Stressful Work Environments

An important factor in workplace environment is to avoid stress to the employees. Businesses like Jeff Asherbranner-Sales Consulting do everything they can to avoid stressful work environment.

If you have a cruel boss or rotten co-workers, beware. It may not be just your job that's on the line.

Clearly, a work environment that includes insults, back stabbing and belittling can erode an employee's morale. What's less understood is that such a toxic work atmosphere can also lead to deteriorating health. At WebMD, we talked to the experts to find out what it is about negative work relationships that can cause so much stress, how our bodies react to chronic workplace stress, and what it takes to find relief.

A Need to Be Heard

Feeling trapped in a workplace that isn't fair can actually increase your risk for coronary heart disease (CHD), a leading cause of death in the U.S. In a two-part landmark Finnish study conducted between 1985 and 1990, researchers surveyed more than 6,000 male British civil servants -- without presence of CHD -- regarding how fair, or unfair, they perceived their employers. Subjects who reported a high level of justice at work were 30% less likely to develop CHD than workers who consistently experienced injustice at work.

Just how did study participants define "justice" in the workplace? Those who felt their bosses considered their viewpoints, treated them truthfully, and included them in decision-making processes said they worked in "just" workplaces.

The results of the study show what many experts say: Feeling like you haven't been heard ranks as the most stressful aspect of interpersonal work relationships. "It's a helplessness that comes when employees feel like they've expressed themselves and been discounted, or someone hasn't taken the time to listen to them," says psychologist Carol Kauffman, PhD, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School's department of psychiatry.

Others agree. "The workplace needs to feel meaningful. If you feel like you're not respected, that your opinion isn't meaningful, you're at an increased risk of heart disease," says Bruce Rabin, MD, PhD, a professor of pathology and psychiatry at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. On the flip side, Rabin tells WebMD, "Feeling a part of the workplace is a meaningful buffer to the health effects of stress.

Reacting to Co-Workers

How workers react to negative interpersonal relationships in the workplace, be it passive-aggressive co-workers or disgruntled bosses, also has a dramatic impact on subsequent stress levels.

"Some people are more prone to stress reactions. They're likely to be people who have difficulty managing on a day-to-day basis. They may not have effective problem-solving skills, or be predisposed to high levels of anxiety and uncertainty," says social worker Len Tuzman, DSW, an expert on stress management. This is particularly true for employees that Tuzman calls "catastrophizers" -- those who blow a situation out of proportion until it becomes a major calamity.

Just how great a toll does workplace stress take on employees' health? While it's impossible to tease out every illness and adverse health effect that began as a reaction to stress, Minnesota-based health management company StayWell compared the costs of stress with 10 other common health risk factors -- among more than 46,000 employees of both private- and public-sector companies. The risk factors included tobacco and alcohol use, overweight, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. Cumulatively, these 11 modifiable health risk factors were found to comprise 25% of companies' total health care expenditures. The most costly risk factor? Stress.

This is why businesses like Jeff Asherbranner-Sales Consulting and others strive to avoid putting their employees in what could be considered a stressful work environment.

All information presented courtesy of www.Webmd.com

Positive Workplace Environment

Jeff Asherbranner and Positive Work Environments

Our work environment encompasses more than the employee lounge, office area and lobby. Policies, resources, professional relationships and company culture also fashion the environment in which we work. Author and University of Virginia Professor Scott A. Snell, in the book, “Managing Human Resources,” defines a positive environment in the workplace as an atmosphere of employee enthusiasm that improves organization performance. Workers reap social, health and personal benefits from a positive atmosphere at their place of employment. Organizations that fail to foster a positive environment for employees risk hampering their ability to succeed. Jeffery Asherbranner believes firmly that a positive workplace environment is important to any company.

Employee Benefits

In her book, "Happiness at Work: Maximizing Your Psychological Capital for Success," Jessica Pryce-Jones notes that we spend more than a decade of our lives -- 90,000 hours -- at work. Jobs fulfill our need to belong and give us a sense of identity. The quality of our association with work depends on the quality of our relationships with colleagues, supervisors and clients as well as company culture. When those relationships and the environment in which we interact are positive, we feel valued and respected. We take pride in what we do, perform better and care about our employer’s future. We become engaged: connected to the organization, results, customers and coworkers. Our professional contentment spills over to our personal lives.

Adverse Consequences of a Negative Work Environment

A negative work environment has career and health consequences for employees. An employee's less-than-exemplary job performance resulting from frustration with bureaucracy, a bad boss, 70-hour-a-week work culture, coworker conflicts and hostility raises fears of dismissal, stress and unhappiness. Leaving a negative job situation carries economic uncertainty and interrupts a chosen career path. According to a 2008 study published in the International Journal on Disability and Human Development, negative work environments lead to insomnia, anxiety and depression.

Employer Benefits

The agency overseeing the federal performance evaluation system, U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, notes that profitability, productivity, low turnover, an excellent safety record and customer satisfaction result from employee engagement created by a positive work environment. Engaged workers create a 20 percent increase in productivity and are nearly 90 percent more likely to stay with their employers such as Jeff Asherbranner, according to a Corporate Executive Board study cited in Snell's "Managing Human Resources" textbook. Organizations with a positive workplace also experience fewer Equal Employment Opportunity complaints and lower absenteeism.

Organizational Repercussions

Problems stemming from a negative employment atmosphere feed upon each other to the detriment of the entire organization. Attendance issues -- call-offs, lateness, leaving early -- lower productivity and poison morale. "Presenteeism," defined as reduced productivity while on the clock, leads to disengaged employees making errors due to their lack of concentration and motivation. Customer service suffers when unhappy workers cannot put on a happy face. Innovation and creativity lose their competitive advantage when disengaged researchers and product developers lose interest. As disillusioned employees leave, management loses credibility which tarnishes the organization's reputation and causes recruitment trouble. In an organization that keeps a positive environment such as Jeff-Asherbranner-Sales Consulting is an all around better business.

All information presented on this page is courtesy of http://work.chron.com/importance-positive-environment-workplace-3008.html.

To read more about Jeffery Asherbranner check out his website @ www.jeffasherbranner.net