Workplace Stress

Stress can be caused within your workplace. There are many factors that could be causing stress, such as:

• Relationships at work - our relationships with our bosses/colleagues/customers.
• Work pressure - having a large workload/strict deadlines.
• The physical environment - May be noisy/overcrowded/too hot etc.
• Stress linked to our role - worrying about job security/prospects for promotion.
• Lack of control - you may not have much control over type of work/amount of work given.

MARMOT ET AL.

Aim: Marmot wanted to test the ideas of the job strain model, this proposed that:                         1) High demand jobs would cause workplace stress.                                                                           2) Low control jobs would cause workplace stress.

Procedure: Civil service employees (men & women) working in London were invited to take part. A total of 7372 people agreed to answer a questionnaire and be checked for cardio vascular disease. 5 years later, each participant was reassessed. For each participant, the following was recorded:

• Signs of cardiovascular disease.
• Presence of coronary factors eg. smoking.
• Employment grade (measure of job demand)
• Sense of job control.

Findings: At the end of the study, it was found that:

• Participants in the higher grades of civil service had developed fewer cardiovascular problems.
• Participants in the lower grades expressed a weaker sense of job control, more stress and had the highest instance of cardiovascular…