Job Stress & its Management
Presentation
By
O. B. Krishna, Chief, Corporate Safety, Tata Steel
And
Prof J Maiti, IIT Kharagpur
Corporate Safety
Outline of Session
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Stress and Job stress – introduction
Burden of Job stress
Effects of Job stress
Causes of Job stress
Job Stress Model of Palmer
Managing Job Stress – 5 step approach
Interventions for job stress
Tata Steel Experience
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Stress…
• Living in today’s world has brought with it,
not only innumerable means of comfort, but
also a plethora of demands that tax human
body and mind.
• Now-a-days everyone talks about stress at
work and at home.
• Stress is an inevitable and unavoidable
component of life due to increasing
complexities and competitiveness in living
standards.
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Job Stress
• Occupational stress / Job stress is becoming
the single greatest cause of occupational
disease and can have adverse consequences
for both the worker and the workplace.
• Job Stress or work stress is defined as the
response people may have when presented
with work demands and pressures that are not
matched with their knowledge and abilities and
which challenge their ability to cope with the
situations .
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Positive and Negative Stress
• People get confused about
the difference between
pressure and stress.
• We all experience pressure
regularly – it can motivate
us to perform at our best
(Positive stress).
• When we experience too
much pressure and feel
unable to cope up with it
stress can result (Negative
Stress)
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Burden of Job Stress
• 45% American managers suffer too much stress at work
(Smith, 1998).
• According to the HSE, UK, in 2005 more than 500,000
people in the UK believed that, they were experiencing
work-related stress at a level that was making them ill.
• The total health and productivity cost of worker stress to
American business is estimated at $50-$150 billion
annually (Sauter ,1990).
• As per HSE estimates the costs to society of work
related stress to be around £4 billion each year, while
13.5 million working days were lost to stress in
2007/08.
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How Stress Affects
• As per ILO, worldwide
stress is recognized as
major
challenge
to
workers
health
and
healthiness
of
the
organization.
• Workers who are stressed
are more likely to be
unhealthy,
poorly
motivated, less productive
and less safe at work.
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Effect of Job Stress on Employee
Workplace Stress and Health Effects
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Effect of Job Stress on Organization
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Reduced productivity
Absenteeism
Illnesses
Poor employee morale
Increased employee
turnover
• Higher accidents and
Injury rates
• Higher medical expenses
Corporate Safety
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Source: Reducing Stress at
Workplace : - An Evidence Review
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Causes of Job Stress
• Demographic
• Work Related
• Age
• Gender
• Experience
• Educational level
• Personal
• Personality
• Coping ability
• Work home
interface
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• Demand
• Control
• Support
• Relationship
• Role
• Change
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Work Related Causes of Job Stress
• Demands: Includes factors intrinsic to the job
such as workload, shift work, long or unsocial
work hours and work conditions.
• Control: How much autonomy a person has
over his job; low levels of job control are typically
linked to high levels of stress.
• Relationships: Relationships with superiors,
subordinates and colleagues can play a part in
on individual’s stress levels, conflict, harassment
and bullying in the workplace are all linked to
heightened stress.
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Work Related Causes of Job Stress
• Role: Stress may be triggered when an individual
does not have a clear understanding of his role,
when there is conflict between roles or ambiguity
with regards to position and degree of responsibility.
• Support: The amount of support and job training
available, as well as encouragement, sponsorship
and resources provided by colleagues and
management.
• Change: The way in which change is introduced,
managed and communicated to staff can impact on
levels of stress, as badly planned change results in
excess pressure.
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Job Stress Model
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Why to Manage Job Stress ?
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Reduction of Sickness
Reduction of Sickness Absenteeism
Improved employee morale
Employee Retention
Improve Production
Creating Healthy Workplaces
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Five Step Approach for Job Stress Management
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Five Step Approach for Job Stress Management
• The Health & Safety Executive (HSE), UK guide
(2001 & 2007) provided a five-step Work related
stress risk assessment guide to aid the
diagnosis of problems and provide a framework
for intervention.
• The five steps are described below.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Looking for hazard
Who might be harmed and how
Evaluate the risk
Record you findings
Monitor and Review
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Step-1 – Looking for hazard
(Work Stress Assessment)
• Identifying work related factors leading to
stress
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Demand
Control
Support
Relationship
Role
Change
• In order to identify these factors - qualitative
and quantitative data gathering methods
could be used.
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Quantitative Methods
• Productivity and performance data,
• Absence/sickness data,
• Employee Assistance Programmes
(EAPs) data,
• Staff turnover,
• Stress questionnaires,
• Stress audits.
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Qualitative Methods
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Focus groups discussion,
Performance appraisals,
Informal discussions with staff,
Return-to-work interviews,
Exit interviews.
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Step-2 Who can be at Risk
• Employees can suffer from stress
regardless of age, status, gender, ethnicity
or disability.
• However, some employees may be at a
higher risk than others, like,
– Those working away from home,
– Going through a difficult personal experience
such as bereavement or relationship
breakdown, or illness.
