How to help reduce stress in employees

1. Quotable quote

"Stress is not limited to any one level in an organisation. Although typically we have assumed all the heart attack candidates come from the executive ranks, it is now known that middle and lower levels have their own unique problems, making stress an ‘equal opportunity’ opponent… By massive popular vote, the leading cause of stress at work is the bad boss…"

2. It's a fact

According to a 'Wall Street Journal' article, an advertising salesman treated by a New York doctor screamed so loudly when he argued with his boss that he punctured a lung. Another patient, an office receptionist, had such stress-induced vomiting that she eventually had to quit her job. And a third, a Wall Street broker treated by physician Larry Lerner for hypertension, was so certain his death was imminent that he refused to take his children to the park for fear they would be abandoned when he died.

Human resource managers, as well as doctors, psychologists, and pollsters agree that workplace stress is high - and getting higher.

3. Here's an idea

The simplest solution for overcoming job stress in the workplace is for employers to ask employees what could be done to improve their well-being at work - and to act on the advice. …