Occupational stress or job strain is chronic psychological stress related to one's job. Occupational stress can be managed by understanding what the stressful conditions at work are and taking steps to remediate those conditions. One of the most common forms of stress, it is characterized by a combination of low salaries, high demands, and low levels of control over things such as raises and paid time off. Stresses at work can be eustress, a positive type of stress, or distress, a negative type of stress. Job strain in the workplace has been proven to result in poor psychological health, and eventually poor physical health. Job strain has been a recurring issue for years and affects men and women differently.
Occupational stress can occur when workers do not feel supported by supervisors or coworkers, feel as if they have little control over the work they perform, or find that their efforts on the job are incommensurate with the job's rewards. Occupational stress is a concern for both employees and employers because stressful job conditions are related to employees' emotional well-being, physical health, and job performance.Sulsky, L. & Smith, C. (2005). Work Stress. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth. The World Health Organization and the International Labour Organization conducted a study. The results showed that exposure to long working hours, operates through increased psycho-social occupational stress. It is the occupational risk factor with the largest attributable burden of disease, according to these official estimates causing an estimated 745,000 workers to die from ischemic heart disease and stroke events in 2016.
A number of disciplines within psychology are concerned with occupational stress including occupational health psychology, human factors and ergonomics, epidemiology, occupational medicine, sociology, industrial and organizational psychology, and industrial engineering.Griffin, M.A, & Clarke, S. (2010). Stress and well-being at work. In S. Zedeck (Ed.), APA handbook of industrial and organizational psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Hart, P.M & Cooper, C.L. (2002). Occupational stress: Toward a more integrated framework, In D.S. Anderson, N. Ones, and H.K. Sinangil, (Eds.), (2018) Handbook of industrial, work and organizational psychology, Vol. 2, Organizational Psychology (pp.93–115). Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage.
Psychological theories of worker stress
A number of psychological theoriesCooper, C. L. (1998). Theories of organizational stress. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. at least partly explain the occurrence of occupational stress. The theories include the demand-control-support model, the effort-reward imbalance model, the person-environment fit model, job characteristics model, the diathesis stress model, and the job-demands resources model.
Demand-control-support model The demand-control-support (DCS) model, originally the demand-control (DC) model, has been the most influential psychological theory in occupational stress research. The DC model advances the idea that the combination of low levels of work-related decision latitude (i.e., autonomy and control over the job) and high psychological workloads is harmful to the health of workers. High workloads and low levels of decision latitude either in combination or singly can lead to job strain, the term often used in the field of occupational health psychology to reflect poorer mental or physical health. The DC model has been extended to include work-related social isolation or lack of support from coworkers and supervisors to become the DCS model. Evidence indicates that high workload, low levels of decision latitude, and low levels of support either in combination or singly lead to poorer health. The combination of high workload, low levels of decision latitude, and low levels of support has also been termed iso-strain.
Effort-reward imbalance model The effort-reward imbalance (ERI) model focuses on the relationship between the worker's efforts and the work-related rewards the employee receives. The ERI model suggests that work marked by high levels of effort and low rewards leads to strain (e.g., psychological symptoms, physical health problems). The rewards of the job can be tangible like pay or intangible like appreciation and fair treatment. Another facet of the model is that overcommitment to the job can fuel imbalance.
Person–environment fit model The person–environment fit model underlines the match between a person and his/her work environment. The closeness of the match influences the individual's health. For healthy working conditions, it is necessary that employees' attitudes, skills, abilities, and resources match the demands of their job. The greater the gap or misfit (either subjective or objective) between the person and his/her work environment, the greater the strain. Strains can include mental and physical health problems. Misfit can also lead to lower productivity and other work problems. The P–E fit model was popular in the 1970s and the early 1980s; however, since the late 1980s interest in the model has waned because of difficulties representing P–E discrepancies mathematically and statistical models linking P–E fit to strain have been problematic.
Job characteristics model The job characteristics model focuses on factors such as skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback. These job factors are thought to psychological states such as a sense of meaningfulness and knowledge acquisition. The theory holds that positive or negative job characteristics give rise to a number of cognitive and behavioral outcomes such as extent of worker motivation, satisfaction, and absenteeism. Hackman and Oldham (1980) developed the Job Diagnostic Survey to assess these job characteristics and help organizational leaders make decisions regarding job redesign.
Diathesis-stress model The diathesis–stress model looks the individual's susceptibility to stressful life experiences, i.e., the diathesis.Hart, P.M. & Cooper, C.L. (2001). Occupational Stress: Toward a More Integrated Framework. In N. Anderson, D.S. Ones, H.K. Sinangil, & C. Viswesvaran (Eds), Handbook of Industrial, Work and Organizational Psychology (vol 2: Personnel Psychology). London: Sage. Individuals differ on that diathesis or vulnerability. The model suggests that the individual's diathesis is part of the context in which he or she encounters job stressors at various levels of intensity.NIOSH (1999). Stress at Work. U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, DHHS (NIOSH) Publication Number 99-101. If the individual has a very high tolerance (is relatively invulnerable), an intense stressor may not lead to a mental or physical problem. However, if the stressor (e.g., high workload, difficult coworker relationship) outstrips the individual's diathesis, then health problems may ensue.
Job demands-resources model In the job demands-resources model model derives from both conservation of resources theory and the DCS model. Demands refer to the size of the workload, as in the DCS model. Resources refer to the physical (e.g., equipment), psychological (e.g., the incumbent's job-related skills and knowledge), social (e.g., supportiveness of supervisors), and organizational resources (e.g., how much task-related discretion is given the worker) that are available to satisfactorily perform the job. High workloads and low levels of resources are related job strain.
Factors related to the above mentioned psychological theories of occupational stress
Role conflict involves the worker facing incompatible demands.Beehr, T. A. (1995). Psychological stress in the workplace. New York, NY: Routledge.Katz, D., & Kahn, R. L. (1978). The social psychology of organizations 2ed. New York: Wiley. Workers are pulled in conflicting directions in trying to respond to those demands. Role ambiguity refers to a lack of informational clarity with regard to the duties a worker's role in an organization requires. Like role conflict, role ambiguity is a source of strain. Coping refers to the individual's efforts to either prevent the occurrence of a stressor or mitigate the distress the impact of the stressor is likely to cause. Research on the ability of the employees to cope with the specific workplace stressors is equivocal; coping in the workplace may even be counterproductive. Pearlin and Schooler advanced the view that because work roles, unlike such personally organized roles as parent and spouse, tend to be impersonally organized, work roles are not a context conducive to successful coping. Pearlin and Schooler suggested that the impersonality of workplaces may even result in occupational coping efforts making conditions worse for the employee. Organizational climate refers to employees' collective or consensus appraisal of the organizational work environment. Organizational climate takes into account many dimensions of the work environment (e.g., safety climate; mistreatment climate; work-family climate). The communication, management style, and extent of worker participation in decision-making are factors that contribute to one or another type of organizational climate.
Effects of work stress Eustress causes Examples of positive causes of stress in the workplace include starting a new job and receiving a pay raise. Both of these situations improve performance.
Distress causes On the negative side, one cause of job strain is low salaries. Low pay causes job strain due to living expenses. Housing expenses are extremely high, which makes it difficult for minimum wage workers to afford housing. As the minimum wage increases, the cost of living increases as well.
The second cause of job strain comes from excessive workloads. Being exhausted from overworking is a common stressor in the workplace and can often lead to poor communication between coworkers. A 2019 survey by Cartridge People identified workload as the main cause of occupational stress.
A lack of support from employers and employees may also cause stress. Making decisions and participating is a way of support from employers and employees.
Negative health and other effects Physiological reactions to stress can have consequences for health over time. Researchers have been studying how stress affects the cardiovascular system, as well as how work stress can lead to hypertension and coronary artery disease. These diseases, along with other stress-induced illnesses tend to be quite common in American work-places. There are a number of physiological reactions to stress including the following: Blood is shunted to the brain and large muscle groups, and away from extremities and skin. Activity in an area near the brain stem known as the reticular activating system increases, causing a state of keen alertness as well as sharpening of hearing and vision. Epinephrine is released into the blood. The HPA axis is activated. There is increased activity in the sympathetic nervous system. Cortisol levels are elevated. Energy-providing compounds of glucose and fatty acids are released into the bloodstream. The action immune and digestive systems are temporarily reduced.
Studies have shown an association between occupational stress and "health risk behaviors". Occupational stress has shown to be linked with an increase in alcohol consumption among men and an increase in body weight.