Too little occupational stress is almost as unhealthy as too much. There is an optimal level of occupational stress that is desirable.
Occupational stress consists of a mix of work site stressors, the individual's characteristics, and extraorganizational stressors. These stressors can lead to symptoms of occupational ill health or to actual disease.
Businesses have become interested in occupational stress because it costs them money to ignore it due to employees' ill health, poor decision making, and absenteeism. In addition, stress management programs are used to attract prospective employees whom the company is recruiting.
Workers report more occupational stress when work objectives are unclear, when conflicting demands are placed upon them, when they have too little or too much to do, when they have little input in decisions that affect them, and when they are responsible for other workers' development.
Role problems that can result in occupational stress include role overload, role insufficiency, role ambiguity, and role conflict.
Workaholics spend much of their time working, often eat while working, prefer work to play, and can and do work anytime and anywhere. They are intense and energetic and have difficulty sleeping and taking vacations.
Burnout is a syndrome of physical and emotional exhaustion; it is an adverse work stress reaction with psychological, psychophysiological, and behavioral components. Symptoms include diminished sense of humor, skipping rest and food breaks, increased overtime and no vacations, increased physical complaints, social withdrawal, diminishing job performance, self-medication, and psychological changes such as depression or a "trapped" feeling.
More and more women are working outside the home. Given that many of these women have more than their share of responsibilities in the home, and that many have young children, that they experience the effects of occupational stress should be no surprise.
Part of the stress experienced by women who work outside the home relates to the fact that, at each educational level and for comparable jobs, women earn less than men. In addition, women are still predominantly employed in traditional women's roles (nurse, dental hygienist, cashier, secretary, waitress, and child care worker).
Sexual harassment at work involves sexual advances made by someone of power or authority who threatens firing, lack of promotion, or some other sanction if sexual activity is declined. In addition, creating an uncomfortable or unproductive work environment by repeatedly telling jokes of a sexual nature or by any other means is also legally defined as sexual harassment. Both men and women suffer from sexual harassment, although women are more likely to be its victims.
The stress associated with domestic engineering (homemaking) can be similar to the stress resulting from other jobs. Such components of occupational stress as role overload, role conflict, role insufficiency, and role ambiguity may be present in the homemaking situation, just as they can be associated with many jobs outside the home.
Life situation, perception, and emotional and physiological arousal interventions can be effective in managing sex-role stress.
Researchers have identified sources of stress particularly experienced by women: career blocks, sexual harassment, male-dominated organizational structures and climates, performance pressure, gender stereotyping, isolation, and lack of role models. Female workers take on more of the household work, and the accompanying stress, than do male workers. Many married and employed women with substantial household responsibilities intentionally limit their career aspirations and purposefully reduce their involvement in work in comparison with their male counterparts.
