The 3 Top Causes of Job Stress and How to Manage It
According to a report, WHO gathered over 80 percent of people, both men, and women, experience job stress in their working place.
What Is Job Stress?
There are so many definitions from different writers, but let me quickly see what job stress is all about.
Job stress is the emotional pressure suffered by a person or externally applied to a body, which causes internal stress within the body.
In other words, it is a body’s response to physical and mental demands, as job stress perform high workload, toxic environments, and most especially demands of advanced technology and job insecurity and believe it job stress is everywhere.
It affects not only the health and well-being of employees but also the productivity of organizations. Job-related stress happened where work demands of various types and combinations exceed the person’s capacity and capability to cope.
Now, in another way around, we can say there is good stress and bad stress. For example, job stress is attached to a form of challenge that energizes us psychologically and physically, and it really does motivate us to learn new skills.
When you meet up with the challenge, we feel relaxed and satisfied; it is called good stress or eustress.
But in most cases, a challenge turned into job demands that cannot be met. It is called negative stress or distress, and it sets the stage for effects like illness, injury, and job failure.
Symptoms To See In Job Stress
In this aspect, it comprised of the physical, Psychological, and Behavioral symptoms;
- Headaches
- Heart palpitations
- Sleeping difficulties, such as insomnia
- An increase in sick days or absenteeism
- Aggression
- Diminished creativity and initiative
- A drop in work performance
- Problems with interpersonal relationships
- Mood swings and irritability
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Discouragement
- Irritability
- Pessimism
- Feelings of being overwhelmed and unable to cope
In case you don’t know, there are some early warning signs of job stress;
- Musculoskeletal Disorders
- Psychological Disorders
- Workplace Injury
- Cardiovascular Disease
3 Main Causes Of Job Stress
Job Insecurity
This part is essential for employees’ job stress, as today’s economy is not certain and stable, and the competition is really high now.
Companies increase employees’ workload and expectations due to job insecurity that drives companies to go for cost-cutting measures and layoffs.
The result is the fear of losing a job and meeting high demands in your working place causes undue stress in every employee now.
Lack of Training and Resources
This area is tough to meet with the job demand if employees are not well trained and available for the project.
If employee’s skills didn’t match the job requirement, there is trouble because deadlines to task quality will cause stress and get nervous. But if he/she is well trained, they can easily execute the task and meet the qualifications.
Managerial Style
Managerial ways of controlling things can also affect the employees’ stresses, like some managers with an autocratic style of control, give very little freedom in working place and decision making.
So, employees working under such managers get stressed due to very little control over their work and very high restrictions.
Ways To Manage Job Stress
- Drugs, such as alcohol and tobacco, won’t alleviate stress and can cause additional health problems. Avoid excessive drinking and smoking.
- Taking responsibility for improving your physical and emotional well-being.
- Avoiding pitfalls by identifying knee jerk habits and negative attitudes adds to the stress you experience at work.
- Learning better communication skills to ease and improve your relationships with management and coworkers.
- Make sure you have enough free time for yourself every week.
- Think about the changes you need to make at work to reduce your stress levels and then take action. Some changes you can manage yourself, while others will need the cooperation of others.
