Working To Fatality

RUNNING

TO FATALITY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Sanyo Moosa is a faculty with Salalah College of Applied Sciences Oman. His research area is focused on Human Resources. His study on the stress management on the employees of bank in Kerala is a pioneer work. He was actively involved with Ministry of Manpower Planning in his previous roles. ABSTRACT Stress at work is a relatively new phenomenon of modern lifestyles. The nature of work has gone through drastic changes over the last century and it is still changing at whirlwind speed. They have touched almost all professions, starting from an artist to a surgeon, or a commercial pilot to a sales executive. With change comes stress, inevitably. Professional stress or job stress poses a threat to physical health. Work related stress in the life of organized workers, consequently, affects the health of organizations. KEY WORDS Stress Management, Job Stress, Tension, Work Pressure, Work place stress, Work behavior INTRODUCTION Many studies of job stress spotlights on tensions among employees, emphasizing the detrimental effects of unequal power and control over work decisions. These effects vary as individuals react to job stress in different ways, in some cases turning to unhealthy behaviors like alcohol or drug abuse to cope. (Ragland, D.R. (2002)) Personality and stress may also interact to change work behaviors, as Ohio State researcher Catherine Heaney and her colleagues discovered. In that study, introverted students

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under stress used different muscles to lift heavy boxes, straining their backs more than extroverted students.

CONSEQUENCES

OF STRESS AT WORK

The health effects of workplace stress are not fleeting inconveniences, researchers say. One small study suggests that poor supervisor-employee relations can raise blood pressure to levels normally linked to a 16 percent increase in heart disease and a 38 percent increase in stroke, (Wager, N. (2003)) while a 25-year study of men in stressful jobs found a gradual but large increase in their blood pressure at home and work.( Landsbergis, P.A. (2003)) THE FACTS: •

Workplace stresses can double the rate of death from heart disease, according to a 2002 study of 812 healthy employees. High demands, low control, low job security and few career opportunities contributed to the overall stress measured in the study. (Kivimäki, M. et al. (2002))

•

One study found that workers who had little control over their jobs were up to 50 percent more likely to die during a period of five to 10 years than workers who had high-stress jobs but more decision-making responsibilities. (Amick III, B.C. et al. (2002))

•

Office staffs, who are exposed to low-level office noises, including quiet conversations, have higher levels of the stress hormone epinephrine than those working in silent offices. (Evans, G.W. and Johnson, D. (2001))

•

Clerical workers show more signs of biological stress during the workday than those in executive or more senior positions, according to a British study. (Steptoe, A. et al. (2003))

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•

Stress can thwart the heart-healthy aspects of a physically active job, according to a study of utility workers. Thicker arteries (a sign of atherosclerosis) were found among physically active but stressed workers. Those who were physically active but not stressed had thinner arteries. (Nordstrom, C.N. et al. (2001))

•

Low-income workers who work long hours say that family nutrition is one of the first things sacrificed to the demands of their job. The workers say that they skip meals, eat on the run, eat too much junk food

and

have

trouble

preparing

healthy

meals

for

their

children.(Devine, C. et al. (in press)) •

Work-related stress (including job insecurity) and fatigue may increase the risk of cold, flu and stomach inflammation. In one study, employees in demanding jobs developed colds 20 percent more often than those in less demanding positions. (Mohren, D. (2003))

•

Men who work in physically violent or dangerous occupations, as well as those who work in female-dominated professions, may commit more domestic violence than men in managerial positions. (Melzer, S.A. (2002))

•

Social support seems to help New York City traffic enforcement agents keep their blood pressure down: Female agents get the most benefit from supportive supervisors, while men tend to rely on co-worker support. (Melzer, S.A. (2002))

•

In some cases, work stress can be beneficial to health: A 2001 study found that the immune system got a boost when faced with the active stress of meeting a work deadline, while the passive stress of watching violent scenes on TV can weaken immunity. (Bosch, J.A. et al. (2001))

THE

EFFECT OF

ECONOMIC RECESSION & STRESS

In the current economic downturn, people worry about the robustness of stock portfolios and ask if the concerned government is doing enough to Sanyo Moosa

