Stress is part and parcel of life. However, just as
distress can cause disease, it seems plausible that there
are good stresses that promote wellness. Stress is not
always necessarily harmful. Getting a new job can be just
stressful as losing it, or more so, but may trigger very
different biological responses.

Increased stress results in increased productivity -- up to
a point. However, this level differs for each of us. 

Numerous surveys and studies confirm that occupational
pressures and fears are far and away the leading source of
stress for American adults and that these have steadily
increased over the past few decades.

The American Institute of Stress offers some findings that
underscore the growing stressfulness of the working
environment. For example, a 1999 government report found
that the number of hours worked increased 8% in one
generation to an average 47 hrs/week with 20% working 
49 hrs/week.

U.S. workers put in more hours on the job than the labor
force of any other industrial nation, where the trend has
been just the opposite.

According to an International Labor Organization study,
Americans put in the equivalent of an extra 40-hour work
week in 2000 compared to ten years previously.  Japan had
the record until around 1995 but Americans now work almost
a month more than the Japanese and three months more than
Germans.

We are also working harder. In a 2001 survey, nearly 40% of
workers described their office environment as "most like a
real life survivor program."

According to a survey of 800,000 workers in over 300
companies, the number of employees calling in sick because
of stress tripled from 1996 to 2000.  An estimated 1 
million workers are absent every day due to stress. The
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work reported that
over half of the 550 million working days lost annually in
the U.S. from absenteeism are stress related and that one
in five of all last minute no-shows are due to job stress.

If this occurs in key employees it can have a domino effect
that spreads down the line to disrupt scheduled operations.

Unanticipated absenteeism is estimated to cost American
companies $602.00/worker/year and the price tag for large
employers could approach $3.5 million annually. A 1997
three year study conducted by one large corporation found
that 60% of employee absences could be traced to
psychological problems that were due to job stress.

A 1999 government study reported that more jobs had been
lost in the previous year than any other year in the last
half century, and that the number of workers fearful of
losing their jobs had more than doubled over the past
decade.

That was several years ago and the problem has worsened
considerably since then.  A February 2000 poll found that
almost 50 percent of employees were concerned about
retaining their job and with good reason.

There were massive layoffs due to down-sizing and
bankruptcies including the collapse of over 200 dot.com
companies. The unemployment rate by the end of that year
was the highest it had been in 16 months.

This, in a nutshell, is the stress situation in the
American job scene. Eliminating the causes of stress will
prove to be an impossible dream.  The only real solution is
changing the attitude of the workforce towards most
stressful situations and this will require an army of
on-the-job counselors. This will admittedly entail a
gargantuan amount of funding from employers concerned, but
with the support of government it is not impossible to
achieve. After all, it’s the only way! 

Leveda Steinin is the owner of Fisio Stress which is 
the premier resource for stress information.  For more 
information go to:  http://www.fisiostress.com