A survey conducted in summer of 2010 by the American Psychological Association found that about 75% of participants stressed to unhealthy levels. This 2010 Stress in America survey was given to 3,000 participants by Harris Interactive, who admitted that they were stressed by money, work and the economy. The findings are relevant to the field of Human Resources because results mentioned by a similar survey in 2009 showed that stressed-out workers are more likely to report off sick and use more health benefits. The findings are also significant because they show that stress is still a strong environmental factor and companies need to react.
Many stress management programs are available to employers for their employees. However, according to the Society for Human Resource Management’s 2010 Employee Benefits survey report, only 10% of employers currently offer these stress management programs. That number is down from 19% in 2006.
The article mentions one method of stress management in particular, resilience training. This method encourages employees to face their problems and trains them to survive in stressful situations, recover, then place themselves in slightly more stressful situations to grow and succeed. The article outlines the steps to perform resilience training in the most successful manner.
The environmental factor of stress has an effect on employees and thus employers. Stress plays a role in decreased productivity, absenteeism, and increased use of health benefits. The issue of stress is significant to Human Resource Management because it has a responsibility to keep employees healthy so they can contribute to the productivity of the company. Based on this article, companies need to react to increasing employee stress in order to maintain business success.
Source: HR Magazine, SHRM "Turning Stress into Strength" by William Atkinson (January 1, 2011)
http://www.shrm.org/Publications/hrmagazine/EditorialContent/2011/0111/Pages/0111atkinson.aspx
