Finding a Healthy Job

Stress exists. It exists in our everyday lives and it exists in the workplace where we spend a large portion of our day. In an earlier article entitled "The Most Stressful Jobs in America" I identified the occupations that have been exposed as America's most stressful. I also outlined the impact that stress has on the health of American workers as well as the financial impact that stress can have on U.S. businesses. It is a fact of life and it is the responsibility of both the individual and the employer; not either/or.

Up until about a decade ago, most businesses discounted the impact that stress had on their employees. However, as more and more stress-related illnesses and diseases were uncovered, it became impossible to ignore. Slowly, but surely, policies have been developed with the goal of decreasing or alleviating workplace stress.

Work-related stress prevention policies must focus on work organization and ensure that job stress is approached with the same care as other health and safety hazards at work. The first step is to identify the problems that are causing stress. This can be done one of several methods. Discussions between employers and employees, either in individualized or group settings, can help identify stress issues. Employee surveys geared at obtaining employee perceptions of job conditions and work related stress is another. Ultimately, it does not matter the mechanism used, it is the information that is crucial to developing stress preventative programs. The data can then be summarized and analyzed to answer questions about the location of a stress problem and the job condition that may be responsible.