1

Stress At Workplace

Is An Unavoidable,

Certain Changes In Lifestyle Needed.

Prepared By: -MMM-Sem III

Sachin P. Chavan – 11
Himanshu Tayde –
Yuvraj Pawar –
Prasad Rawale -
Devendra Jadhav –
Ujjwal -

The complete absence of stress is death. Stress is inevitable

Stress at workplace is an unavoidable, change in lifestyle needed.

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Index

1. Background – Current Scenario

2. Stress at workplace

3. Types of Stress

4. Causes and Reason for Stress

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1. Background

Current Scenario -
India's rapid economic expansion has boosted corporate profits and employee incomes, but has
also sparked a surge in workplace stress and lifestyle diseases that few Indian companies have
addressed.

Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said his biggest concern was the country's information
technology industry that has grown rapidly, riding on the outsourcing boom in recent years.

"It's the fastest-growing industry in our country, but it is most vulnerable to lifestyle diseases,"
Ramadoss said. "Its future growth could be stunted if we don't address the problem now."

Long working hours, night shifts and a sedentary lifestyle (Sedentary lifestyle is a type of lifestyle
most commonly found in modern (particularly Western) cultures. It is characterized by sitting or
remaining inactive for most of the day (for example, in an office. Make people employed at
information technology companies prone to heart disease and diabetes, the report said. There
have also been growing reports of mental depression and family discord in the industry).

Infosys Technologies Ltd., India's second-largest software exporter, has a 24-hour hot line for
employees suffering from depression to access psychiatrists.

"We must have prevented at least 30 deaths from suicide because of this hot line," said Richard
Lobo, a director at the Bangalore-based company.

"In Bangalore, the psychiatrists say their Saturdays are reserved for marriage counseling
Marriage Counseling.

The ICRIER (Indian Council for Research and International Economic Relations study), which
surveyed 81 companies, said they lose approximately 14 percent of their annual working days
due to employee sickness. Less than a third of them provide their staff with preventive health care
measures.

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Reducing just one health risk increases an employee's on-the-job productivity by 9 percent and
cuts absenteeism by 2 percent, the study said.

Ravi Kasliwal, a cardiologist at New Delhi's Indraprastha, Apollo Hospital, said many Indians are
not aware they face cardiac risk, although the country is expected to have the world's largest
number of heart patients by 2020.

Heart disease is projected to account for 35 percent of deaths among India's working age
population between 2000 and 2030, Kasliwal said, citing data from the World Health
Organization. That compares to about 12 percent in the United States, 22 percent in China and
25 percent in Russia, he said.

The ICRIER study said corporate initiatives are crucial because of low levels of public health
spending and poor insurance coverage in India.

India's per capita [Latin, by the heads or polls.] A term used in the Descent and Distribution of the
estate of one who dies without a will. It means to share and share alike according to the number
of individuals. Health spending of US$7 is one of the lowest in the world and is a fraction of what
the United States spends _ US$2,548, according to a 2006 WHO report.

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2. Stress At Workplace

Stress at work is a relatively new phenomenon of modern lifestyles. The nature of work has gone
through drastic changes over the last century and it is still changing at whirlwind speed. They
have touched almost all professions, starting from an artist to a surgeon, or a commercial pilot to
a sales executive. With change comes stress, inevitably. Professional stress or job stress poses a
threat to physical health. Work related stress in the life of organized workers, consequently,
affects the health of organizations.

It is difficult to determine who experiences more stress—corporate workers or entrepreneurs.

Corporate executives seem to be burning out in record numbers. One of the key factors is the
hectic pace of today’s corporate environment. Many corporate executives are having difficulty
finding the right work/life balance. This hectic pace and unbalanced lifestyle leads to many stress
related illnesses such as poor health, obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, alcohol and
drug abuse, and dysfunctional relationships.

The stressors for entrepreneurs are different. The life of the entrepreneur tends to revolve around
work leaving little time for leisure activities. Entrepreneurs work long hours and often take work
home with then. They often do not have anyone to delegate work to and may not have coworkers
to discuss problems with. Though the sources of stress are different, the results are not.
Entrepreneurs also experience loss of health, illnesses, and dysfunctional relationships due to
stress.

Men and women do not seem to differ in the amount of stress they face—only in their reaction to
it. Women seem to be slightly more reactive to stress and report higher amounts of stress and
related illness than men. Women tend to use more social support than men in dealing with stress,
while men tend to use more avoidance than women. Women too are more likely to seek
counseling or advice from professionals. Men and women both report the same top sources of
stress—finances, time, worries about the future, academics, change, and personal relationships.

Research suggests that workers under the age of 30 feel stress because most of these workers
are entering their first career related job and must excell. Workers between the ages of 31 and 40
have job related stress due to job dissatisfaction from lack of feedback and lack of promotion.

Organizational change, restructuring, and downsizing are some of the greatest job stressors. The
effect is greatest on those who are left at the organization after this occurs—the survivors. This

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change may leave the survivors feeling insecure, angry, and bitter. The tighter management tries
to control the changes the greater these negative feelings will be. Survivors may become
consumed with job survival and may become less effective as they focus less effort on their work.

Ways to deal with organizational stress include minimizing changes in the work environment,
providing adequate training, improving working conditions, providing adequate lighting,
maintaining equipment, and using ergonomic work stations. It is also important to maintain open
communication with employees. This minimizes fears of cut backs and layoffs and minimizes
harmful gossip and rumors. Schedule frequent breaks and try to avoid long hectic work days.
Provide employees with an onsite exercise and fitness room to help relieve stress, and for the
employees who seem to be in stress crisis, provide counseling and other health services. Also
consider providing education on time management to help employees cope with multiple
demands and deadlines.

