The Impact of Stress on Employees

• The Mental & Physical Consequences of Stress
• The Cost to Business of Ignoring Employee Stress

The Mental & Physical Consequences of Stress

Businesses are becoming increasingly concerned about the effects of stress on productivity and the work environment.

In his 1999 Report¹, Dr. Martin Shain, Senior Research Scientist for the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health, suggests that the consequences of excessive stress are both mental and physical.

Mental consequences - stress can make employees feel:

• Rushed, stressed and helpless
• Abused
• Nervous
• Depressed
• Angry and upset
• Careless and reckless
• Lack of concentration
• Easily distracted

Physical consequences - stress can result in employees:

• Eating poorly
• Drinking too much
• Using too many medications
• Having no time for exercise
• Sleeping poorly
• Being prone to infections
• Being more likely to get injured
• Being at a higher cardiovascular risk

---

¹Shain, M. (1999). The role of the workplace in the production and containment of health costs: The case of stress-related disorders. Leadership in Health Services, 12 (2), 1-7.

---

Furthermore, Dr. Shain found that high stress situations are associated with:

• More than double the heart rate and cardiovascular problems equivalent to smoking, being overweight, being unfit and eating poorly
• Significantly higher rates of anxiety, depression and demoralization
• Significantly higher susceptibility to a wide range of infectious diseases
• Significantly higher levels of alcohol and prescription/over-the-counter drug use

The Cost to Business of Ignoring Employee Stress

Home and job stress both affect wellness (self-reported health status) through a number of related mechanisms, including:

• By defeating employees' sense of control over their work and their health which, in turn, reduces motivation to pursue positive health practices; and
• By making it difficult for employees to maintain a healthy lifestyle and pursue positive health practices.

The health and safety-related costs of ignoring stress risks in an organization are:

• Higher benefit payouts
• Higher absenteeism
• Lower efficiency
• Lower productivity
• Less creativity
• Less competitiveness
• Less client/consumer satisfaction
• Higher injury rates
• Higher property damage rates

In his report, Dr. Shain contends that employers will soon face litigation based on the lack of due diligence that creates excessive stress for employees. He concludes that organizations need to examine the decisions and choices that produce stress and then establish strategies to help employees manage stress.

One of the key ways organizations can help employees manage stress is to help them to be physically active in and around the workplace.