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Step -3, Evaluate the Risk
• Risk assessment is important to consider
how the stress factors like, Demand,
Control, Support, Relationship, Role,
Change
could
harm
the
department/unit/division and up to what
extent.
• What has already been done for them ?
• What more can be done?
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Strep-4, Record the Findings
• Keeping record of the Work related Stress
findings helps in monitoring the progress
of the particular hazard.
• It can be a legal requirement also.
• It is important to ensure confidentiality to
avoid possible litigation.
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Step 5, Monitor and Review
• The WRS risk assessment should be
reviewed whenever significant changes
occur
within
the
organisation
or
department and monitored against the
action plan.
• The review should take place in full
consultation with employees.
• The risk assessment should be used as a
continuous improvement model.
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Interventions for Job Stress
• Interventions for job stress have multiplied
rapidly over the last two decades,
paralleling the increasing recognition and
acceptance of the adverse impacts of job
stress on individuals and organizations
• Interventions to improve the organization
of work and reduce the impact of stressful
jobs on health can be conducted in a wide
variety of ways.
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Intervention
• Intervention can be made at the level of,
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•
Job
Organization
Individual
Outside the organization through laws and
regulations.
• Interventions are of three types.
– Primary
– Secondary
– Tertiary
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Primary Interventions
• Primary prevention refers to efforts to protect the
health of people who have not yet become sick.
• These interventions are proactive, aiming to
prevent exposures to stressors and the
occurrence of illnesses among healthy
individuals.
• Targets are the sources of stress / stressors at
workplace, through alterations in
– Physical or
– Psychosocial work environments, or
– Through organizational changes.
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Examples of Primary Interventions
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Improving organisational culture,
Changing employee workloads,
Job reengineering,
Job redesign,
Developing clear job descriptions to avoid
role ambiguity,
• Increasing worker involvement and
participation in decision making,
• Redesigning the physical work environment.
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Secondary Prevention
• Secondary level interventions focus on altering
the way that individuals respond to stressors at
work (including perception) and to improve their
of coping abilities. Includes,
1. Relaxation
• Aims at reducing the arousal and tension
associated with stress.
2. Cognitive Behavior Training (CBST)
• CBST try to alter the interpretation of stressors,
and offering support in dealing with it.
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Tertiary Prevention
• Directed towards treating and assisting
employees who are already been exposed to
job stress and developed stress-related
health outcomes like, Psychological injury,
Depression, or Coronary heart disease.
• These interventions include,
– Occupational rehabilitation services,
– Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) and
Counselling and
– Return to work programs.
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Combinations of Interventions
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Job stress management – TATA Steel
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Job Stress – TATA Steel Experience
• Adoption of HSE – 5 step approach for
stress management programme at TATA
Steel.
• Launching at Tarapore Wire Division,
• Step 1. – Assessment for Job Stress
• Quantitative Method for job stress
assessment with a OSI tool was used .
• OSI tool of Singh and Srivastava was used
for Job stress assessment
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Stress Questionnaire
• Also known as Occupational Stress Index /
Stress measurement tools
• Various International / National
Questionnaires like,
– NIOSH Generic Job Stress Questionnaire
– Occupational Stress Index by Karen Belkic.
– OSI by Singh and Srivastava – a widely used
OSI tool in India.
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OSI tool – Singh and Srivastava
• OSI tool used at TATA steel
• This scale consists of 46 items, 28 are ‘True –
Keyed’ and 18 are ‘False – Keyed’.
• Each to be rated on the five point scale
(1=Strongly Disagree to 5=Strongly Agree).
• Items relate to almost all the components of the
job which cause stress – as sub groups
• There total 12 sub-groups.
• Provides results as total stress scores and sub
group stress scores
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OSI tool – Singh and Srivastava
• Sub Groups:
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Corporate Safety
Role over-load,
Role ambiguity,
Role conflict,
Unreasonable group and political pressure,
Responsibility for persons,
Under participation,
Powerlessness,
Poor peer relations,
Intrinsic, impoverishment,
Low status,
Strenuous working conditions and
Unprofitability.
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Launching at TWP
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Development Steps
Data Collection with the help of OSI tool for
employees
Data Entry in Microsoft Excel
Data Analysis with the help of Standard Statistical
Tools - SPSS
Risk Identification / Categorization
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Preliminary Results
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Future Actions…..
• Analysis for Sub-Group stress levels and
identifying job related hazards leading to
overall stress (Risk Factors)
• Interventions based on the risk factors
– Primary
– Secondary
– Tertiary
• Implementation at all other locations of
TATA Steel.
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Healthy Workplaces @ TATA Steel
OHS
Industrial Hygiene Ergonomics
Stress
Management
Programme
Wellness @
Workplace
Anemia Control
Programme for
Female employees
Sunshine Vitamin
Programme
“JAGRAN”
Programme
Health Camps and Health promotion
activities in communities.
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Thank You
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