Symptoms of stress Assessment of Stress

187 20 WORK-RELATED STRESS Psychosocial aspects of the work environment have been increasingly recognised in recent years. Prob lems associated with “work-related stress” are now considered a central issue in the management of health and safety. In many developed countries cases of “mental ill health” represent the single most common cause of work-related illness. Well-designed, organised and managed work helps to maintain and promote individual health and well-being. But where there has been insufficient attention to job design, work organisation and management the benefits and benefits associated with work can be lost. One common result is work-related stress. By the term work-related stress we mean the effects arising where work demands of various types and combinations exceed the person‟s capacity and capability to cope. It is a significant cause of illness and disease and is known to be linked with high levels of sickness absence, staff turnover and other indicators of organisational underperformance - including human error. The design and management of work is important in anticipating, recognising and preventing stressful situations. Of course, many of the greatest stressors in life occur outside the workplace and it is often not possible to avert stress simply by focussing on workplace issues. Many large organisations now offer resilience training to their employees to help them manage work-life balance and avoid stress for themselves. For people experiencing stress, though, it needs to be diagnosed and treated in a timely fashion so that the worker can be rehabilitated.

20.1 Symptoms of stress

Stress produces a range of signs and symptoms, these can include; Changes in Behaviour: finding it hard to sleep, changed eating habits, increased smoking or drinking, avoidance of friends and family or sexual problems. 188 Physical symptoms: tiredness, indigestion and nausea, headaches, aching muscles or palpitations. Mental changes: becoming less indecisive, finding it hard to concentrate, suffering from loss of memory, feelings of inadequacy or low self esteem. Emotional changes: getting irritable or angry; feeling anxious or numb, being hypersensitive, or feeling drained and listless.

20.2 Assessment of Stress

The use of a survey is the most common method for gathering information on whether work-related stress appears to be a potential problem in a workforce. It can also give an indication as to who is likely to be affected and how. Surveys typically involve asking all employees a series of questions where they rank their individual perceptions of the kinds of factors likely to contribute to stress or job satisfaction. These might include:  Task variety.  Work demands in balance with ability.  Continuous development of skills.  Responsibility and authority.  Participation in work progress and development.  Involvement in planning and problem solving.  Deadlines time pressure.  Social support and interaction with colleagues.  Visibility of the entirety of the process.  Positive work management climate.  Freedom to move around physically.  Control over schedule pace.  Choice of working methods  Influence on production quantity and quality.  Length of cycle time.  Degree of freedom of action.  Workgroup organisation. 189 The UK Health and Safety Executive produce an example of such a survey tool as well as providing a useful spreadsheet tool for analysing the results. See: http:www.hse.gov.ukstressstandardsstep2surveys.htm accessed February 2010.

20.3 Management of Stress