Thought for Today

[driver1 10]

Work-related Stress Discuss

 

Does it really exist?

Do people take advantage?

Does it just overload fellow employees?

[JoeP 11]

Yes it can exist, some people do take the mickey with it and in poorly managed workplaces the fallout on to other staff can be damaging.

 

I've worked in many places where there is serious stress experienced by individuals - soemtiems to teh point of several months oiff work.

 

Oddly enough, in my own experience I've seen more stress related illnesses in work environments that I would consider as 'low stress'. Environments that I've worked in with a lot of pressure tejnd to have less casualties. HOWEVER...I think that the difference may be that most 'high pressure' environments I've worked in have been reasonably well resourced and properly managed.

 

The stress related illnesses I've tended to see more in public sector places or in poorly managed / resourced places.

 

My solution - no job is worth it. Quit before it gets bad.

[jfish1936 10]

The stress of being a highly skilled person in an occupation where that skill is vital (think emergency room doctors and nurses, airline pilots, etc) is very different from the stress of a less demanding job made difficult by incompetent or even malignant management.

 

I've retired from a job which imposed severe stresses; lives depended on my judgement, hours were long and irregular, sometimes I came in for criticism which I may not have deserved. But I have a file of letters from people who were grateful for my help; I know that overall "I did good".

It's a bit like the stress of being in a top sports team -- the victory makes it all worth while.

 

Compare this with the person who has to answer a phone, send and receive letters, come in at 9, go home at 5, all weekends off and guaranteed holidays. Yet life is made miserable by a boss who wants to find fault, because that's the proof of power. Whatever you do will be wrong. This is the most destructive

[slickwitch 10]

As a middle manager, I spent so much time defending my staff from Senior management who would otherwise have left me with a department where half the people were off with stress. THis in turn left them relatively stress-free and me spinning like a top!

 

Luckily now I work for myself and I never get stressed cos I don't often shout at me. Though as discussed on another thread I do often have a good chunter at me.

[jfish1936 10]

In a book called "Lucifer's Hammer", a TV producer meets a man who has discovered a new comet, which will pass very close to Earth (spoiler warning -- it hits!).

This discoverer is a soap millionaire with an elaborate mountain observatory; he shares the discovery with a schoolboy with home made equipment.

The producer's idea of a program on the discovery is welcomed by the soap man, who promises total sponsorship.

The producer then has to take the idea to twelve network executives, none of whom has the ability to produce the show, but any one of whom can squash it for no reason but personal pique.

Stressful!

(BTW read the book, it's really good. Much better than METEOR)