Question

provide 3-4 paragraphs post (team 2)

1-What are 4 key things you learned about the topic from reading their paper?

2-How does the topic relate to you and your current or past job?

3-Critique the paper in terms of the organization and quality.1-

Employee Stress and how it has an Adverse Effect on a Company
This paper explores employee stress and how it has an adverse effect on a company, its
employees and the organization. Job stress can have a negative impact on an organization’s
bottom line, and if companies do not act swiftly to eradicate the negative effects of employee
stress, it will cause irrevocable damages and stunt their growth. This paper also explores seven
major areas of job stress, such as: Major Sources of Stress, How Does Employee Stress Affect the
Organization, How Stress Affects Employee Work Performance, How Stress Affects Health, Job
Burnout, Stress Management Interventions and Wellness Programs and Stress Management
Training, to assist employers to eradicate negative employee stress in the workplace. I believe
these topics are beneficial to manage employee stress in the workplace, so that it doesn’t have an
adverse effect on company’s financial acumen and to improve the work environment.
Workplace Stress
The Canadian Center for Occupational Health and Safety (2012), defines workplace
stress as, “the harmful physical and emotional responses that can happen when there is a conflict
between job demands on the employee and the amount of control an employee has over meeting
these demands.” They also indicate that, “stress in the workplace can have many origins or come
from one single event” (CCHOS, 2012). This is a prime example why it is so important for
companies to realize the impact of job stress in the workplace.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health Publication No. 99 (1999), says
that, “the nature of work is changing at a whirlwind speed. Perhaps now more than ever before,
job stress poses a threat to the health of workers and, in turn, to the health of an organization”
(NIOSH, 1999). I believe more so than ever, employees are spending more of their time at work,
EMPLOYEE STRESS 3
and away from their families; especially, when they work on salary and in a high-level positions,
which poses additional threat to the health of employees who are working longer hours.
According to the American Institute of Stress (2017), “Increased levels of job stress as
assessed by the perception of having little control, but lots of demands have been demonstrated
to be associated with increased rates of heart attack, hypertension and other disorders. In New
York, Los Angeles and other municipalities, the relationship between job stress and heart attacks
are well acknowledged, that any police officer who suffers a coronary event on or off the job is
assumed to have a work-related injury and is compensated accordingly.” In my opinion, police
officers have a very difficult job, because they work in a highly stressful environment, and they
put their lives on the line daily to protect us.
Given the fast-paced society and the demands for increased productivity in the
workplace, employee stress is a normal and accepted phenomenon. However, excessive amounts
of stress can interfere with an employee’s ability to be productive; as well as, impact an
employee’s physical and emotional health and relationships at work and at home. Employee
stress, either positive or negative, can mean the difference between job success and failure.
Positive employee stress can help employees stay focused and energized, meet deadlines and
foster growth. Consequently, negative stress can be detrimental to an employee’s health, their
state of mind and productivity (Brown, 2011, p. 234).
The adverse effect of employee stress on a company can be costly in a business
organization, and poor working conditions can lead to workplace stress, which can cause work
related injuries (Shukla & Garg, 2013). When employees are under an enormous amount of
stress, it can impact their work performance and could affect the overall morale of the
organization. Therefore, companies should proactively attempt to create a culture that helps
EMPLOYEE STRESS 4
employees manage stress effectively, by implementing programs to combat the negative effects
of stress.
Major Sources of Stress
A major source of stress is workplace violence, which is an act of violence that can cause
physical harm or death to employees (Brown, 2011, p. 234). According to Brown (2011),
“homicide is the second leading cause of fatal occupational injury. Almost 2 million instances of
homicide, aggravated assault, rape, or sexual assault are reported in the workplace and an
average of 20 people are murdered on the job each week in the United States” (p. 234).
One prime example of workplace violence is the school shooting that occurred on
February 14, 2018, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The entire
staff at that school was affected by this senseless crime. One can only imagine the amount of
stress the entire school had to endure, after witnessing the horrific slaughter and unjustly demise
of their fellow coworkers and students. Stress management programs and timely interventions
are important to help employees cope with stress at this magnitude. As anecdotal evidence, the
Broward County School District has and continues to provide counseling services and mental
health wellness classes for the staff and students of this school and will continue for the
foreseeable future.
The attached graph is based on a survey that was conducted by the American Institute of
Stress (2017), which breakdown the main causes of stress in the workplace.
EMPLOYEE STRESS 5
Brown (2011), states that stressors may cause an emotional or physical reaction, such as
fear, anxiety, and an increase heart rate in an individual. (p. 234). As previously mentioned,
workplace stress is also a common cause of low productivity, low morale, and chronic illnesses,
which may lead to increased turnover rates and employee absences. I believe it is very important
for an employer to ensure that workplace stressors are managed and ultimately controlled. Also,
I think that well-established companies that care about their bottom line, should value the
wellness of their employees, and they should implement and continuously improve programs that
will foster positive growth, and educate managers to help employees balance work life and
stress.
How Does Employee Stress Affect the Organization?
There is a myriad of reasons why stress occurs in an organization. These include
workload, personnel issues, juggling work personal lives and job security. One workload
example that is pertinent to a sales organization is the stress of meeting monthly goals. The
employee may exhibit signs of positive stress reactions (determination, working harder) or
negative stress reactions (sleep deprivation, anxiety) to make those goals (Reynolds 2018).
According to Reynolds (2018), one might notice increased instances where an employee
becomes argumentative or easily agitated. The employee may exhibit a change in behavior, such
as smoking heavily or eating unhealthy foods, and may make more mistakes, which will cause a
decline in performance. Frequent absenteeism or being late to work may be stress indicators
(Reynolds, 2018). There is a tipping point of when good stress is no longer productive, and will
cause the employee and the business to suffer with a potential decline in sales, complaints in
customer service, uncompleted projects and orders not being placed.
EMPLOYEE STRESS 6
According to Higginbottom (2014), “The Global Benefits Attitudes survey found that
“levels of workplace disengagement significantly increase when employees experience high
levels of stress. The study of 22,347 employees across 12 countries, including the UK and US,
revealed that over half of those employees claiming to experience high levels of stress, reported
they were disengaged. By contrast, only one in ten employees claiming low stress levels
reported they were disengaged and half of this group claimed to be highly engaged”
(Higginbottom, 2014). As previously mentioned, there is good stress, or in other words, stress
that is good for the company because it will cause the employees to work harder and benefit the
company. However, it may be bad for the employee’s health and in the long term and will
negatively affect the organization. The one solution to stress in the workplace for a company is
to implement stress management training.
How Stress Affects Health
Employees are an organization’s best and most important assets. Companies that
promote workers’ health, build a culture dedicated to the overall wellbeing and happiness of their
employees. Health is something that is affected when high levels of stress are present. Stress at
work can be caused by long hours dedicated to the job, pressure of managing time to meet
deadlines and much more. Having an abundant amount of responsibilities and tasks to be
completed in the workplace, will undoubtedly increase employees’ stressors / stress level. For
example, if an employee is not feeling well, productivity and performance will decrease because
of lack of energy or will to complete tasks. Instead, tasks will become increasing difficult to
complete, and the stress levels experienced by the employee will intensify. This will eventually
cause employee to burnout.
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Mcewen and Sapolsky (2006), explain that “there are critical health problems and quality
of life issues that can be caused by chronic or long-term stress. Some of these are obesity from
over-eating or lack of exercise, complications in ones’ digestive system, weakening of the
immune system, nervous system reactions causing anxiety, depression, lack of interest,
cardiovascular system issues, which may result in higher than normal blood pressure, spikes in
heart rate and increased presence of blood fats.” These issues can possibly be managed or even
be avoided, if stress is dealt with accordingly.
According to Michie (2002), there are a few things that can help avoid or have some sort
of control over the stress employees’ experience. The author states, “…becoming aware of the
signs of stress, analyzing the situation and developing an active plan to minimize the stressors,
learning active coping and relaxation skills of active and developing a lifestyle that creates a
buffer against stress may help manage negative stress levels” (Michie, 2002). Furthermore, by
identifying what causes employee stress at work, one can learn to avoid or try to decrease the
stressor or activity that is producing the stress. Sometimes, it may not necessarily be an
“activity,” but rather a person may be the stressor. If this is the case, decreasing the amount of
interaction with that individual can help change the amount of stress caused. Being able to
develop an overall lifestyle that exhibits relaxation and coping methods is something that will
help in every aspect of stress, whether it is derived from work or ones’ personal life.
Job Burnout
In our dynamic society, it is now expected that the work week is continual and now is a
twenty-four hours, seven days a week expectation from employers. With a more demanding job
market, job burnout is becoming a commonplace theme in the workplace. According to Harvard
Business Review, in the healthcare sector alone, “the psychological and physical problems of
EMPLOYEE STRESS 8
burned-out employees cost an estimated $125 billion to $190 billion a year in healthcare
spending in the U.S” (Garton, 2017). The article suggests that big corporations need to
recognize the terrible effects that job burnout has on an organization, which can cause a lower
productivity level, overburdening employees, and bring negative emotions into the workplace
(Garton, 2017). Furthermore, lower productivity can affect the organization in its entirety.
Additionally, the author states three reasons why job burnout happens: too much
collaboration, lack of parameters for time management, and overloading the most capable with
the most work (Garton, 2017). Corporations should be aware of not only the consequences of
job burnout, but the corporate corporation’s responsibility of intervening before employees get to
that point. The overall consequence of companies ignoring the common effect of stress could
