Page 17 - TX811 2022 issue 4

Workplace Stress
Stress can be harmful to our health and increase mental health challenges. Mental health challenges can include clinical mental illness and substance use disorders as well as other emotions like stress, grief, feeling sad and anxious, where these feelings are temporary and not part of a diagnosable condition. While there are many things
in life that induce stress, work can be one of those factors. However, workplaces can also be a key place for resources, solutions, and activities designed to improve our mental health and well-being.
Workplace stress and poor mental health can negatively affect workers through:
• Job performance
• Productivity
• Work engagement and communication
• Physical capability and daily functioning
Statistics
• Nearly one in five US adults live with a mental illness.
• Workplace stress has been reported to cause 120,000 deaths in the US each year.
• Approximately 65% of US workers surveyed have characterized work as being a very significant or somewhat significant source of stress in each year from 2019-2021.
• 83% of US workers suffer from work-related stress.
• 54% of workers report that work stress affects their home life.
For every $1 spent on ordinary mental health concerns, employers see a $4 return in productivity gains.
To learn more about workplace stress, go to https:// www.osha.gov/workplace-stress.
2022, Issue 4
Texas811 • 15