Stress and Burnout in the Workplace Essay

With the dynamic economic environments that businesses operate in, workplace stress and burnout has increasingly become common. “Three out of every four American workers describe their work as stressful” (Maxon 1). The problem is not only in America but also in all other parts of the world. Incidences of mergers, acquisitions, downsizing, bankruptcies, layoffs, etc have cost workers their jobs. After such incidences, the workplace is normally stressful and uncomfortable for workers.

Other workers may also undertake their duties fearfully due to the possibility of the aforementioned occurrences. Many workers are held up in tasks they are either uncomfortable with or unfamiliar with causing stress and burnout in their work. This paper investigates the causes of stress and burnout in the workplace and suggests ways of minimizing stress and burnout.

Among the factors that contribute to burnout in workers is the fact that workers are sometimes given too much work to accomplish in a short period. This exposes workers to performance pressure because they are worried that they cannot accomplish the task in the given time (Immen 1). Executives and managers should therefore ensure that they give workers reasonable deadlines for assignments in order to avoid stress and burnout that comes with pressure to beat deadlines.

Additionally, stress and burnout in the workplace may be caused by surveillance of workers’ production using computer systems, fewer benefits, longer working hours, and even new bosses. In every organization, workers across the hierarchy experience some form of uncertainty and tension making them vulnerable to stress and burnout.

It is therefore vital to ensure that computer surveillance systems are appropriately designed to reduce the effects they have on workers. Employers should also address other related issues like employee benefits and working hours with a view of reducing the stress and burnout that workers experience.

Executives are facing greater demands than in the past with the advent of technology. During their personal time, most executives find themselves doing office work due to the convenience offered by Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and tablets. This exacerbates stress and burnout because even hardworking people require some recovery time after work in order to manage stress and burnout effectively. Therefore, there is need for organizations to divide labor effectively so that each worker gets time to rest (Immen 1).

In some cases, an uncomfortable working environment like operating heavy and dangerous equipment may cause stress. In other cases, stress may be a result of unhealthy inter-personal relationships in the working environment.

Examples of the latter include uncoordinated teamwork, conflict among co-workers and unclear supervision (Maxon 1). Organizations should put in place proper systems to minimize stress and burnout that may come from poor relations among employees. In the case of a dangerous working environment, organizations should provide their workers with insurance and set up proper security measures.

Changes in how operations are carried out in organizations are a major cause of stress and burnout for workers. A couple of decades ago, a workers job remained constant during his/her tenure at the job. The situation is different in contemporary organizations.

Pilots are flying under pressing time demands, carrying more passengers, with more traffic, and using planes that are more complicated (Maxon 1). Other professionals like economists, accountants, finance officers, engineers, etc have to learn specialized computer software in order to work effectively. This has therefore been a source of stress and burnout for workers.

A particularly alarming cause of stress in the workplace is aggression. Millions of workers across the U.S. experience some form of violence in the workplace leading to absenteeism and lost wages. People who experience aggression at work are likely to experience higher stress and burnout levels that their counterparts (Maxon 1). Aggression may be in the form of physical assault or passive aggression. The latter is most common in organizations where workers engage in ‘cold war’.

Some workers may withhold resources from other workers, others may have a habit of ignoring invitations to meetings, and some may fail to respond to memos and phone calls. Although these causes may sound benign, they are responsible for workplace stress and burnout in millions of workers in the United States (Maxon 1). Organizations should therefore ensure that they have proper redress mechanisms for dealing with the various forms of aggressions in order to minimize stress and burnout among their workers.

The largest cause of stress and burnout in the workplace is perhaps wrong job placement. Sometimes people follow the wrong careers and end up doing jobs that are not suitable for them. For instance, an introvert who chooses marketing or sales as his/her profession is likely to experience high levels of stress and burnout than an extrovert in the same profession.

Similarly, an extrovert who chooses accounting as his/her profession is likely to experience high levels of stress and burnout than an introvert in the same profession. Worse still, management may force a person to work in a department that does not suit his/her disposition and qualifications. This usually leads to job dissatisfaction and ultimately the worker will experience stress and burnout. It is therefore important that managers assign jobs to workers according to the skills and competencies of the workers (Bowman 1).

