stressed pit
Stress levels are high during this time of economic uncertainty—and not just for those who have found themselves without a job.
Your employees who are worried about the possibility of losing their job may be saving every possible dollar they would otherwise spend on their own health care. Their health could be in jeopardy as a result. A recent survey of 800 working adults aged forty-five or more found the following disturbing facts about these high-risk workers:
- One in five have put off seeing a doctor because of the cost.
- One in five have cut back on other expenses so they could afford medical care.
- One in five reported health problems from financial stress.
- Almost one in five (16 percent) are using retirement or other savings to pay for their medical care.
The survey was conducted by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). An online survey conducted earlier this year for the employment agency, Adecco USA, found that stress is common among job-holding adults. Of the 1,068 employed adults surveyed, 215 said that their mental health had been negatively impacted by the current economic situation, and 359 reported higher levels of stress on the job.
“There’s certainly been a pretty severe increase in stress, and stress is a precursor to anxiety and panic,” Dr. Elisha Goldstein, a Los Angeles-based psychologist who specializes in stress issues, told a Reuters reporter.
When stress and anxiety begin to make inroads on employee morale, effective work is sacrificed. “It starts to become a downward spiral, where an economic recession starts to become more of an emotional and mental recession,” Goldstein said.
Depression is not far behind.
Experts agree on two ways that employers can build a healthier emotional climate on the job:
- Show appreciation. “People will walk over miles of razor blades in bare feet for you if they know you appreciate them and tell them,” says Canadian motivational speaker Mike Moore. You won’t want to run a study to validate that claim, but you can find dozens of ways to let your employees know that you value their loyalty and dedication.
- Be open. A quick route to handling stress at work is for top management to be open and honest about what is going on. Managers who are visible are valuable in defusing this kind of stress, according to Bernadette Kenny, chief career officer at Adecco USA, which commissioned the mental health survey.
