Results from the Gallup Poll (2000),
“Attitudes in the American Workplace VI”
Approximately one million employees in the US are absent daily
due to stress or stress-related conditions
78% of Americans respond that their job is stressful
Another 74% felt stress was impacting their coworkers negatively
In California, Worker's Compensation claims for stress related illness
have topped one billion dollars annually
80% of workers feel stress on the job, and nearly half of those say
they need help in learning how to manage stress
Prescriptions for anti-depressants, anti-anxiety drugs and sleep aids
rose 27% between 2000 and 2002
Statistics on Workplace Stress
The American Institute of Stress estimates 1 million workers are absent daily due to stress. 40% of job turnover is due to stress.
The cost of job stress for U.S. industry is estimated between $200 and $300 billion annually.
Replacing an average employee costs between $3,000 and $13,000.
These costs are even greater for middle and upper management employees.
The NIOSH report on the left is an excellent resource that cites the following:
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40% of workers reported their job was very or extremely stressful;
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25% view their jobs as the number one stressor in their lives;
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Three fourths of employees believe that workers have more on-the-job stress than a generation ago;
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29% of workers felt quite a bit or extremely stressed at work;
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26 percent of workers said they were "often or very often burned out or stressed by their work";
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Job stress is more strongly associated with health complaints than financial or family problems.
This information was obtained in the 1990's in large surveys by
Northwestern National Life Insurance Co, Princeton Survey Research Associates,
St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Co., Yale University
and The Families and Work Institute.
80% of workers feel stress on the job, nearly half say they need help in learning how to manage stress and 42% say their coworkers need such help;
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14% of respondents had felt like striking a coworker in the past year, but didn't;
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25% have felt like screaming or shouting because of job stress, 10% are concerned about an individual at work they fear could become violent;
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9% are aware of an assault or violent act in their workplace and 18% had experienced some sort of threat or verbal intimidation in the past year.
A Subsequent 2000 Integra Survey Similarly Reported:
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65% of workers said that workplace stress had caused difficulties and more than 10 percent described these as having major effects;
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10% said they work in an atmosphere where physical violence has occurred because of job stress and in this group, 42% report that yelling and other verbal abuse is common;
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29% had yelled at co-workers because of workplace stress, 14% said they work where machinery or equipment has been damaged because of workplace rage and 2% admitted that they had actually personally struck someone;
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19% or almost one in five respondents had quit a previous position because of job stress and nearly one in four have been driven to tears because of workplace stress;
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62% routinely find that they end the day with work-related neck pain, 44% reported stressed-out eyes, 38% complained of hurting hands and 34% reported difficulty in sleeping because they were too stressed-out;
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12% had called in sick because of job stress;
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Over half said they often spend 12-hour days on work related duties and an equal number frequently skip lunch because of the stress of job demands.