very unlike me... I was just lying in bed, thinking
about work, thinking ‘Will they ring me? Will I be asked to come in
for a shift?’, um, you know, and it would be like I’d feel I couldn’t do
anything... I don’t feel this is my weekend even.” (Jack)

22. 3. Impact
• Interviewees also reported insomnia, disrupted sleep, anxiety dreams
about work and night terrors
• Reduced self-care and maladaptive coping techniques – e.g. increased
drinking, irrational OCD-like ritual habits or eating disorder-like symptoms
“But to me that [engaging in extreme dietary behaviors] was a way of
being in control because it was something that I decided to do, that I
could manage and nobody else there could ((pause)) influence it in
any way.” (Isla)
“Having those, those rituals was my way of being in control in a, in a
whole situation that felt – that was – totally out of my control, I had
no say at all in how I was feeling and so they were my little islands
that I was able to grab onto and feel safe.” (Blondinka)

23. 4. Post-Traumatic Growth
• Despite traumatic experiences that in some cases took a long time to
recover from, all interviewees reported a feeling of increased resilience
and positive life change following taking time off.
• Increased self-knowledge and awareness of mental health and workplace
issues, increased assertiveness, increased resilience, and a change in
career perspective and life priorities.
• Those who returned after changes had been made, or started at a new
workplace with better support systems in place, found that experience
made them feel justified, valued, empowered and supported.
• Returnees reported an improvement in working relationships with
superiors who had become more aware of workplace problems and the
need to respect and support staff.

24. 4. Post-Traumatic Growth
“There’s been a real shift in me at work and lots of people have
commented upon it… I feel so strongly about wellbeing and about
never, ever wanting to feel the way that I felt when I was poorly, that
I’m, you know, I’m not afraid anymore, I suppose, to say ((pause))
‘Enough is enough’.” (Isla)
“I’m a very different person as a result of it, and I’m much, I just think
I’m a much better person ((pause)) I’m much more grounded, I-I’ve
got a different view of life.” (Bridget)
“Your mental health and how you feel is very, very important... You
have a bit of time to reflect when you have time off, ‘cause you do
kind of work out what you kind of want from a workplace and what it
is when you come back... You are less likely to put up with stuff either
because you think ‘Actually, that’s what set me off’... I think also it
gives you a bit of a voice to be able to refuse stuff.” (Scott)

26. Overview
 In these interviews the term stress appeared to cover a range of
adverse responses to circumstances in which people felt the need
to escape from a chronically distressing, hostile and confusing
situation that was doing accumulative harm to their mental
wellbeing.
 The overriding issue was felt to be a lack of control over their
whole workplace life – and by extension their life outside of the
workplace – due to the absence of structure, organisation,
communication, support or safety net, in turn often due to
appalling relationships with superiors and colleagues.

27. Overview
 Interviewees felt a lack of control was central to their
experience of stress.
 Their notions of control involved multiple features of
their work life as contributing factors, with task
autonomy not the most salient.
 They consistently interpreted the notion of job control as
a significantly broader concept involving a struggle to
exert influence over their work lives in general, a
struggle thwarted by multiple factors and bringing with it a
sense of being trapped and even threatened.

28. Implications
 This study supports HSE’s six stressor categories (Demands,
Control, Support, Relationships, Role and Change).
 BUT it suggests that control at work may be an umbrella factor which
the HSE categories feed into.
 A sense of control is known to have a role in multiple mental
health conditions including depression and anxiety, PTSD, OCD
and eating disorders.
 Sense of control at work may act as a mediator (link) between those
HSE stress factors and wider mental ill-health.

29. Implications
 It’s not just about being exhausted, overstretched or
frustrated – lack of control is threatening, a concept
neglected in the recent work stress literature.
 The quality of work relationships – e.g. reports of
high conflict, poor communication and poor support
– should not be treated in isolation or ignored by
employers – they may be warning sign of deep-
rooted issues and that sickness due to stress may
result (EI!)
 That interviewees felt not only recovered but
stronger, wiser and more confident following their
experience is a powerful message to communicate
in reducing the stigma around taking time off due to
stress in the workplace.