Employees should also ensure that they evaluate their competencies and identify the areas where they fit best. In addition to this, workers may be having personal problems like bereavement, separation, divorce, sickness, etc. This will also result in stress and burnout, ultimately affecting the performance of the workers.

Stress and burnout are also common among employees who feel that they do not have enough control over what they do. Despite the fact that management must exercise control over what workers do in their organizations, it is vital that the workers are given some control over their work in order to motivate them and avoid instances of stress and burnout among workers. Management should also ensure that workers are given credit for jobs well done and that managers acknowledge the input of their juniors in every exercise.

Stress and burnout in the workplace remain a global challenge. As evidenced in the discussion above, stress and burnout have a myriad of causes and thus solutions to workplace stress and burnout depend on the cause. Causes of stress and burnout in the workplace can be classified into three categories.

These are work, self and life situations. The first class of causes is the most common and it includes issues like lack of control over work, lack of proper compensation, lack of clear supervision, etc. The second class includes issues like job placement and a person’s character, while the third includes personal issues like bereavement and divorce.

Works Cited

Bowman, Dave. Stress in the Workplace . n.d. Web.

Immen, Wallace. Workplace burnout affecting the best and the brightest . 2012. Web.

Maxon, Rebecca. Stress in the Workplace: A Costly Epidemic . 1999. Web.

  • Scarring Effects of Unemployment: A Meta-analysis
  • Contrasting Logistics and Supply Chain Management Careers
  • Introverts, Their Habits and Needs
  • Late Adulthood: Loss, Grief, Bereavement
  • Organization Policies and Bereavement Practices
  • Negative Opinion towards Immigrants is not Justified
  • The Importance of Interactionism and Diversity in the Workplace
  • Teamwork as the Primary Determinant of Success
  • Three Major Theories of Motivation
  • Impression management
  • Chicago (A-D)
  • Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2018, November 30). Stress and Burnout in the Workplace. https://ivypanda.com/essays/stress-and-burnout-in-the-workplace/

"Stress and Burnout in the Workplace." IvyPanda , 30 Nov. 2018, ivypanda.com/essays/stress-and-burnout-in-the-workplace/.

IvyPanda . (2018) 'Stress and Burnout in the Workplace'. 30 November.

IvyPanda . 2018. "Stress and Burnout in the Workplace." November 30, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/stress-and-burnout-in-the-workplace/.

1. IvyPanda . "Stress and Burnout in the Workplace." November 30, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/stress-and-burnout-in-the-workplace/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Stress and Burnout in the Workplace." November 30, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/stress-and-burnout-in-the-workplace/.

  • To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
  • As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
  • As a template for you assignment

Home — Essay Samples — Nursing & Health — Stress Management — Stress Cause And Effect

test_template

Stress Cause and Effect

  • Categories: Mental Health Stress Management

About this sample

close

Words: 576 |

Published: Mar 13, 2024

Words: 576 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Table of contents

Causes of stress, effects of stress.

Image of Alex Wood

Cite this Essay

To export a reference to this article please select a referencing style below:

Let us write you an essay from scratch

  • 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
  • Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

author

Dr Jacklynne

Verified writer

  • Expert in: Nursing & Health

writer

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

2 pages / 829 words

4 pages / 1622 words

2 pages / 981 words

2 pages / 846 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Stress Cause and Effect Essay

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Stress Management

Branson, V., Turnbull, D., Dry, M., & Palmer, E. (2019). Managing Stress: Principles and Strategies for Health and Well-Being (9th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.Eriksen, W., & Bruusgaard, D. (2004). Fatigue as a Predictor of [...]

Stress is an inevitable part of life, and how we navigate through challenging situations often defines our character and resilience. I vividly recall a particularly stressful situation that I encountered during my college years, [...]

Hardie, Elizabeth, and Robert M. Roemer. 'Social Anxiety and Daily Cortisol in Hair: Within-Person Associations and the Role of Physical Activity.' Stress and Health, vol. 25, no. 5, 2009, pp. 431-437.Scrivner, Colton. 'Emotion [...]

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has emerged as one of the most prevalent neurodevelopmental disorders, particularly affecting children and adolescents. Its diagnosis and subsequent treatment have generated [...]

When you’re living with high stress levels, you’re putting your entire well being at risk. Stress damages your emotional equilibrium, also it ruins your physical health. It narrows your ability to think clearly, function [...]

