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David
Lee
Consultant
Speaker
Author |
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For
More Information:
David Lee, Principal
HumanNature@Work
P.O. Box 430
Bar Mills, Maine 04004
Tel: 207-929-3344
E-mail: info@HumanNatureAtWork.com |
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SQ |
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Just How Serious Is The Problem?
Facts And Figures About Stress In The Workplace |
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The Cost |
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Health Care Related Costs
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The cost of corporate health benefits,
as a percentage of after-tax profits, has increased
from 26% in 1989 to 45% in 1990.
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Health Care Benefits Survey 1991 - Indemnity
Plans - Cost, Design, and Funding. Princeton,
NJ: A. Foster Higgins & Co., Inc; 1992: 2-3.
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Research shows that 60% to 90%
of doctor visits are stress related?
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Perkins, A. (1994). Saving money by reducing
stress. Harvard Business Review. 72(6):12.
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The total health and productivity
cost of worker stress to American business is
estimated at $50-$150 billion annually.
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Sauter, S.L.; Murphy, L.R.; and Hurrell, Jr.,
J.J. (1990) Prevention of work-related psychological
disorders. American Psychologist. 45(10):1146-1153
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Northwest National Life reported
in 1993 that one million absences each day in
the workplace are stress-related.
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Farrell, F. (1994) The demoralized zone: Healing
the downsizing survivors. Executive Directions.
September/October: 37-43
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California Workers' Compensation Institute
(1983) reported that gradual mental stress claims
more than doubled from 1980 to 1982. The National
Council on Compensation Insurance said that gradual
mental stress accounted for 11% of all claims
for occupational disease. From 1981 to 1982,
costs of workers' compensation for gradual mental
stress reached, and then surpassed, the average
cost of claims for other occupational disease.
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Sauter, S.L.; Murphy, L.R.; and Hurrell, Jr.,
J.J. (1990) Prevention of work-related psychological
disorders. American Psychologist. 45(10):1146-1153
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"A landmark 20-year study
conducted by the University of London concluded
that unmanaged reactions to stress were a more
dangerous risk factor for cancer and heart disease
than either cigarette smoking or high cholesterol
foods."
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Cryer, B. (1996). Neutralizing Workplace
Stress: The Physiology of Human Performance
and Organizational
Effectiveness. presented at: Psychological Disabilities
in the Workplace, The Centre for Professional
Learning, Toronto, CA. June 12, 1996.
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Experts estimate that it costs
American employers $700 million per year to replace
the 200,00 men aged 45 to 65 who die or are incapacitated
by coronary artery disease.
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Cooper, C.; Cooper, R.; and Baker, L. (1988).
Living with Stress. Harmondsworth, NY: Penguin
Health.
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A study of 3,020 aircraft employees
showed that employees who "hardly ever" enjoyed
their job were 2.5 times more likely to report
a back injury than those who reported "almost
always" enjoying their job.
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Bigos, S.J.; Battie, M.C.; Spengler, D.M.;
Fisher, L.D.; Fordyce, W.E.; Hansonn, T.H.; Nachemson,
A.L.; and Wortley, M.D.. A prospective study
of work perceptions and psychosocial factors
affecting the report of back injury, Spine, 1,
1?7, 1991.
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A recent study at a manufacturing
plant, showed that employees who reported high
levels of role conflict, physical environment
stress, and overall work stress had significantly
higher (p<.01, p<.05, and p<.05 respectively)
physician-excused absences.
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Heaney, C.; Clemans, J. (1996).Occupational
stress, physician-excused absences, and absences
not excused by a physician. American Journal
of Health Promotion. Vol. 10(2): 117-124.
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Forty percent of job turnover is
due to stress.
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Bureau of National Affairs
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Workers with high stress were over
two times more likely to be absent 5+ days a
year.
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Jacobson et al (1996) American Journal of
Health Promotion, 11(1).
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Unscheduled absences by US employees
rose by 9% in 1993, costing work organizations
as much as $750 per employee, according to a
national survey.
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Moskal, B.S. (1994) Unscheduled absences
by U.S. Employees: "Missing Persons," Industry
Week, August 15: 22. |
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Counterproductive Behavior
In 1985, counterproductive behavior by workers
cost American business $50 billion annually.
This cost is increasing by approximately 15%
annually.
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Kuhn, R.(1988).Psychological tests reduce
counterproductive acts by employees. Assets Protection.
9:9-12.
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Litigation
In 1986 alone, plaintiffs received favorable
verdicts in 78% of the wrongful discharge cases
that went to jury in California, the total
awards averaged $424,527.
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Fulmer, W. E. and Casey, A.W. (1990). Employment
at will: Options for managers. Academy of Management
Executive. May, 1990: 102.
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"Workplace trauma has its
roots in the culture of the organization. Recent
court decisions have supported this notion by
affirming that the creation of an environment
that may be perceived as offensive, threatening
or hostile is sufficient basis for liability
on the part of the employer, regardless of the
direct experience of an individual member."
