Let’s all try to Relax

Stress is a word that is known a little too well in the world today. Most stresses come from financial or family problems, but people overlook one of the main reasons stress lingers through the day, and that is through their jobs. Job stress can be completely avoidable if the right measures are taken, but when ignored can lead to serious medical problems including depression and other health risks. Some of the facts that I will be going over are; Companies who eliminate stress from the work place, health risks from companies who do not, and the outcome that comes from practicing these two different theories. People today get so stressed out over things that could be easily solved, or just be eliminating some of the work that is put on their plate. If we could try to eliminate some of the work stress it may help boost employee health, and even absenteeism. If stress still lingers at jobs, the risks could be fatal, and could have very well been avoided. According to Diane Brady, a writer from Bloomsburg Business week, some companies are taking the proper precautions in eliminating stress from their employees at work. One example of a company that she used was Bank of America. Which just issued a memo advising their employees to take a minimum of four weekend days off per month. This shows that the company really does care about their employees, and wants to try to eliminate their work stress form them, and to have just some days to relax with their friends and families. Brady also talks about how the major source of stress on workers in the U.S. is the worry of data about the costs of being stressed and sleep deprived. You are more likely to get into a car crash, drink too much, blow a meeting, have family problems, and fall to a health issue like a heart attack. She also discusses a topic called, “Secondhand stress,” which is stress from being around a stress person. In this article she also talks about how Americans are working, and most of us don’t use all of our vacation days. We also sit at our desk during our lunch break, and keep on working, and compared to other countries we retire much later. So, the amount of workload that we get, makes us feel like we have to do these things, and doesn’t allow us to proper detox from the stress that our job brings us. Absenteeism is also another sign of stress. When an employee doesn’t want to even come to work, because they don’t enjoy working for their company. If companies would start to eliminate stress in the workplace, I feel absenteeism would also dwindle in numbers, and they would more likely work harder at their jobs. A good example of this is the companies Zappo’s. Zappo’s makes work fun, and it reflects on their employee’s behavior, motivation and general attitude about their work. They feel that if they make-work enjoyable then their employees will think about work, outside of work as leisure, rather then stressing about deadlines that they have, or working on weekends. While reading through EBSCO Host, I found an article that stuck out to me about stress and the workplace. In this article the authors talk about how in recent studies many elderly people who are still working, that have stress from work, are at a higher risk for depression. We got a glimpse into this idea when looking into the Business Week article, but not specifically on depression. While reading through this article you feel as if you are an expert on these sorts of studies, and you really find out a lot of useful information. When comparing the style of the two I would have to say that the EBSCO Host article takes the cake. In that article you are able to see every step of the process that they did in their studies, and the outcomes of everything. Basically, the article is very detailed and there is nothing left out. When reading the Business week article, it is basically just a summary that everyday people, who read it are able to understand and get a grasp of what they are talking about. I feel that if you want the real facts, and to be educated on a certain topic then you should definitely look at a scholar article or peer reviewed like the ones that you could find on EBSCO Host. But, if you want a brief summary, or just an idea of what is going on, then the Business week article is the way to go. With that being said, I do feel you can find out a lot of information on the business week article, but if you are looking for something more in-depth, and a re researching something then scholar and peer reviewed articles should be used.