eventually be workplace violence or the demise of the company.
Garton (2017) explains that the most capable employees are often the ones who suffer
from stress, as they are most likely carrying the burden of less productive employees. A possible
solution to this is for corporations to put more of a focus on cross-training. If a corporation
focuses more on cross-training, the corporation will have less burdened employees who shoulder
a disproportionate amount of the workload. Garton (2017) examines how each company should
examine how much time is expended on by unnecessary communications, such as certain emails
and meetings. Garton (2017) analyzed a company in which a manager was losing an average of
a standard workday per week attending to emails and meetings. If employees feel like they are
burdened with stress, a sometimes frivolous task such as email can be stymie and negatively
impact the employees’ job performance and productivity. If companies give employees
attainable goals to reach, this could drive down the chances of job burnout.
EMPLOYEE STRESS 9
Stress Management Interventions and Wellness Program
The current state of workplace stress is a problem throughout many organizations. To
reduce the consequences of stress, employers are implementing programs such as stress
management interventions and wellness programs. Some employers such as General Mills
invest extensively in employee benefit programs, and have seen dramatic reductions in heart
disease amongst their employees (Brown, 2011, p. 236).
Grady (2017), explains how employees on an individual level can cope with stress by
developing emotional intelligence. The author suggests identifying the emotional triggers that
bring about stress, as well as, identifying coping methods such as meditation to overcome these
obstacles. In my opinion, each organization should create stress intervention program to
facilitate an environment of compassion towards their employees. I believe a company’s
sustainable competitive advantage is their employees, and if they are willing to invest in their
wellbeing, as they do to maintain their technological advances, it could substantially benefit
them in the future.
Wellness programs have come a long way from just physical fitness. Companies are
spending a lot of money creating wellness programs featuring onsite healthcare services,
massage services, nutrition counseling, mental health screenings, smoking cessation, and fitness
centers to improve their working environment. For example, Xerox has spent over $3.5 million
on fitness and recreation center in their Virginia training facility. Other companies such as Nike,
AT&T, Google and Blue Cross have elaborate wellness programs in their organization as well
(Brown, 2011, p. 236). Wellness programs utilized in the workplace create a constructive
atmosphere, and will prove to be beneficial, if employees partake in the programs.
EMPLOYEE STRESS 10
Stress Management Training
Employee training is a way of helping people manage stress that will positively affect
employees, which will result in more benefits for the company. According to the Scandinavian
Journal of Educational Research, different forms of training must be regarded as investments in
human capital, and that the purpose of allocating resources in this way is to increase future
output (Lundmark, 2006). Lundmark (2006) explains how “companies hire employees that they
think can be trained to benefit the company.” Managers sometimes ask themselves, “are these
employees worth the time and money that is spent on training and are they going to create output
once trained?” (Lundmark, 2006). Once trained, the employees should be able to benefit the
company in a positive way.
There are many forms of stress management training in the workplace. According to
Bernstein (2017) of the Wall Street Journal, seven ways to reduce stress include: “focusing on
your breath, identifying the cause of the stress, not ruminating or panicking, putting down your
phone, visualizing your anxiety, saying your stress out loud, or even tapping.” Companies can
provide training that teaches the employees about these methods in the workplace.
Other methods that can be used to relieve stress are: writing about things that are
affecting your work environment or home life, talking or laughing about your feelings, and
participating in something you enjoy can help you relax. Employers can implement monthly
activities that employees can enjoy, such as massages and team building exercises. They can
also incorporate a meditation room, or even have a place where they can have some “me” time
(Bernstein, 2017).
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Conclusions
Employee stress has shown to lead to low job performances, turnovers, and it can affect
an employee’s state of mind and their personal lives. Stress in the workplace is something that
most employees cannot escape; they just need to know how to balance it, so that it doesn’t
negatively impact their job performance. Prolonged negative workplace stress among employees
will ultimately have a negative outcome on their productivity and performance, which can cause
adverse financial reverberations on the company.
If an employee is stressed, they will not be able to focus and manage their time well.
Consequently, it exacerbates the situation and could negatively affect the rest of the workforce.
Even though people deal with stress differently, some employees manage it better than others,
which is why organizations’ should implement various programs, such as stress management
interventions, wellness programs and stress management training in the workplace. They should
also train their managers and front-line supervisors on how to assist employees with stress.
If companies would implement these types of programs, and train managers on how to
help employees manage stress, it could have an enormous positive impact in the workplace. It
could also boost morale, increase productivity, foster growth, and lesson the burden on
employees who handle stress less effectively. These are all formable reasons why it is
imperative for businesses to work hard to implement programs to help their employees cope with
stress.