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Tyler, T. R. (1989) Do employees really
care about due process? Proceedings of the
1989 Employee
Responsibilities and Rights, American Bar. Northwestern
University.
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The primary issue related to litigation
in wrongful termination is the perception of
injustice.
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Tyler, T. R. (1989) Do employees really care
about due process? Proceedings of the 1989 Employee
Responsibilities and Rights, American Bar. Northwestern
University.
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Decreased Productivity
A Gallup Poll of 201 U.S. corporations revealed
that 60% of all managers felt that stress related
illness was pervasive among their workers and
decreased productivity at an estimated cost
of 16 days of sick leave and $8,000 per person
per year.
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The Gallup Organization
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Every time a grievance is brought
up, lost productivity by the employee and those
around him/her is about 80 work hours.
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Wilson, B. (1991) U.S. businesses suffer from
workplace trauma. Personnel Journal. July, 1991:
47-50.
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$5 to $6 billion decreased productivity
annually occurs due to real or perceived abuse
of employees.
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Bureau of National Affairs. (1990) Violence
and Stress: The Work/Family Connection. The BNA
Special Report on Work and Family, Special Report
#32. August 1990: 2.
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Based on empirical estimates of
workplace impairment with respect to all mental
illness, the authors state "we assume that
depressed individuals contribute 20% less during
an episode than under
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Greeber, P. et al (1993) The economic burden
of depression in 1990. The Journal of Clinical
Psychiatry. 54(11), 405?418.
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The average depressed worker costs
their employer $3,000 per year.
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Greeber, P. et al (1993) The economic burden
of depression in 1990. The Journal of Clinical
Psychiatry. 54(11), 405?418.
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Accidents
Insurance data indicates insurance claims for
stress related industrial accidents cost nearly
twice as much as non stress related industrial
accidents.
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Perkins, A. (1994). Savings money by reducing
stress. Harvard Business Review. 72(6):12.
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Employees with low satisfaction
are more likely to have multiple injuries than
those with high satisfaction (54% to 43%). Employees
with a higher number of stressful life events
were more likely to have had more than one injury
than those with low (53% to 41%).
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Webb, G. et al. (1994). The relationships
between high-risk and problem drinking and the
occurrence of work injuries and related absences.
Journal of Studies on Alcohol. 55 (4), 441-442.
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The Pervasiveness of Stress |
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Constandino 'Dean' Biris, a consultant
on corporate change, estimates that "at
least 45% of American managers suffer too much
stress." As a result, "they are becoming
abusive, intolerant, and dictatorial." pg.
74
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Smith, E.T., Brott, J., Cuneo, A., and Davis,
J.E. (1988) Stress: The test Americans are failing.
Business Week. April 18: 74-76
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The 1985 National Health Interview
Survey revealed that an estimated 11 million
workers report health?endangering levels of mental
stress at work. Only one other hazardous work
condition ? loud noise, was found to be more
prevalent in the workplace.
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Shilling, S. and Brackbill, R.M. (1987) Occupational
health and safety risks and potential health
consequences perceived by U.S. workers. Public
Health Reports. 102:36?46.
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The Effects |
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General Effects and Mitigating
Factors
A survey by St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance
Company of 28,000 workers representing 215 diverse
organizations produced the following results:
Teamwork and supervision problems were the most
consistently and strongly related to burnout,
health problems, and performance problems. Teamwork
was at the top of the list for all of these.
Results of the study showed: |
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Stress at work is strongly correlated to
employee burnout, and health and performance
problems. |
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Among personal life problems, those caused
by one's job are the most potent. |
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Balance enhances employee morale, health,
and performance. |
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Male and female perceptions of the workplace
are nearly identical. |
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Kohler, S. and Kamp, J. (1992). American Workers
Under Pressure Technical Report. St. Paul Fire
and Marine Insurance Company. St. Paul, MN
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The Stress/Control Connection
Men with demanding jobs that give them little
control have three times the risk of hypertension
as co?workers. Men with demanding jobs with
control show no ill effects.
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Yandrick, Rudy and Freeman, Michalel (General
Editor), 1996. Behavioral Risk Management: How
to Avoid Preventable Losses from Mental Health
Problems in the Workplace. San Francisco, CA:
Jossey?Bass Publishers.
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American women with heavy work
loads and little job control are three times
more likely to develop coronary heart disease
than women with the same work load, but who had
more control.
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Rosen, The Healthy Company
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Cognitive Impairment
Research with humans experiencing uncontrollable
stress shows that such stress results in a
deterioration in their cognitive processes,
resulting in diminished problem-solving abilities.
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Seligman, M. (1972). Helplessness: On Depression,
Development, and Death. San Francisco: Freeman
and Company.
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Experiments with humans show that
uncontrollable stress leads to a shift in thought
process to a superficial, simplistic, unoriginal
style of thinking.
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Pennebaker, J. (1990). Opening Up: The Healing
Power of Confiding In Others. NY: Morrow.
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Our ability to learn is directly
affected by our emotional state. When we are
feeling stressed and insecure, our ability to
learn is seriously compromised.
