and emotional responses that occur when job requirements do not match the worker’s capabilities, resources, and needs (National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health 1999). It is recognized world-wide as a major challenge to individual mental and physical health, and organizational health (ILO 1986). Stressed workers are also more likely to be unhealthy, poorly motivated, less productive and less safe at work. And their organizations are less likely to succeed in a competitive market. By some estimates work-related stress costs the national economy a staggering amount in sick pay, lost productivity, health care and litigation costs (Palmer et al. 2004). Work stress can come from a variety of sources and affect people in different ways. Although the link between psycho-social aspects of the job and the health and well-being of workers has been well documented (Dollard and Metzer 1999), limited work has been done on the effects of distinct stressors on job performance. As well, various protective factors can prevent or reduce the effects of work stress, and little research has been done toward understanding these mitigating individual and organizational factors. One important source of work stress is job strain. According to the demand/control model (Karasek 1979), job strain is determined by the interactions between psychological demands and decision latitude (see Work stress). The first dimension, the psychological demands on the worker, relate to pace and intensity, skills required, and the ability to keep up with colleagues. The second dimension relates to the degree of creativity versus repetition, as well as the extent of freedom and responsibility to decide what
to do and when to do it (Lindström 2005). Four work environments can then be derived: high-strain jobs, active jobs, low-strain (relaxed) jobs, and passive jobs (see Psychological demand/decision latitude model). Though simple identification of low- and high-strain jobs may be important, the distinction between job control and psychological demands must be retained because each category can have different effects on workers and their organizations. For instance, when job control is high and psychological demands are also high, learning and growth are the predicted behavioural outcomes. Much of the energy aroused by job challenges can be translated into direct action—effective problem solving—with little residual strain. The growth and learning stimuli are conducive to high productivity. On the other hand, low demand and low control lead to a very unmotivating job setting, which results in gradual loss of previously acquired skills (Karasek 1998).
Psychological demand/decision latitude model
Psychological demands Low High Learning motivations to develop new behavior patterns
High Decision latitude (control) Low
Lowstrain
Active
Passive
Highstrain Risk of psychological strain and physical illness
Jungwee Park is with the Labour and Household Surveys Analysis Division. He can be reached at 613-951-4598 or perspectives@statcan.ca.
December 2007 Perspectives
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Statistics Canada — Catalogue no. 75-001-XIE
Work stress and job performance
Work stress
To measure work stress, the CCHS and NPHS used an abbreviated version of Karasek’s Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ) (Karasek 1985). The CCHS measured work stress of respondents working at jobs or businesses in the past 12 months, while the NPHS measured work stress of those employed at the time of the survey. Twelve items in the JCQ are used to measure job control, psychological demands, job insecurity, physical exertion and workplace social support. Each item is scored using a fivepoint Likert scale from strongly agree to strongly disagree (items 4 and 7 are reverse scored): Item Subscale 1. Your job requires that you learn new things. control 2. Your job requires a high level of skill. control 3. Your job allows you freedom to decide how you do your job. control 4. Your job requires that you do things over and over. control 5. You have a lot to say about what happens in your job. control 6. Your job is very hectic. demands 7. You are free from conflicting demands that others make. demands 8. Your job security is good. job insecurity 9. Your job requires a lot of physical effort. physical exertion 10. You are exposed to hostility or conflict from the people you work with. social support 11. Your supervisor is helpful in getting the job done. 12. The people you work with are helpful in getting the job done.
social support social support
Based on scores from the psychological demands and job control items, four psycho-social work conditions are identified: active (above median on both demands and control), high job strain (above median on demands, below median on control), low job strain (below median on demands, above median on control) and passive (below median on both demands and control). Respondents who disagreed or strongly disagreed with the security statement were classified as having job insecurity. Respondents who agreed or strongly agreed with the physical exertion statement were classified as having physically demanding jobs. Respondents were classified as having low workplace social support if they either agreed or strongly agreed with the first social support statement, disagreed or strongly disagreed with the second, or disagreed or strongly disagreed with the third. Additionally, respondents were asked if they were very, somewhat, not too or not at all satisfied with their jobs. Those not too satisfied or not at all satisfied were classified as having job dissatisfaction. Self-perceived work stress at the main job or business in the past 12 months was measured by asking: “Would you say that most days at work were: not at all stressful? not very stressful? a bit stressful? quite a bit stressful? extremely stressful?” Respondents answering quite a bit or extremely were classified as having high self-perceived work stress.
