Key employers more likely to be stressed out

William Atkins
Wednesday, 26 January 2011 00:14

Science - Health

A Canadian study has identified that a company's critical employees are more likely to have the most stress at work, especially if they perceive themselves as having job responsibilities that could highly affect others.

Now, you might assume that critical and key employees -- those that have the most responsibilities, those with duties that can affect others the most, and those that work long and/or varied hours - would naturally report having the most stress at work.

However, these researchers placed this basic assumption that most of us have under the realm of scientific research, with proven data to back it up.

In fact, they stated, 'Few studies have examined the relationship between perceived responsibilities by workers and job characteristics and experiences of stress.' [Abstract to paper]

Researchers at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) surveyed 2,737 employees (adults, from 18 to 65 years of age, within the province of Alberta, Canada) who had worked the previous year in one of several work settings, such as construction, farming, manufacturing, office, and service.

The study is written up in the January 2011 issue of the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

The article is entitled 'Relationships between Job Stress and Worker Perceived Responsibilities and Job Characteristics.' It is authored by C. S. Dewa, A. H. Thompson, and P. Jacobs.

Of the workers studied, 18% of them (about 493 out of 2,737) said they are under a lot of stress and their jobs were 'highly stressful.' [EurekAlert (January 25, 2011): 'Workers most invested in their jobs have highest stress levels, CAMH study shows']

And, 82% of workers surveyed reported low or no stress. The ones reporting low or no stress were more likely to be workers that were 'male, single, under the age of 25 or work in a small business.'

Workers who were satisfied with their jobs also reported less stress.

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