Stress Update
Appendix B – Telephone Evaluation of key Contacts in New Zealand
Comments made by ten key contacts in the course of 20 minute telephone calls or interviews during May 2007 are summarised below.
1 Employers and Manufacturers Association – Paul Jarvie
Delivered 80 seminars to ‘perplexed and worried’ employers demystify the issue in 2003 – 2004.
Concern raised by high profile Employment court cases
Put the topic it in a traditional H&S model (identify, assess, control).
Dispelled concern – placed boundaries and limited scope.
Key Message: “If someone is not coping - you have a frontline duty to make some inquiries.”
Minimal use of DOL Documents
Too long – Not understood
Probable positive benefits
Is’ now OK to talk about it
The Mental Health Foundation took the opportunity to develop their seminars
Probable negative effects
Stress is often Cited in Personal Grievances – and usually means extra $ for complainant
GP behaviour is stereotyped. “Communication stops” – small number of employers have been thwarted and disadvantaged. One case has taken over 4 years to resolve.
2 FINSEC - Andrew Casidy
Andrew spoke about banks and wished to emphasise their genuine concern.
The issue is one of preparedness to address the causes, not the symptoms - where do you draw the line?
Some are addressing issues directly – one is exploring how to delink targets, pay and performance.
But, in the end, the key issues remain unaddressed, particularly when expectations are creeping – in the sense that double-digit profit increases are expected each year. Andrew called this a ‘cost plus’ mentality and noted that it translates into performance targets that constantly shift upwards.
Key concerns for many staff, in order of importance are: (1) Targets (2) Staffing levels (3) Pay.
Key idea: Many bank staff, in the face of these conditions, feel that the challenges they face can never be met.
3 Mental Health Foundation – Working Well
Stress workshop popular
Pressure still there - Some workplaces still paying lip service to ‘health’ in the HSE Act
Big corporates better
Awareness increasing - Work life balance programmes – More flexibility in conditions
MHF provided a brief summary of conclusions in articles relevant to New Zealand they found during a recent search:
‘ . . . New Zealanders are more wedded to work than are workers in Australia, the US, Britain, Germany, Brazil or Russia. A staggering 94 per cent of the New Zealand managers said they regularly received work-related calls out of hours, compared with an international average of 48 percent and a low 35 percent in Germany.’[i]
" . . . office workers here were among the most stressed in the world. Sixty-five percent cited work as their major cause of stress, 25% money worries, 24% family and domestic relationships and 19% fear unemployment.”
“ . . . a survey of 700 private and public workers carried out last year by the Wellington firm, Gilmour McGregor. 41% said their stress had worsened in the previous three years[ii].”
"In July 2004, almost 13,500 New Zealanders were on either the sickness or invalid's benefit because of stress and depression." [iii]
A sample of academic staff were surveyed in 1994 and 1998. “Approximately 40% of University staff found their job often or almost always stressful in 1998; there was no change form 1994. Academic stress levels remained the highest of all university staff with 48% of academics reporting that they found their job often or almost always stressful in 1998. This was also the case in 1994. [iv]
“A study by Richards identified significant stress in 61% of a sample of New Zealand Doctors and there is evidence of high levels of burnout in rural practitioners” (Jenkins, D NZMJ).
“ . . . although general practitioners were satisfied with their jobs overall, work was perceived as affecting the physical health of 46% of the sample and 57% had often contemplated leaving general practice.” (Dowell et al NZMJ) “Major causes of stress and lack of job satisfaction were excessive paperwork, health reforms and bureaucratic interference, excessive hours and on-call work.”[v]
References
[i] O’Hare, Neil (2005) The race to beat stress. New Zealand Listener 08/04/2005
[ii] Sullivan, Margie. (1995) Taking charge of stress: strategies for the workplace. New Zealand Business. September 1995: Pg 14-21.
[iii] 'Leap in claims due to stress'. The Press, 23/11/2004.
[iv] Chalmers, Anna. (1998) Workload and stress in NZ universities in 1998: a follow-up to the 1994 study. New Zealand Council for Educational Research.
[v] Dowell, A et al (2000) A survey of job satisfaction, sources of stress and psychological symptoms among New Zealand Health Professionals. NZ Medical Journal 2000; 113: 269-272.
4 Auckland Lifeline – Bryan Wilshire, CEO
Calls to Lifeline Auckland continue to increase – up over 100% on 2004. Employment problems, not unemployment problems, are taking 26 minutes to discuss on average compared to 14 minutes some time ago. Stress related calls have gone down but constitute 15% of all calls.
Men and women now calling equally about depression – 48% <–> 52% cf “traditional” 30% <–> 70% predominance of women.
An increasing number of calls are from highly placed academics.
5 A University Researcher – Dianne Gardner
Work related stress is a major problem and its management is far from straightforward. It is important to identify, assess and control stressors and also to avoid removing the rewarding aspects of work.
There is a need to identify and address both challenge and hindrance (or ‘threat’) stressors - and to differentiate between them by having different strategies for each.
My research is showing:
- that stress and enjoyment of work can coexist.
