Stress Management in the International Workplace
Stress Management in the International Workplace
In the context of a burgeoning economy and the growing influence of "Americanised" work cultures and practices in a number of workplaces, stress at work has increased in Ireland in recent years. The management of workplace stress is thus an important contemporary issue in 2001. Recent research indicates that deficiencies in the management and organization of work are the main causes of stress at work, and that workplace stress may have a number of negative consequences for workers and employers, including: physical and mental illness; chronic absenteeism; increased labor turnover; and reduced morale, motivation and productivity.
While Ireland's much-vaunted "Celtic Tiger" economy continues to generate strong economic growth and reductions in unemployment, a number of negative aspects are evident in an increasingly frenetic economic climate. One of these is that there is increased evidence of workplace stress, particularly as the pressures of balancing work and outside responsibilities have intensified in recent times. Significantly, an increasing number of Irish workplaces appear to be following a similar trend to, or are influenced by, US models of workplace employment practice and attitudes to work culture. In certain instances, this has meant longer working hours, a culture of "workaholism", and a lack of "work-life balance" (Managing the work-life balance - IE0009155F); all of which often promote workplace stress. As such, the management of workplace stress is an important contemporary issue. Workplace stress can be defined as being experienced when "the demands from the work environment exceed the employees' ability to cope with them" ("Identifying organizational hazards that cause stress", J Armstrong, Industrial Relations News 33, September 2000).
Causes of workplace stress
Stress may be related to personal attributes and individual circumstances outside the workplace, such as family and relationship problems. However, three recent studies sponsored respectively by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Third European survey on working conditions, 2001 - European Foundation survey reveals that working conditions in Europe are deteriorating - EU0101292F), the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work ("Research on work-related stress", T Cox, A Griffiths and E Rial-Gonzalez, April 2000), and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions ("Workplace stress in Ireland", J Armstrong, 2001) conclude that the main causes of workplace stress are related to deficiencies in the design and management of work. Some of the main findings from these three studies are compiled below. With regard...