Price to pay for stress at work

Thursday, 22 Feb 2018 - 

THERE are many working conditions that a person encounters at the workplace on a daily basis which affect his physical and emotional wellbeing.

Excessive work demand, workload and stressful deadlines, long working hours, insufficient staffing, lack of support from co-workers and supervisors, annoying co-workers, angry customers and hazardous working conditions are among the issues that contribute to stress at work. 

Job uncertainties such as impending layoffs, restructuring and management changes are also likely to affect the employee psychologically.

Stress can also arise because of an employer’s wrongful conduct such as harassing or humiliating the worker in the presence of other workers; victimising or targeting a particular member of staff; falsely accusing a worker of criminal misconduct; inappropriately demoting a worker with a substantial reduction in salary, bonus, benefits, status, responsibilities and authority; making a significant change in his job location at short notice; or forcing him to resign.

There is a significant relationship between stress and job performance. Stress is the common denominator for depleting work performance and productivity. Workers affected by occupational stress often show high dissatisfaction in terms of job mobility, burnout and less effective interpersonal relations at work. This may be manifested in behaviours such as persistent lateness or tardiness, taking excessive sick leave or repeated absences.

An employee who absents himself from his workplace on a scheduled workday will inevitably disrupt the employer’s work schedules and customer commitments. To minimise the work disruption caused by an absent employee, a regular worker would in normal circumstances assume the workload.

Long-term stress or traumatic events at work can affect the physical health of the worker. Studies have shown that an employee who is preoccupied with job responsibilities tend to have irregular eating habits and lack regular exercise, resulting in weight problems, high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol levels – the onset of heart disease.

Hence, occupational stress should be viewed seriously by the employer, who has an obligation to take reasonable care of the safety and health of his workers. Breach of this duty may place the employer in legal predicament. The affected worker may file a civil claim against the employer for negligence or for failure to provide a safe place of work. In other words, the employer can be held liable for an employee’s psychiatric illness arising from occupational or work- related stress. It is therefore important for the employer to ensure that workers are not burdened beyond their capacity to carry out the task or assignment.

Workers should also be treated with courtesy, politeness and kindness regardless of their position in the organisation. It goes without saying that treating workers with dignity and respect will make a great difference in the person’s productivity and creativity, besides fostering greater employee engagement in the organisation.

PROFESSOR DATUK SRI DR ASHGAR ALI ALI MOHAMED

Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah of Laws

International Islamic University Malaysia

Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/opinion/letters/2018/02/22/price-to-pay-for-stress-at-work/#XJJUJGmPkaOivylC.99