I have always believed that there is a lot to be learnt about ourselves by interacting with others, facing difficult situations and analyzing our reaction to those situations. The past semester has been a difficult time for me [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

  • Instructions Followed To The Letter
  • Deadlines Met At Every Stage
  • Unique And Plagiarism Free

fb-script

IMAGES

  1. How to Manage Stress at Work Essay

    essay on stress in the workplace

  2. 📗 Reducing Work-Related Stress Essay

    essay on stress in the workplace

  3. Workplace Stress Infographic: Signs, Causes & Treatment

    essay on stress in the workplace

  4. Stress in the Workplace Essay Sample

    essay on stress in the workplace

  5. Stress and Its Effects at the Workplace and Home

    essay on stress in the workplace

  6. Stress and burnout in the workplace

    essay on stress in the workplace

VIDEO

  1. How to manage stress at work

  2. Common Sense Isn't Common: Workplace Insights

  3. HOW TO DEAL WITH STRESS ESSAY| HOW TO DEAL WITH STRESS ESSAY IN English|

  4. finals week as an architecture student at edinburgh university

  5. How Workplace Stress Affects Your Health and Wallet 💸🧠

COMMENTS

  1. How to Manage Stress at Work Essay

    Planning your work is likely to reduce the last minute rush to meet every deadline. Having ones, priority right is likely to productively, guide individual's performance in such cases (Muchinsky, 2009). The failure by the management to inform the employees of any impending changes is likely to result in stress.

  2. Stress in the Workplace Essay

    In the United States, the American Institute of Stress (AIS) has estimated that 40% of the worker turnover is due to stress and the cost of stress in the workplace has been estimated to be over $300 billion per year. However, the ability of employers to lower the rate of stress in the workplace has shown to improve the employee's quality of ...

  3. The Stress In The Workplace Psychology Essay

    People try to find the roots of stress, especially in workplace. Some psychologists say that stressors such as workload, work schedule and conflict at work are the main sources of stress in the workplace (Landy & Conte 2004). Furnham (2005) divides the main stressors into two types of cause: work-related causes and individual personality causes.

  4. Stress and burnout in the workplace

    Stress and Burnout in the Workplace Essay. With the dynamic economic environments that businesses operate in, workplace stress and burnout has increasingly become common. "Three out of every four American workers describe their work as stressful" (Maxon 1). The problem is not only in America but also in all other parts of the world.

  5. Coping with stress at work

    A stressful work environment can contribute to problems such as headache, stomachache, sleep disturbances, short temper, and difficulty concentrating. Chronic stress can result in anxiety, insomnia, high blood pressure, and a weakened immune system. It can also contribute to health conditions such as depression, obesity, and heart disease.

  6. Stress at the workplace Essay Example [2251 Words]

    Role stress, work-family conflict and emotional exhaustion: Inter-relationships and effects on some work-related consequences. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 17(1), pp.17-28. Dahlgren, A., Kecklund, G. and Åkerstedt, T., 2005. Different levels of work-related stress and the effects on sleep, fatigue and cortisol.

  7. Essay on Stress In The Workplace

    532 Words. 3 Pages. Open Document. An increasing number of employers are becoming aware of the adverse affects that stress can have on an employee's performance and are offering different programs to help employees manage stress in their lives. This approach is proving to increase workplace performance, as well as improve employee loyalty and ...

  8. Stress Cause And Effect: [Essay Example], 576 words

    The effects of stress on individuals can be profound and far-reaching, impacting both physical and mental health. Chronic stress has been linked to a range of health problems, including heart disease, high blood pressure, and digestive issues. The constant activation of the body's stress response can lead to a weakened immune system, making ...

  9. Stress And The Workplace Causes And Effects Psychology Essay

    Medical journals and organizations cite stress as the cause of 60 to 90% of illness, with job stresses a major contributor. Up to 75% of Americans say their jobs are very stressful, and 65% of are taking steps to control stress in their lives (Fact and Figures about Stress BLS 2002). There must be reasonable job demands.

  10. Stress In The Workplace Essay

    1684 Words. 7 Pages. Open Document. Introduction. In this essay it is my intention to show how stress appears in working environment, what causes it and how it affects the workplace. I will start by defining what stress is and how it might be perceived. Then I will take a look at the factors that cause stress and how these might show in result ...