Stress Costs U.S. $300 Billion a Year

jburroug writes "A new study, as reported in the New York Times claims that the stress of the modern always-on work environment is taking a far greater toll on the health of workers than previously believed, to the tune of $300 billion in lost productivity and increased health care costs in the U.S. alone."

Comments

people in the US work too much

[Anonymous Coward]

That's because people in the US tend to work to much (sometimes for less money). Hope this shows the rest of the world not to follow that trend in favor of some inexistent productivity benefit.

Re:people in the US work too much

[Myolp]

In Sweden, and I think this also applies to several other European countries, we have laws that prevents a company from firing its staff without a valid reason. I.e., they can't fire you for arguing with your boss, or not working overtime, etc. Also, when they need to cut back on the staff, its a first-in-last-out rule that is applied to decide who will stay and who will get fired. And you're not allowed to work more than 200 hours overtime per year (exceptions can be made though). Everyone have at least 5 weeks vacation each year, and you always have the right to use at least four of these during the summer. If you get a kid, you have 1 years paid parental leave. Would you like to take a year of to study something? Sure thing, every employee can take one years off as long as they will be studying full time, and you get your job back when your done. Is your kid sick, don't worry, you can stay home and take care off him/her without risk loosing your job.

Working in Sweden is quite sweet...

Go tell it to the Europeans

[Cryofan]

....with their 4-6 weeks of vacations and holidays each year. We work about 25% more per year than do most Europeans.

I really do not understand why we Americans have let ourselves be brainwashed into SweatShopAmerica.

See my sig for links on how the social democracies of Europe fought and are still fighting for a better , less stressful workplace, for universal healthcare, and for a social welfare state/safety net that lets them less afraid of losing their jobs.

Re:Go tell it to the Europeans

[fermion]

The interesting thing is that the number of hours work and productivity are not neccesarily related. I think in some companies at lot of hours are put in, but the results are not untilmately benificial. Enron was renowned in Houston for how hard working the employees were.

I think what we have brainwashed into believing those who work the most are the most dedicated, when in fact they may just be the least effecient, or, possible, the least qualified to do the job. Or pehaps the employer will not pay for the proper tools because he or she knows that the employee will donate the time neccesary to compensate for the substandard equipment. I am in a situation like that right now. Crappy cheap web designer are costing me a few hours a week of free time.

One last point. Healthcare and vacations should pay for themselves. A healthier worker will be more effectient. However, this only matters when the company is worried about the long term viability of the worker and has to pay for the long term care of the worker. Neither is that true in the current situation. The pay for unskilled labor is low enough so it does not matter if the worker is not effecient. Skilled labor is often on salary, so it often does not matter if all the labor is inexperienced and takes 25% more time. Health care is largely oursourced to the middle class, through taxes and insurance payments, so that is not a big issue either.

the belabored point from above is that Sweatshop America is realy TemporaryJobAmerica, in which companies hire on an as needed basis, works the employer as hard as possible, and then throws the employee away as soon as the job is done.

Re:Go tell it to the Europeans

[Billly Gates]

It is more productive in terms of costs. Not work involved.

Efficiently is calculated by cost per work returned for that cost. I agree an overworked worker is not as efficient as working regular hours for the cost of 2 workers it just may not be efficient. Especially in this tight job market and economy.

Businesses view employers as expenses and cost centers. They need to be cut because they get in the way of profits. Sadly this is why the stock market has gone up as of recent. Its because despite the recession businesses are hiring Indians and having 1 person do the job of 3. This saves alot of money.

"Mental health" day

[Therlin]

At my workplace, it is widely accepted to use a day of sick leave and call it a "mental health" day.

We all need to step away from the everyday crap and let our brain rest. Sometimes you need it and you usually come back to work energized and ready to finish the rest of the week.

This is what happens when

[Anonymous Coward]

Decent companies are forced to drug test their employees for harmless substances like THC.

I tried my best to work in the u.s., but I couldn't hack it, just couldn't do it. Even the innocuous suggestion that we go down the pub for an ale during lunch raised some eyebrows and instilled fear in my coworkers. Why do the people working in corporate america have this attitude ? Is it just plain fear? Are you all so desperate to climb the corporate ladder that _living_ takes a backseat to it? Then the 60 and 70 hour workweeks, people taking work home with them for at least another dozen hours of unpaid work...

Absolutely ridiculous... I'm glad to be back in .AU for good this time. My advice to americans... hmmm, get the fuck out of that madhouse now.

