Workplace stress

Job Strain Hypothesis

Suggested that illness is due to the combination of high workload and low control.

Studied 7372 civil servants working in london - questionnaire on cardiovascualr illness, and were re-assessed 5 years later.

They found no link betweeen workload and stress-related illness, but a small relationship between low control and illness. So, this supports the job strain hypothesis but, you need to take other factors into account like social support.

Johanson et al looked at the effects of repetitive tasks.

In a swedish lumber mill, finishers had higher rates of absenteeism and illnesses than others in the factory. They also had higher levels of adrenaline and other stress-related hormones.

This is because the job is repetitive and there is low job control as the work rate is governed by machinery. Also, there is a lot of psychological pressure and the workers are paid on piece work and this depends on the finishers.

So... We can see that both the workload and control can contribute to work related stress and therefore illness, in the right situations.

But, workload can be seen in different ways and we should consider it qualitatively and quantitatively . So this can be underload or overload.

Role conflict

This is clash of work and home responsibilities.

This is associated with a high rate of absenteeism, lower rate of performance and decreasing mental and physical health.