- that many 'stressors' may be matched by a corresponding 'satisfier' (e.g. 'difficult cases' with 'solving difficult cases'; 'unhappy customers' with 'satisfied customers'). However there appears to be only stress and no satisfaction associated with quantitative work overload, and no stress but only satisfaction associated with the feeling of doing a worthwhile job.
- DoL's bucket model might have a limitation - it doesn't allow for positive enjoyment, only for resources to be replenished and drained.
I applaud the emphasis on healthy work in the DOL approach. Focusing only on stress and not the rewarding aspects of work does not recognise the full range of experiences that people have of work. Focusing on stress is not empowering. Good employees may leave if they don't get good experiences, when alternatives are available. Many people in 'high stress' occupations (nurses, rescue helicopter pilots) love their work in spite of the demands. Unpleasant experiences may be buffered by the intrinsic meaningfulness of the work.
Some stress models cast people as passive recipients who feel things are done to them [For example, Karasek’s model is as shown below]. However, people work actively to make sense of and to cope with their situations. Alternative models need airing. When you ask many professionals what they like about their job it is difficult to get them stop talking.
The second diagram below represents what I have been researching.
Diagram 1 – Karasek’s Model of Workplace Stress.
This model is related to the model in the McGowan, Gardner and Fletcher paper (see diagram 2, below) which includes the cognitive appraisal of demands and coping. Karasek's model does not allow for these or for individual differences (ability, personality etc) or situational factors (leadership, organisational climate etc).
Models that seem to portray people as invariably acting in a particular way in a particular environment underestimate the ways we try to manage things for ourselves. The stress literature is increasingly recognising this. Some people are tired of hearing about stress and welcome the chance to explore work-related enjoyment, engagement and wellbeing.
To recap: whether a demand is seen as a threat or a challenge depends on whether there are the resources available to deal with it.
A threat appraisal: demands are perceived to exceed resources or ability to cope.
A challenge appraisal: demands are seen to match coping abilities/ resources.
In terms of Karasek’s model, control and support are resources to deal with demands. Individual characteristics like health, energy, resilience, skills, abilities etc are also resources and so are workplace characteristics like leadership, organisational culture, relationships with peers, physical work environment etc.
Which leads to my preferred definition of stress:
“a relationship between the person and the environment that is appraised by the person as taxing or exceeding his or her resources and endangering his or her well-being” (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984).
To summarise the diagram: demands seen as challenges tend to be associated with greater use of task-focused coping (i.e. getting to grips with the demand and solving any problems) and social support. These in turn are associated with higher levels of positive emotion (enjoyment, satisfaction, engagement with the task), better job satisfaction and lower intentions to leave.
Demands seen as threats tend to be associated with more use of avoidance (procrastination, delay, distraction etc). This is associated with worse emotional and work-related outcomes: higher stress, less job satisfaction, increased intentions to leave, etc.
The exception is when someone seeks social support (practical help or emotional support) to deal with a threat. Then outcomes tend to be positive the person is able to address the problem and feels better about the outcomes. Social support is one of the resources that can help deal with work demands.
Diagram 2: An alternative model for 'stress'
6 A Recruitment Consultant
Lot of ra ra in 2003 - but no real outcomes for those consulting in the area
- Not seen as a ‘must have’ for New Zealand Employers
- Stress Interventions are seen as costly and hard to justify in terms of return on investment
- Selection, which is an essential, does give returns for employers and is therefore an easier sell.
- Few consultants making a living from stress as a result it is not a solution that is pushed proactively.
7 A Registered Psychologist - Ross Gilmour
There is less interest in this topic than in 2003 – 5.
Employers often run courses in the expectation that employees will then ‘speak up’ – and then leave them to do that. However, it is important to note that many of these companies are genuine in wanting to do the right thing.
Some companies are going ‘way beyond’ what the HSE Act and the Guideline suggests – and are beginning to expect their managers to be actively involved in certain ways.
Specific appropriate questions are being asked, indicating a maturing approach. Ross quoted a company that deals with a certain category of distressed people:
“Our staff are dealing with people who are very distressed because of particular circumstances. We want to help our staff develop strategies for (a) dealing with these people and (b) not taking things onboard or taking them home”.
Note: Stress leave and its signing off by GP’s. This is a recurring theme. There is a good rationale for it in the cases where the person needs – simply – a REST. Prolonged re-signing of stress leave by GP’s, without proper consideration of the persons’ real needs, is not healthy for anyone, of course.
8 A Legal Practitioner – Andrew Scott-Howman, Partner, Bell Gully
Employers were initially very concerned and the issue was seen as parallel to the ‘RSI’ epidemic of the early 1980s. Many workplace ‘advisors’ started offering various remedies.
But
There have been very few successful claims (Whelan v Attorney General [CYPS] was one). Several high profile cases failed (A v CYFS, Nilson-Reid v Attorney General, A v Te Papa) There was an extreme case (Davis v Portage Licensing Trust), a prosecution (Nalder and Biddle)- but 90% of cases seem to have been settled at mediation.
