The Impact of Stress on Return-to-Work from Injury
The negative impact of stress in the workplace is well documented. Long-term stress can cause physical health issues (high blood pressure, headaches), mental health issues (irritability, depression, anxiety) and behavioral issues (lack of focus, increased mistakes, interpersonal tension). These stress-induced issues can lead to a higher probability of workplace injuries, lower productivity, and higher turnover. Clearly high stress is not good for employers or employees.
A recent study conducted in Australia adds another reason to manage stress in the workplace. The bottom-line results: when workers get hurt in organizations that actively manage stress, they return to work faster.
The study, titled “PSC as an Organizational Level Determinant of Working Time Lost and Expenditure following Workplace Injuries and Illnesses”[1] published in Safety Science, assessed organizations on what they called “psychosocial safety climate (PSC).” The study used a tool called the PSC-12 which measures the perception of psychosocial safety climate across four areas including:
- Management commitment to stress prevention
- The degree to which management considers psychological health as important as productivity
- The level of organizational communication about psychological health
- The degree to which employees are consulted and engaged in psychological health issues
The study found that organizations with “high psychosocial safety climate” had an average of 68 days lost per lost-time injury. Organizations with “very low psychosocial safety” had an average of 177 days lost.
These findings provide yet another reason for organizations to invest in developing a culture of care, concern, and open communication around safety and health. It has been clear for some time that letting workers know that leaders care about their physical safety is essential for building engagement in safety. This study shows that letting workers know that leaders care about their psychological health also has significant positive implications for safety.
How can an organization increase PSC? Based on the four factors listed, leaders need to ask about and talk about stress with employees. Communication is a central theme in the study, however actively working to minimize stress is obviously essential. But eliminating all stress in a workplace is clearly not feasible. Customer requirements, quality constraints and production demands are all natural pressures associated with running a successful business. But those inescapable stressors can be aggravated or offset by management-employee interactions.
If you work in a high-stress environment and you have a supervisor who ignores your concerns about stress, only interacts with you when there are problems, only talks about safety when things go wrong, and is quick to criticize any and all mistakes, the stress will be exacerbated. Alternatively, if you have a supervisor who responds to your concerns, asks for your input, acknowledges the good things you do, removes obstacles to your work, and demonstrates care through words and actions, then stress can be minimized.
When leaders take the time to build and maintain positive relationships with direct reports, including caring for their mental health, it reduces stress, decreases return-to-work time, increases engagement, improves safety, and ultimately improves productivity. It also makes for a more pleasant workplace for all.