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revive the economy. It is more than a cliché, however, to say that hard times have physical as well financial consequences for a nation’s health. Downsizing, long work hours, staff restructuring and job strain can be linked to chronic disease, injuries and accidents, says Paul Landsbergis, Ph.D., an assistant professor at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine and research associate at the Center for Social Epidemiology. “Psychosocial job conditions do seem to be getting worse,” Landsbergis says, citing a series of European surveys and one U.S. survey suggesting “dramatic increases” in work pressures since 1977. And while employees in Japan and several European countries are working fewer hours than in the past three decades, the opposite has happened in the United States. “United States workers’ average weekly work hours are now the longest in the developed world,” Landsbergis says. “Prime-age working couples are contributing nearly four additional months of annual work time since the 1970s.” Landsbergis says that studies of chronic disorders like cardiovascular disease provide the strongest evidence that recent job trends may be having a negative impact on workers’ health. Researchers have identified job strain, or the combination of high demands and little control over one’s work, as a particular risk factor for high blood pressure and heart disease. “Since chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and hypertension take years to develop, we may be observing only the initial stages,” Landsbergis says. Other links between economic uncertainty and health can be unexpected. For instance, a study of food-processing plant employees suggests that layoff fears can increase the risk of work injuries and accidents. Employees who Sanyo Moosa

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worried about job loss were less apt to work safely, causing more injuries, according CAN

to

psychologist

Tahira

M.

Probst,

Ph.D.

WORK-RELATED FITNESS PROBLEMS BE INVERTED?

“I suspect that is the case,” Landsbergis says, although he notes that paucity of data about health impacts of interventions to reduce job stress. Some cardiovascular studies, however, suggest that blood pressure does improve as job strain decreases. Landsbergis thinks many employers would like to improve work conditions and employee health, but acknowledges that they face their own workplace stresses. “In the global economy, [employers] are under pressure to reduce costs and get people to work harder and faster,” he says. “Federal, state and local governments are under similar pressure ... because of budget cuts. So the issue goes beyond the wishes of individual employers.” REFERENCES •

Amick III, B.C. et al. (2002) Relationship between all-cause mortality and

cumulative

working

life

course

psychosocial

and

physical

exposures in the United States labor market from 1968 to 1992. Psychosomatic Medicine, Medicine, 64, 370-381. •

Bosch, J.A. et al. (2001) Differential effects of active versus passive coping on secretory immunity. Psychophysiology, Psychophysiology, 38, 836-846.

•

Devine, C. et al. (in press) Sandwiching it in: spillover of work onto food choices and family roles in low- and moderate-income urban households. Social Science and Medicine. Medicine.

•

Evans, G.W. and Johnson, D. (2001) Stress and open-office noise. Journal of Applied Psychology, Psychology, 85, 779-83.

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•

Karlin, W.A. et al. (2003) Workplace social support and ambulatory cardiovascular activity in New York City traffic agents. Psychosomatic Medicine, Medicine, 65, 167-176.

•

Kivimäki, M. et al. (2002) Work stress and risk of cardiovascular mortality: prospective cohort study of industrial employees. British Medical Journal, Journal, 325, 857-860.

•

Landsbergis, P.A. et al. (2003) Life-course exposure to job strain and ambulatory blood pressure in men. American Journal of Epidemiology, Epidemiology, 157, 998-1006.

•

Melzer, S.A. (2002) Gender, work, and intimate violence: men's occupational violence spillover and compensatory violence. Journal of Marriage and Family, Family, 64, 820–832.

•

Mohren, D. (2003) Stress at work increases the chance of acute common infections. Doctoral thesis, supported by the Netherlands Organization

for

Scientific

Research,

http://www.nwo.nl/nwohome.nsf/pages/NWOP_5J4DHH?OpenDocument &g=NWO&n=ACPP_4WMESE&rc=1. &g=NWO&n=ACPP_4WMESE&rc=1. •

Nordstrom, C.N. et al. (2001) Work-related stress and atherosclerosis: The Los Angeles Atherosclerosis Study. Epidemiology, Epidemiology, 12, 180-185.

•

Probst, T.M. and Brubaker, T.L. (2001) The effects of job insecurity on employee

safety

outcomes:

cross-sectional

and

longitudinal

explorations. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, Psychology, 6, 139–159. •

Ragland, D.R. et al. (2002) Occupational stress factors and alcoholrelated behavior in urban transit operators. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, Research, 24, 1011-1019.

•

Steptoe, A. et al. (2003) Socioeconomic status and stress-related biological responses over the working day. Psychosomatic Medicine, Medicine, 65, 461-470.

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•

Wager, N. et al. (2003) The effect on ambulatory blood pressure of working under favorably and unfavorably perceived supervisors. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Medicine, 60, 468-474.

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