A tendency for employers to be ’ambushed’ has been seen – by an employee suddenly reporting a major problem that had never been notified to the employer (and often with a GP certificate for time off work).
Andrew noted a ‘surprising’, genuine willingness to move on (rather than seek revenge).
Employers, generally speaking, seem to have worked out how to deal with reports of stress quite well (in the same way that they now handle sexual harassment with a degree of equanimity). A number of employers seem to believe that the responses of DOL and the Courts are realistic and that, therefore, a sensible response is within their grasp.
However, bullying, the new concern, has not been dealt with so successfully by employers.
[Comment: Paraphrasing what Andrew noted, it appears that a tendency to get locked into a ritual has been a feature of a number of cases: features of the ritual are:
- Allegation and counter allegation
- Detailed ‘evidence assembly’ by participants
- Division into factions
- A long time course and considerable cost
- Non-neutral responses by senior management, plus uncertainty about what to do and a slow response time
- The existence of unhelpful bullying policies
It is noteworthy that all these instances refer to reactions to bullying (or allegations of it), and that few employers seem to be prepared. If the stress experience transfers to bullying this will resolve itself with time F Darby]
9 Ken Wilson, WebResearch - Adult Learning and Workplace Culture.
Management in NZ is generally poor. Specifically:
1 Human Synergistics[1] research shows there is a mismatch between the desired and the perceived:
At May 2007, Combining New Zealand and Australian Data.
View large image of Diagram 3 [pdf file 84Kb, 1 page]
Left image: What 16,000 NZers' & Aussies want at work
Right image: What 236,000 think it is actually like
What these profiles tell us:
In terms of how people should approach their work, senior management wants the culture to be one that encourages people to......
- Think ahead and plan
- Pursue a standard of excellence
- Work for a sense of accomplishment
- Enjoy their work
- Take moderate risks
- Take on challenging tasks
- Treat rules as more important than ideas
- Switch priorities to please others
- Never be the one blamed for problems
- Follow orders, even when they’re wrong
- Push decisions upwards
- Don’t rock the boat
In terms of how people should interact with others, senior management wants the culture to be one that encourages people to......
- Maintain personal integrity
- Encourage others
- Use good human relations skills
- Be open about self
- Help others grow and develop
- Show concern for the needs of others
In reality however, people are actually encouraged to......
- Play ‘politics’ to gain influence
- Please those in positions of authority
- Maintain unquestioned superiority
- Never appear to lose
- Compete rather than cooperate
2 Lacks ‘empathy’ – defined variously as:
- Listening, to try to understand how it is for A. N. Other, without providing sympathy or a solution.
- Entering fully, though imagination or feeling, into another’s feelings or motives. To identify with. (World Book Dictionary. Pathos = Greek = Feeling.)
3 Neglects Cultural Imprints
- NZers hold values about themselves and their work that are powerful and unique. One value is that they identify with their work more personally than people in other cultures.
- GIAB Report on how some of those values add value to the Smart Economy. [external link, pdf file]
4 Good management = erroneously defined as “getting up the ladder of inference as fast as possible”.
Diagram 4: Ladder of inference
If the ladder of inference is an accurate model of habitual thinking processes, and if managers use thinking to make decisions, they tend to race up the ladder with increasing certainty in the rightness of their judgements. But that ignores the closing off nature of the process. So managers should festina lente - hurry slowly -and not treat thinking as an unproblematic process.
Footnote [1]
Reproduced with permission of Human Synergistics. The graphic is taken from – “Transforming Leadership and Culture – The State of the Nations: The Research results Book 2008”. © Copyright. Human Synergistics NZ Ltd. 2008. Circumplex © Copyright Human Synergistics International 1997-2008. Research and development by Robert A Cooke PhD and J Clayton Lafferty PhD.
10 Karen Hartshorn, Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Research Unit. Otago University.
The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Survey follows 1037 people born between 1 April 1972 and 31 March 1973. It is one of several such surveys in the world but is distinguished by its multidisciplinary nature and still being in contact with 96% of the original people in the study.
A recent paper from the Study followed the development of depression in the group, who are now young working men and women. The results and conclusions of the report are as follows:
Participants exposed to high psychological demands (excessive workload, extreme time pressures) had a twofold risk of major depressive disorder or generalised anxiety disorder compared to those with low job demands. Relative risks (RRS) adjusting for a ll work characteristics were: 1.90 [95 confidence interval (CI) 1.22 – 2.98] in women, and 2.00 (95%CI 1.13 – 3.56 in men) in men. Analyses ruled out the possibility that the association between work stress and disorder resulted from study members’ socio-economic position, a personality tendency to report negatively, or a history of psychiatric disorder prior to labour-market entry. Prospective longitudinal analyses showed that high demands jobs were associated with the onset of new depression and anxiety disorder in individuals without any pre-job history of diagnosis of treatment for either disorder.
Work stress appears to precipitate diagnosable depression and anxiety in previously health young workers. Helping workers cope with work stress or reducing work stress levels could prevent the occurrence of clinically significant depression and anxiety.