Study: Work stress and job performance

Work-related stress has a direct bearing on the current and long-term productivity of Canadian workers in terms of reduced work activities, disability days and absenteeism, according to a new study.

The study, published today in Perspectives on Labour and Income, used data from the 2002 Canadian Community Health Survey and various cycles of the National Population Health Survey to examine work stress and its impact on workers.

Work stress can be measured by several indicators, one of which is job strain. The study found that men with high-strain jobs were 1.7 times more likely than those with low-strain jobs to report lower work activities due to a long-term health problem.

Men with high-strain jobs were also 1.5 times more likely to report having taken at least one disability day during the two weeks prior to the survey.

High self-perceived work stress was strongly related to taking disability days. Almost one in five men and women who perceived their regular work days to be stressful took at least one disability day during the two weeks prior to the survey.

The study found that different sources of work stress do not occur in isolation, but interact with one another. Physical exertion and job insecurity can also cause stress.

Men in physical jobs were 2.2 times more likely to have a work absence than men in non-physical jobs, while women were 1.9 times more likely.

On a long-term basis, men and women who worked in physically demanding jobs were about 1.6 times more likely than those in other jobs to have reduced their work activities in the following two years.

The study also looked at various characteristics of people who reported work strain, such as sex, age, income and job-related variables.

It found that more women reported high work strain than men, and that employed women were more likely to report high work stress.

Proportionally, 28% of working women reported having a high-strain job, compared with 20% of men. One-third of women felt quite a bit, or extremely, stressed most days at work, compared with 29% of men.

Shift workers were more likely to have high-strain jobs than other workers. They were also more likely to perceive their jobs as physically demanding.

Individuals with low personal incomes were more likely to have high-strain jobs than individuals with high incomes. Almost 28% of workers with incomes of less than $20,000 had high-strain jobs, compared with only 18% of workers earning $60,000 or more.

A supportive work environment tended to mitigate job interruptions due to stress, while negative coping mechanisms (such as increased smoking or drinking) were associated with more interruptions.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey numbers, including related surveys, 3225 and 5015.

The article, "Work stress and job performance," is now available in the December 2007 online edition of Perspectives on Labour and Income, Vol. 8, no. 12 (75-001-XWE, free), from the Publications module of our website.

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Jungwee Park (613-951-4598; jungwee.park@statcan.gc.ca), Labour and Household Surveys Analysis Division, Statistics Canada.