According to statistics, 40% of people describe their job as very or extremely stressful. 25% of people rate their jobs as the number one stressor in their lives. According to a report, 14% of people feel like punching a coworker. 25% of people feel like screaming because of job stress. 10% of people fear a co-worker could do something violent.
All of these stresses lead to several health issues including sleep problems, heart problems, digestive problems, weight gain and even depression. American Heart Association found that people who reported experiencing job related stress had blood pressure that tested 10% higher than those who did not experience job stress.
The study also found that people who were stressed maintain their high blood pressure even after they got home. While those non-stressed participants, their blood pressure dropped right when they left the office.
The British Medical Journal did a 15 year study on workplace stress and they found that people who reported being overworked and unable to meet deadlines were twice as likely to get type 2 diabetes than those who felt they were able to meet the deadlines.
This workplace stress situation leaves us with a question that what are the causes of stress at work. Here are 5 biggest causes of stress at work so that you can recognise it and work on it to lead a happier life.
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Personality.
The degree to which stressors affect us is caused in part, by our personality type. Since stress comes from within, the things we do can cause us stress. There are type A type B personalities. People with type A personalities have more stress than people with type B personalities.
If you have type A personality you can end up with some more problems associated with stress. The best way to deal with this is to practice certain ways where you can avoid not getting stressed. Meditation and counselling can help this in the long run.
People who focus on the positives in their jobs are happier than people who focus on the negative aspects of their job. People with such personality tend to have internal stress at their workplace. Internal stress can happen in a workplace when an individual has an internal complex. This can happen when a person’s morals or values are tested.
This can cause a great deal of stress as the person needs to figure out how to deal with it themselves without involving others. Non-specific fear can take place when someone is unsure of what their future may hold or what’s going to happen next.
Fears of inadequacy can be overwhelming if someone’s not provided with positive feedback and made to feel that they are not meeting the expectations of their job.
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Organisational Climate.
Organisational climate is the relatively enduring quality of the internal environment of the organisation as perceived by its members. Climate is an employee’s perception of the atmosphere of the internal environment, such as its rules, and how employees are treated, which is important to group and organisational success.
The amount of cooperation, the level of motivation, and the overall morale in an organisation affect stress levels. The more positive the organisational climate and work culture, the less stress there is.
An organisation can claim to have a strong culture and have a negative climate. Employees can know how things should be done while being dissatisfied with their perception of the way things are actually done. Job satisfaction is based primarily on organisational climate.
If an employee is not satisfied with the organisational climate then this will definitely become a cause of stress at work. The structure of the workplace could cause stress. If it’s very noisy, or poor air quality and very limited place to work or other environmental factors that could be detrimental to the comfortable place to work.
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Management Behavior.
Calm, participative management styles produce less stress. Tight control through autocratic management tends to create more stress. Some bosses use awful behaviour, some are even abusive and have caused stress to the point of driving employees to quit their jobs.
Management behaviour contains 4 basic functions- Planning, Organising, Leading and Controlling. But sometimes these basic functions are not being performed the right way.
Managers and bosses become very restrictive and controlling which can be a cause to stress. This also leads to negativity and unlikeness towards your own job which leads to lower growth and productivity.
Instead of leading and motivating members of the organisation to work together towards the organisation’s goals. It becomes dictating the team members towards that goal.
Controlling is the process of monitoring and correcting the actions of the organisation and its people to keep them headed towards their goals. Control is a vital importance to a business but it can be misused and become a reason for harsh criticism for the employees by their manager or bosses. That’s why it is one of the causes of stress at the workplace.
People who enjoy their jobs and derive satisfaction from them handle stress better than those who do not. In some cases, a change of job is a wise move that can lower or get rid of some of your stressors.
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Being Overloaded.
When an employee is overloaded with work, this can cause a person stress. Most of the time they would be wondering if they will ever be able to get all of their work done.
Being overloaded can also cause stress but being underworked has a different form of stress. It could make a person feel like they aren’t putting in their part or doing what they should be doing. To help the company.
If a manager chooses to micromanage an employee and watches every move they make. The stress level for that person would increase. A manager that is over authoritative demanding that their employees meet strict rules and are held accountable for every move they make.
If management can not make decisions or take responsibility, the person could stress from not having enough rules and not feeling capable of the management to turn to.
Monogamy can also cause stress, meaning it’s tedious or repetitive or if you are doing the same thing hour after hour and day after day. An individual’s stress level could increase if there’s no variety in the job or the job feels like it’s meaningless. This can make the person question their worth in the job.
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Relationship at Work.
Poor relationships in the workplace could also be a big role in causing stress. If someone has a relationship with somebody else at work and then for one reason or another it comes to an end on a bad note.
It can cause stress and tension if they have disagreements or arguments that take place. There can also be added stress if you have to continue working with that person .
Balancing out the amount of time between work and personal life can cause stress in the workplace if it feels like work is taking up too much personal time.
If someone is dissatisfied with their job, no matter what the reason is, it can cause stress in the workplace.