Answer 1

The four key things I have learnt are the widespread existense of stress across job profiles due to demands of the job exceeding performance capabilities combined with various other responsibilities that people handle, the different types of stress and their causes and effects on health and performance of an individual, different ways in which stress can be reduced or effectively managed and the social resbonsibility of organisations to create a stress free environment and to provide stress reduction and management programs within the organisation through wellness programs, meditation and other techniques by appointing wellness managers.

In the present scenario of competition and constant deadlines, there are very few job profiles whether at the top or bottom level which are free from work related or performance stress. My managerial position few years back was extremely stressful as the job itself had an inbuilt stress activator. The job was as commercial manager impex in the import division of an organisation. The profile entailed co-ordinating with the exporter of the ship's spares as also the buyer who was awaiting the spares for his vessel. As inordinate procedural delays then due to lengthy import regulations and documentation. Handling the pressure from the buyer who was losing huge money due to his ship being unable to sail, as also trying to convince the exporter to ship at the earliest and speed up necessary documentation was bad enough as it entailed adjustment to exporters time zones also to interact with them. What finally made me quit was when I was given the additional task of handling outstandings inwards and outwards. The company was bad at making payments and handling exporters demanding their payments at any time of the night was a bit too much. Does become difficult to come up with an excuse when you are drowsy. I was almost unable to sleep even after being extremely tired physically and mentally. Gradually it started impacting my health seriously with constant symptoms of anxiety. It was a clear indicator of serious repurcussions and I decided to quit and become an entrepreneur.

The paper is an excellent work with very detailed information on the topic presented in a very clear and concise manner. There is no subject matter related to the topic which has been ignored at the same time the information has been well edited and condensed so as to present all the necessary facts and information without going into excessive detail. The matter has been organised in a structured manner making it very easy to assimilate as each topic is related to the next and the line of flow is clear. The presentation is so complete in itself that it eliminates any need for outside references on the subject as it provides basic appropriate knowledge of each aspect of the topic its presence, causes, effects and control measures and cures. Superlative in one word with good cross references.