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Rose, C. (1985). Accelerated Learning. NY:
Dell Books.
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Aggressive, Territorial Behavior
As stress levels increase, people revert to more
primitive hard wired@ survival patterns. Once
consequence of this is that when stressed,
they are more likely to respond in an aggressive,
territorial, paranoid manner.
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Bernstein, A. and Rozen, S. (1989). Dinosaur
Brain. NY: Ballentine Books.
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Increased Rigidity and Inflexibility
in the Face of Change
Downshifting is the process in which, as stress
level increases, our intellectual, emotional,
and interpersonal functioning becomes more primitive
and therefore, less effective.
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Hart, Leslie.(1983). Human Brain, Human Learning.
New York: Longman.
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When we downshift, we revert to
the tried and true... Our responses become more
automatic and limited. We are less able to access
all that we know or see what is really there.
Our ability to consider subtle environmental
and internal cues is reduced. We also seem less
able to engage in complex intellectual tasks,
those requiring creativity and the ability to
engage in open-ended thinking and questioning.
(pg. 72)
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Caine, R. and Caine, G. (1994). Making Connections:
Teaching and the Human Brain. NY: Addison Wesley.
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Difficulty Responding Effectively
to Challenges
Studies on humans suggest that chronically stressed
individuals show greater reactivity to, and prolonged
recovery from, challenging tasks. pg. 216
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Brosschot, J.F.; Benschop, R.J.; Godaert,
G.L.; Olff, M.; De Smet, M.; Heijnen, C.J.; and
Ballieux, R.E. Influence of life stress on immunological
reactivity to mild psychological stress. Psychosomatic
Medicine, 56, 216-224, 1994
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After AT&T's downsizing of
32,000 employees over several years. the company's
top psychiatrist Dr. Joel Moses, noted that workers
showed signs of "disengagement", a
subtle lack of focus and commitment. Richard
J. Ritchie - manager of corporate psychological
research noted the "flashback phenomenon," where
survivors would respond to announcements of layoffs
in other departments as if their own jobs were
in danger.
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Smith, E.T., Brott, J., Cuneo, A., and Davis,
J.E. (1988) Stress: The test Americans are failing.
Business Week. April 18: 74-76
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Addressing Stress in The Workplace:
ROI |
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At a Minnesota electronics manufacturer,
management had employees complete the Human Factors
Inventory (a stress/general wellbeing inventory)
during a major downsizing. The survey showed
high levels of worker stress. The company implemented
a variety of programs to address this problem.
Result - workers's comp claims decreased by 30%.
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Kohler, S. and Kamp, J. (1992). American Workers
Under Pressure Technical Report. St. Paul Fire
and Marine Insurance Company. St. Paul, MN.
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A Minnesota plastics manufacturer
surveyed employees using St. Paul's Human Factors
Inventory. Results portrayed a workforce that
was bored, frustrated over the lack of communication
and involvement in decision-making. They also
showed a lack of commitment to company quality,
safety and productivity.
They implemented a task force in each department
to address these issues, improved benefits, created
a safety incentive program, and a newsletter.
Result: a 56% drop in workers' compensation claims
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Kohler, S. and Kamp, J. (1992). American Workers
Under Pressure Technical Report. St. Paul Fire
and Marine Insurance Company. St. Paul, MN.
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The management of Waste Management,
Inc. from Oakbrook, Illinois; believed that worker
stress was contributing to absenteeism and medical
claims. They instituted a stress management program,
which has resulted in a cost savings of $3,750
to $15,000 savings per participant, (amount of
savings depended on their annual income).
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Naas, R. (1992) Health promotion programs
yield long-term savings. Business and Health.
10(13):41-47
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Data from the Human Factors Inventory
administered to approximately 1000 employees
of a Midwestern hospital resulted in the following
organizational changes:
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A comprehensive in-house EAP |
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The addition of a stress management program
to the hospitals back program |
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An intensive problem-focused consultation
to leaders of problem departments. |
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This translated into the following
Workers Compensation claim savings:
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Workers Compensation claims dropped from
3.1 claims per month to 0.6 per month. |
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Average monthly cost of claims dropped
from $7,329 to $324. |
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Average total expected claims cost dropped
from $24,199 to $2,577. |
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The authors conclude:
....the results suggest that while a one-time
stress management program will have little, if
any, effect on accident and injury occurences,
a more permant, comprehensive, organization-wide
program can have more substantial effects.
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Steffy, B.; Jones, J.; Murphy, L.; and Kunz,
L. (1986). A demonstration of the impact of stress
abatement programs on reducing employee=s accidents
and their costs. American Journal of Health Promotion.
Fall, 25- 32.
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Biofeedback and muscle relaxation
training was offered to workers at a public works
department in an effort to reduce work-related
injuries. Participants had significantly fewer
(p<.05) post-training injuries than non-participants.
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Steffy, B.; Jones, J.; Murphy, L.; and Kunz,
L. (1986). A demonstration of the impact of stress
abatement programs on reducing employee=s accidents
and their costs. American Journal of Health Promotion.
Fall, 25- 32.
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