14 DAY TRIAL // Workers who are very invested in their jobs have high stress levels, concluded a Center for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) study.
The survey involved 2,737 Alberta adult workers, aged 18 to 65, and 18% of them reported that their job was 'highly stressful'.
The participants had worked the previous year in different settings, like offices, construction, manufacturing, farming and services, among others.
The goal of this study was to hear out the workers, to learn about their responsibilities, job demands and their experience with stress.
The results showed that if the workers were managers or professionals, if they believed that their poor job performance could affect others or if they worked long or variable hours, they had the highest odds of being very stressed.
Workers who believed that their poor job performance could negatively affect their co-workers, result in any physical injury, cause damage to the company's equipment or reputation or a financial loss, were twice as likely to report high stress.
Employees who were engaged and responsible were also more likely to be stressed, as well as those who worked variable hours, were on call, were doing shift work or had a compressed work week.
In addition, having a worksite remote from home, or having to entertain or travel for the job, also rose stress levels.
The problem with chronic stress is that it can lead to burnout and can accentuate any existing mental or physical health problems.
This research could help develop interventions targeting workers and their working environment, which represents a more effective approach.
Dr. Carolyn Dewa, Senior Scientist and Head of CAMH's Work and Well-being Research and Evaluation Program, said that “the people who report high stress are the ones most invested in their jobs.
"Employers should be very concerned with keeping this population healthy,” because “from a business perspective, it is in a company's best interest to support these workers.
“It is important that employees have access to resources that address their mental health concerns.
“In the long run, these interventions can help save some of the annual $17 billion in lost productivity in Canada,” added Dewa.
"Employers should be asking, 'What am I doing to reduce stress in my most valuable people?'”
The researcher explains that the sources of stress they have identified “will be the same for Canadian workers wherever they are based, as they held true across different locations and workplaces in our survey.”
The remaining 82% of workers, said that they experienced low stress or not at all, but they were more likely to be male, single, under the age of 25 or working in a small business.
A rather interesting fact is that if workers were satisfied with their jobs, they were less likely to find them highly stressful.
The study also notes that compared with the rest of Canada, Alberta has slightly lower levels of stress.
The research was published in this month's International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.