One hundred and twenty thousand excess workplace deaths are caused by toxic stress in the workplace according to research done at Stanford University. This means that workplace stress is the fifth largest cause of death above diabetes and Alzheimer’s in the USA.
Chronic workplace stress is toxic and it is becoming pervasive. It is killing and maiming our workforce and distorting people’s lives. It is the modern day grim reaper. Public sentiment still considers stress a form of individual weakness, so like our dirty washing; we keep it behind closed doors. It is a secret only to be shared with people we trust.
Working at the top level of the Human Resources industry in this country, and now as an Executive Coach I have witnessed and am witnessing first hand the impact and escalation of chronic stress. However the trend can be changed.
Economic insecurity is considered the number one reason for workplace stress. Others include absence of control over working environments, the expectation of increased work hours and the potential impact of work family conflict.
Many people are fearful about losing their jobs and subsequent economic insecurity more than ever before. Why wouldn’t they when people believe their worth is reduced to a price tag?
For the last two decades companies reduce costs by having regular rounds of redundancies. It takes on overage 72 weeks to regain employment. Those people who maintain their job are required to do more with less and performance expectations escalate. There is no time to grieve for their fallen colleagues only the grim reminder that the empty chair could soon be theirs.
Many employees are not taking holidays, or long service entitlements to ensure they have some sort of nest egg in case they are going to lose their job. With fewer breaks to recharge batteries stress can continue to mount.
Unlike in the past, where stress was seen as an excuse for workers compensation claims, today there is a vague permission to express some amount of stress as it represents working hard. However few are reluctant to acknowledge, let alone express, the level of chronic stress they are experiencing. Some people describe that they are thinking in a fog.
There is a strongly held belief that demonstrating this type of vulnerability equates to the death nail to ones career. People just continue to cope with any mechanisms available to them. This may be coffee, alcohol, sleeping pills and exercise to name a few.
Let’s be clear, employees and managers often don’t talk to their boss about the degree of stress they are experiencing. Many perceive this level of vulnerability may jeopardise their job.
An organisations competitive advantage is the employee’s ability to think clearly, creatively and effectively. If employees are chronically stressed this affects their ability to think. This in turn, over time influences the financial success of the company and the individual’s ongoing health and employability.
A Medicare commissioned research states that workplace stress is costing Australia $25.7 billion annually. People may be present at work but they are not performing to capacity. This has been termed as presenteeism. On average six working days of productivity a year are lost per employee due to presenteeism.
Band-aid initiatives like sending in a masseuse, throwing around some stress balls, adding a couch or two and scheduling sessions on stress management rebranded, as resilience won’t address the issue.
There is no point asking how are we going to stop killing workers from workplace stress and how are workers going to prevent themselves from dying. It’s too dramatic and filled with negativity. A bit like the grim reaper it makes us cringe with denial and fear.
Instead the question that needs to be asked is: What systems and structures do organisations either need to create or destroy that enables people to have the best capacity to think clearly, creatively and effectively? Clearing the fog is a priority.
One large global company, who asked themselves such questions, stopped access by individuals to emails half an hour before and after work hours. Another reviewed current practices and like a spring clean threw out anything that wasted employees time like out dated performance management systems. Another, heaven forbid, threw out the open planned office so people could have space to think.
It is the thinking capacity of Australians that will be our competitive advantage. It is our individual and collective thinking ability that will help the nation’s mantra of being innovative agile and creative. This needs the focus.
It is about creating positive environments, thinking environments. Environments that are not cluttered with meaningless tasks that waste time and help create the modern day grim reaper of toxic stress.
