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Stress Costs U.S. $300 Billion a Year

Posted by michael on from the nervous-tic dept.

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."

6 of 418 comments (clear)

  1. Go tell it to the Europeans by Cryofan · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ....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.

    --
    eat shiat and bark at the moon
    1. Re:Go tell it to the Europeans by fermion · · Score: 5, Interesting
      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.

      --
      "She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
  2. Greed by sbillard · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

  3. someone who spent two months proving the obvious-- by jswatz · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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...

    --
    "speaking only for myself since 1957"
  4. Less stressed, but just as industrious, Europe by Cryofan · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

    --
    eat shiat and bark at the moon
  5. Re:people in the US work too much by Myolp · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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...