Greed

[sbillard]

Out of touch executives are running the country (US) into the ground from within. They percieve a need to squeeze every penny into their quarterly EPS reports. CxOs will stop at nothing to look good on paper. Their shortsighted strategies combined with an out-of-touch lifestyle make life a living hell for a vast majority of their collective underlings. Their only concerns in life are:
1. Where do I park my boat? What? No valet service?!?
2. ???
3. PROFIT!!!!!

If executives were more entrenched and had more at stake there would be more coherent operations at work. CxOs need to have their livelyhood at stake in the same way the rest of us do in order to make the right decision. Nothing trickles down to the underlings. You might survive in this corporate culture by sucking up. 1 minute of "face time" has become much more important than fixing a problem or making an improvement. God help us all.

Nice to see a verification.

[geekwench]

Interesting article, but it's not anything that I hadn't already figured out - a long time ago.

Once upon a time, I worked for the Company Formerly Known as USWorst. That experience left me with more knowledge of both their database and their employee benefits program than I ever wanted to know. The stress of that position also left me with carpal tunnel syndrome, the beginnings of a whopping good ulcer, and stress-related dissociative attacks. (Literally, my brain was going on mini-vacations, and neglecting to take me along with it.)
Now, I own my own business. The pay isn't as regular, but my schedule is my own, and the unreasonable request list is pretty minimal. The carpal tunnel still flares up form time to time, but it's in remission without surgery. (Since I use my hands a lot, this is a critical point.) The other problems started to heal as soon as I escaped the toxic work environment. I'm not spending as much time sitting in a doctor's office, and nowhere near as much money on things like Pepto and pain relief nostrums.

So, yeah; not exactly news, but it's nice to see that somebody has quantified the impact that work-related stress has on people's lives.

Re:Meh

[jd]

When you factor in all the unemployed who aren't counted (unemployed "too long", don't have a permanent address, past employer didn't pay unemployment insurance, aren't bothering to claim, not employed long enough, etc), the US might easily beat France on the REAL unemployment figures.

Those people living like moles in the New York subways sure as hell aren't counted in the unemployment statistics, but equally they sure as hell aren't "gainfully employed" by anyone. That's a few million, right there.

The European Union may not have the perfect system (and most of Europe holds to the 35-hour week) but they do seem to be more honest about the real cost of their system.

If we're spending 300 billion dollars from overwork - money we're no longer earning, because a certain US President just eliminated overtime rules - then we're just burning money we don't have. We'd be better off banning the overtime and putting the money into better healthcare. We'd be paying the same, it's just that we'd be in better physical shape when we do fall ill, and the health system would be in better shape to take care of us.

Of course, you could argue that the country is overcrowded anyway. True enough, but I'm not sure that involuntary euthanasia by excessive workloads is really the way to deal with the problem.

I guess this could be taken by a cynic as confirming previous Slashdot articles which claimed that Republicans were mentally ill and had deficient brain activity.

someone who spent two months proving the obvious--

[jswatz]

That's me, the reporter who wrote the story. What fascinated me about this is that everybody knows that workplace stress is a problem, but you rarely see the dots connected. There's a lot of fascinating research out there -- especially the Scandinavian studies showing links between change in the workplace and illness. Anyway, I didn't mean to stress y'all out. But I have to say that I did think of slashdotters often while I was writing it...

Re:And they wonder why

[BlueTooth]

I recently dropped a self owned startup for a "corporate" job working for the DoD...for the most part security restrictions make it dificult (i.e. a hassle) to take work home...needless to say, I'm loving it. When I'm at work, I get more done, when I'm at home I get more R&R...

Less stressed, but just as industrious, Europe

[Cryofan]

But what about Europe: they are less stressed, but the Industrial Revolution started there!

The reason they are less stressed is because their governments have restrained the amount of leverage that employers may apply to the employee.

You people have it all wrong

[rsilvergun]

Saying stress cost us $300 billion a year assumes our economy exists to maximize overall wealth and happiness. In point of fact, our economy is built around making a select few staggeringly wealthy. All enonomies throughout history have been. Right now we're not really noticing this because Globalization has allowed most people in developed countries to be comfortable w/o having that 1% of the populace who won't settle for less than their every desire compromise a few of the more extravagant ones.

But as the rest of the world developes, we're running into serious resource shortages. As these shortages start to be felt, the greedy won't scale back their extravagance, so the rest will be made to suffer. The stress will be increased, your health will go to hell. But it won't matter, since there are plenty of fresh bodies to replace you, just waiting to be used up. Right now this is an issue because society can afford to coddle it's workers while letting that 1% live like they always have (the phrase 'live like a king' didn't just come out of nowhere). Wait and see. The response to a study like this won't be treating workers better, it'll be discarding them faster.