Work stress: not good for productivity
Posted on January 20, 2006
When you are looking at a block of flats, the first thing that is obvious is that all the apartments are made the same: same windows, same balcony, and probably same everything. My job at the 9th level on a glass building it’s very good for observing the other smaller building…And just when I’ve started to think that the apartments must be the same from top to bottom, I’ve noticed at one level that new PVC windows were in place. Which kind of brought me back to thinking about my previous jobs (I do that a lot lately as I’ve decided to change my 9 to 5 job) and especially at the times when I was selling PVC windows.
Right now it seems natural that after you take the sizes and make the price for a PVC window for an apartment, it will be more or less the same for all the apartments in that building. And if you go a step further, you can imagine that selling to 2 ore more apartments in that building will actually decrease your production costs (because you don’t produce the PVC windows on a custom basis but on a small scale, the transportation costs are split between the customers and the installation will go faster because you that have to make it 2-3 times at the same location in the same way). So, bottom line, if you already made a price for an apartment, it would be a very good thing to have some other customers in that building - by presenting them the same offer or maybe giving some discounts to the first customers if he brings one or more clients there.
That is something I thought about in the first 5 minutes after noticing the PVC windows on the building. But was I thinking the same when I was working for the PVC windows manufacturer? No Sir, not at all. Let me tell you what the problem really was: work stress!
Here is why.
First, I was having a lady boss that was really unprofessional, yelling all the time and not knowing her job at all. Because she was very lame in the PVC business, client relation or anything else related to the PVC windows business or even sales or marketing, she was trying to cover these with terror. So I was really having a very poor social environment at my work place. Next, I was tricked on the monthly wages…I was getting far less money that initially discussed previously. And probably the most important - the heavy work load. I mean the moments when I went to the bathroom were really the only moments of relaxation.
I believe that work stress is amongst the most important enemies of productivity, creativity and performance. “Job stress can be defined as the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources, or needs of the worker.” That’s why I left that job in 6 months and I still think was my worse working experience. Simply, considering my working conditions described above my goals were: getting out of the lady boss office, getting more money and work less - I bet the company really wanted something different. The sad thing is that my next jobs solved some issues but not all. Bottom line, not all managers understand that you are providing them some services for which they have to pay. They don’t own you in any way, they are just buying something from you.
Here is what National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health say about stress: “Employers assume that stressful working conditions are a necessary evil-that companies must turn up the pressure on workers and set aside health concerns to remain productive and profitable in today’s economy. But research findings challenge this belief. Studies show that stressful working conditions are actually associated with increased absenteeism, tardiness, and intentions by workers to quit their jobs-all of which have a negative effect on the bottom line.”
Stress at work is probably one of the reasons why people start a business of their own. This won’t offer them a completely stress free life, but will probably give them the chance to reduce it by:
- Balance between work and family or personal life (something I already wrote about here)
- A support network of friends and coworkers
- A relaxed and positive outlook
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