Everywhere you turn these days, someone is talking about work stress. We are all over-worked! We’re all too stressed! The sky is indeed falling!
Some of this is true, but much of it is not.
Here’s the basic deal: work stress is real, but it’s real for different reasons than we think it is. Consider this: in the 1930s, economists were predicting we’d work six-hour weeks by now. That obviously hasn’t happened. In 1988, management consultant Peter Drucker said we’d all be working for lean companies with low levels of middle management. That hasn’t happened either.
I think this is what we need to do: figure out how real work stress is, then determine where work stress comes from. Then, let’s go ahead and try to solve the problem. Ready? And awaaaaaaaay we go.
Work stress: How real is it?
To many people, the answer is obviously “very real.” Most people I’ve ever worked with feel completely overwhelmed at their jobs and always talk about “doing work at home” and “putting in 16-hour days.” More on that in a second.
Here are results of a new study from Groupon (I’m not sure why exactly Groupon does these studies) called “Too Much Work, Too Much Stress.” They surveyed 2,000 people. (It’s not a huge number, no.) Some of the key findings include:
