The Effects of Occupational Stress on Physical Health and its Consequences

No matter the job, stress will always play a role in an individual’s life. Regardless of whether one is a waitress, a teacher, a corrections officer, or a doctor, avoiding stress in the workplace is nearly impossible, perhaps even impossible. And the effects of stress in the workplace are numerous. Stress can have both psychological and physical effects on the members of the workforce. And while the specific effect may differ from one individual to the next, and in particular the effect on physical health will certainly differ from one job to another, a construction worker will most certainly experience different health issues than a secretary, for instance, physical health. Research conducted in the field of occupational health psychology has found evidence linking health and mortality in individuals to the stress encountered in the workplace; in particular research has discovered a causal effect between work experiences and physiological responses (Macik-Frey, Quick & Nelson, 2007).

Stress in the workplace can have an effect not only on the safety measures employees engage in while on the clock, but can also affect how an individual behaves outside of the workplace, in fact, it is not uncommon for an individual to experience accidents and injuries outside of the workplace that can be linked back to the stresses they experienced not only in the workplace but other stresses concerning one’s employment (Macik-Frey et al, 2007).

Estimates vary widely on the cost to organizations of poor health in employees, with some estimates reporting losses in the billions of American organizations, not only from the loss of productivity and sick-leaves, but also as a result of caring for these illnesses. Cardiovascular heart-disease (CDH...

... middle of paper ...

...lsewhere, or they may just have no causal link.

In the study of burnout and physical health, there is still much more research necessary to fully understand and prevent not only burnout, but cardiovascular disease, particularly in the workforce. The link is not always certain, but with new researches conducted the pathway between burnout and cardiovascular disorder, between stress as a whole and physiological symptoms, becomes clearer. The benefit is not only for mental health but also physical well-being of employees and overall increased production in organizations; it is not just the individual who benefits from burnout treatments in their well-being and overall job satisfaction, but the organization benefits from having a healthy workforce who are also happy, or at least not frustrated and dissatisfied, with their occupation and position in the organization.