Stress – What is it?

Stress in humans results from interactions between persons and their environment that are
perceived as straining or exceeding their adaptive capacities and threatening their well-being.
The element of perception indicates that human stress responses reflect differences in
personality, as well as differences in physical strength or general health.

The causes of stress can include any event or occurrence that a person considers a threat to his
or her coping strategies or resources. Researchers generally agree that a certain degree of stress
is a normal part of a living organism's response to the inevitable changes in its physical or social
environment, and that positive as well as negative events can generate stress. Stress-related
disease, however, results from excessive and prolonged demands on an organism's coping
resources. It is now believed that 80–90% of all disease is stress-related.

"The perfect no-stress environment is the grave. When we change our perception
we gain control. The stress becomes a challenge, not a threat. When we commit to
action, to actually doing something rather than feeling trapped by events, the stress
in our life becomes manageable." - Greg Anderson

"Mental tensions, frustrations, insecurity, aimlessness are among the most

damaging stressors, and psychosomatic studies have shown how often they cause
migraine headache, peptic ulcers, heart attacks, hypertension, mental disease,
suicide, or just hopeless unhappiness." - Hans Slyer

When you suffer an attack of nerves you're being attacked by the nervous system.
What chance has a man got against a system?" - Russell Hoban

"Pressure and stress is the common cold of the psyche." - Andrew Denton

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“Stress is not merely nervous tension. It can have can have positive consequences
and is not something to be avoided.”

3. Types of Stress

Eustress: -
Where stress enhances function (physical or mental, such as through strength training or
challenging work) it may be considered eustress. Winning an athletic competition is an example
of eustress.

Examples of causes of eustress

• Meeting a challenge
• Coming in first or winning
• Getting a promotion
• Marriage
• The holidays
• Buying a new home
• Going on a roller coaster ride

Distress: -

Persistent stress that is not resolved through coping or adaptation may lead to escape or
withdrawal behavior is known as distress. Distress is a kind of suffering. In medicine, distress is
stress caused by adverse events

Distress versus eustress : -

Distress is the most commonly-referred to type of stress, having negative implications, whereas
eustress is a positive, desirable form of stress. Both can be equally taxing on the body, and are
cumulative in nature

Symptoms of Stress

The symptoms of stress can be either physical and/or psychological. Stress-related physical
illnesses, such as irritable bowel syndrome, heart attacks, and chronic headaches, result from
long-term over stimulation of a part of the nervous system that regulates the heart rate, blood

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pressure, and digestive system. Stress-related emotional illness results from inadequate or
inappropriate responses to major changes in one's life situation.

Marriage, completing one's education, the death of a loved one, divorce, becoming a parent,
losing a job, or retirement. Psychiatrists sometimes use the term adjustment disorder to describe
this type of illness. In the workplace, stress-related illness often takes the form of burnout—a loss
of interest in or ability to perform one's job due to long-term high stress levels.

Prevention

Complete prevention of stress is neither possible nor desirable because stress is an important
stimulus of human growth and creativity, as well as an inevitable part of life. In addition, specific
strategies for stress prevention vary widely from person to person, depending on the nature and
number of the stressors in an individual's life, and the amount of control he or she has over these
factors.

In general a combinations of attitudinal & behavioral changes work well for most patients. The
best form of prevention appears to be parental modeling of healthy attitudes and behaviors within
the family or counseling.

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4. Cause and Reason For Stress

Both negative and positive stressors can lead to stress. Some common categories and
examples of stressors include:

• Sensory: pain, bright light

• Life events: birth and deaths, marriage, and divorce
• Responsibilities: lack of money, unemployment
• Work/study: exams, project deadlines
• Personal relationships: conflict, deception
• Lifestyle: heavy drinking, insufficient sleep
• Early life exposure (e.g. child abuse) can permanently alter an individual's stress
response[citation needed]
• Environmental: Lack of control over environmental circumstances, such as food, housing,
health, freedom, or mobility
• Social: Struggles with co specific individuals and social defeat can be potent sources of
chronic stresses

Common cause for workplace stressors -

A) Threats -
i) Risk of harm caused by working in unsafe conditions
ii) The possibility of dismissal
iii) The rate of change
iv) The uncertainty of change
v) Poor interpersonal relationships with supervisors or co-workers harassment from others.

B) Pressure –
i) Meet unreasonable deadlines
ii) Adopt new technology
iii) Adapt to certain management styles
iv) Accept new goals and targets

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v) Comply with unreasonable proposals

vi) Accept and act upon performance feedback

C) Frustration -
i) Poor workplace communication and consultation
ii) Lack of acknowledgment in the workplace that a stressor exists
iii) Lack of acknowledgment of the individual’s achievements

iv) Being passed over for promotion

v) Not being suited for, or properly trained for a job

Major stress -
1. personal loss, such as the death of a loved one or the end of a relationship
2. threat of physical danger
3. a major industrial accident
4. loss of job.

Individual’s response to workplace stress

Physiological change –
Increased blood pressure, Tiredness, Weight loss or gain, Headaches

Emotional Change –
Increased tension, Depression, Frustration, Feelings of emptiness

Behavioral change -
Over/under eating, Misuse of alcohol and other drugs, Interpersonal difficulties, Difficulty in
sleeping, Aggressive or passive behavior, Workplace conflict, Absenteeism

Stress at workplace is an unavoidable, change in lifestyle needed.

MMM, Sem-III, 2009-11