Job strain is only one stressor workers may face at the workplace. Physical exertion and job insecurity can also cause stress. Even in an era of increasing high-tech information industries, the physical demands of work are still relevant and important to many. Being seriously concerned about physical exertion of work can become a stressor. This is related to concerns about physical hazards and work injuries. Undoubtedly, uncertain job security and the fear of layoff is also an important source of psychological stress for some, especially during times of economic contraction (Williams 2003). In addition, job satisfaction and self-perceived work stress can show different, yet important, aspects of job stress. Although these two may not identify specific sources of work stress, they show to what extent workers are dissatisfied with their jobs and perceive their daily work as stressful. Thus, many distinct sources and dimensions of work stress that could negatively
affect some people can be identified. This article investigates levels, sources and effects of work stress for different socio-demographic and occupational groups. The 2002 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) and various cycles of the National Population Health Survey (NPHS) are used to examine work stress and its effect on Canadian workers (see Data sources). First, the article describes work stress levels of employed persons aged 15 to 75 by selected characteristics. Second, cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses examine how work stress factors are associated with current and long-term productivity in terms of reduced work activities, disability days, and absence or separation from work. Multivariate techniques are used to control for employment characteristics and protective factors such as social support and individual coping behaviours (see Job-related variables and Social support and coping behaviours). Social support buffering
December 2007 Perspectives
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Statistics Canada — Catalogue no. 75-001-XIE
Work stress and job performance
Data sources
The cross-sectional analysis on work stress is based on the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS): Mental Health and Well-being, which was introduced in May 2002 and conducted over eight months. The survey covered almost 37,000 people aged 15 or older living in private dwellings in the 10 provinces. Most interviews (86%) were conducted in person; the remainder, by telephone. Respondents were required to provide their own information—proxy responses were not accepted. The survey response rate was 77%. The longitudinal analysis is based on the National Population Health Survey (NPHS). The NPHS, which began in 1994/95, collects information about the health of Canadians every two years. It covers household and institutional residents in all provinces and territories. In 1994/ 95, about 20,000 respondents were selected for the longitudinal panel. The response rate for this panel in 1994/ 95 was 86.0%. Attempts were made to re-interview these respondents every two years. The response rates for subsequent cycles, based on the original respondents, were 92.8% for cycle 2 (1996/97), 88.3% for cycle 3 (1998/99), 84.8% for cycle 4 (2000/01), 80.5% for cycle 5 (2002/03), and 77.4% for cycle 6 (2004/05). This analysis uses the cycle 6 longitudinal square file, which contains all responding members of the original panel regardless of whether information was obtained in all subsequent cycles.
Chart B
Employed women were more likely to report high work stress
%
50
Men
40
*
Women *
30
20
10
0 Physical exertion Job insecurity Job dissatisfaction High self-perceived stress
Other work stress indicators
* significantly different from men Note: Employed population 15 to 75, Canada excluding Territories. Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Community Health Survey, cycle 1.2, 2002.
Chart A
More employed women reported high job strain than men
may depend on support from co-workers and supervisors as well as personal sources. Personal coping mechanisms may play an important role in controlling effects of work stress. To account for survey design effects, the bootstrap technique was used to estimate coefficients of variation and p-values and to perform significance tests. The significance level was set at 0.05.
% 40 Men 30 Women * *
More work stress among women Proportionately more employed women reported greater work stress than men—28% had high-strain and 17% had low-strain jobs, compared with 20% and 24%, respectively, for men (Chart A). Men were more likely to have active jobs than women. Small, but significant, differences were also found for self-perceived work stress (Chart B). One-third of women felt quite a bit or extremely stressed most days at work, compared with 29% of men. According to a multivariate analysis, employed women were 1.2 times more likely to report high self-perceived work stress, even after controlling for other socio-demographic and employment-related factors (data not shown).
20
* *
10
0 Active High strain Low strain Passive
Psycho-social work conditions
* significantly different from men Note: Employed population 15 to 75, Canada excluding Territories. Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Community Health Survey, cycle 1.2, 2002.
Age 15 to 24 25 to 39 40 to 54 (ref) 55 to 64 65 and over Personal income Less than $20,000 $20,000 to $59,999 $60,000 or more (ref) Education1 Less than high school graduation High school diploma Some college/university Bachelor’s or higher (ref) Marital status 1 Married (ref) Never married Divorced, separated, widowed Student status Yes No (ref) Shift work Yes No (ref) Self-employment Yes No (ref) Full-time work Yes No (ref) Occupation White-collar (ref) Sales and service Blue-collar
