For workers around the globe, stress on the job can be a challenge. There is already a certain level of stress in our lives outside of work and then we encounter even more stress arising from the pressures we face on the job. In times of a poor economy, these stress levels tend to rise even higher. As layoffs and cutbacks impact our employment, salary, or benefits, all of us will experience additional stress. The increase in stress and how well we manage it can be the difference between succeeding or failing at our jobs.

While some stress is motivational, too much stress is detrimental to our health – and to the workplace. Beyond the point where we can effectively manage stress, there are physical, mental, and emotional results of excessive stress. Without effective stress management, the problem tends to increase in a snowball effect until absenteeism, disability, injury on the job,poor communication skills, and poor relationships at work can result. In this article,we’ll be looking at what causes stress in the workplace, what the impact of that stress can be, and what we can do in order to mediate the negative impact of stress on our lives and in the workplace.

Why People Experience Stress

Stress is a natural, physical response to our perceptions of a stimulus. It has an evolutionary purpose: our need to protect ourselves and the innate ‘flight or fight’ aspect of our nervous system. When we were battling for survival, stress is what released the adrenaline that let us fight. So although most of us don’t have to battle our way into the office each morning, the response to stimuli and the stress that results still exist.

That stimulus could be something physical, such as stubbing your toe, or emotional, such as the fear of losing your job or being embarrassed in the workplace. But not all sources of stress are negative stimuli. Some sources of stress are actually happy events. For example, getting promoted into a new position is a positive event, but it can add pressure to increase your work hours or the quality of your work, resulting in additional stress.

There are three main categories that cause stress in our lives:

•             Lack of Needs:

– Physiological

– Safety

– Belonging

– Ego or Status – Self-Actualization

•             Organizational:

– Physical environment

– Role-related

– Relationships

– Changes in the organization

•             Life:

– Personal changes

– Personal trauma

When your basic needs as a human being are not met, you are bound to experience stress. For example, if you become homeless, become involved in an abusive relationship, or don’t have a support system in place, you will experience stress. If the organization of your workplace is physically uncomfortable, your job becomes more demanding, your boss and you don’t get along, or the organization itself changes, stress is sure to be a result. Then in your own life, any major changes such as marriage, divorce, or the loss of a loved one will all cause stress.

As we said, some of these occurrences may be positive, but stress will still result. The important thing is how you handle the stress that you experience. We’ll be looking in more detail at some of these major causes of stress in the next chapter.

Learning to Manage Job Stress

The good thing to know about job stress is that you can learn to manage it so that it does not become a serious problem. A large majority of the  following article will deal with methods for learning to manage your stress levels. Some tools you will learn include:

•             Taking responsibility for how you experience stress

•             Taking steps to limit the impacts of stress on your health

•             Identifying your ‘stress points’ or areas in which you are vulnerable to stress

•             Learning to improve your interpersonal and communication skills to reduce stress in your relationships.