Top 10 causes of stress at work

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As with any aspect of life, some kind of stress is guaranteed. A certain amount of it is necessary to get things done, but there is a point when it become detrimental to your health.

A great deal of our time is spent at work, so naturally, stress experienced there is likely to be amplified in the short or long-term for many reasons, which we will talk about throughout this article.

10 causes of stress

Why can stress be harmful to our health?

As runners are likely to suffer strains, injuries and wear and tear on frequently-used parts of the body, the same is true for someone enduring a set of conditions in excessive amounts over time, depending upon that individual’s ability to cope with it.

Prolonged or extreme stress can cause a variety of both mental and physical conditions. Prolonged and/or intense stress can put stress on your heart and lead to blood pressure and heart disease, as well as causing or contributing to physiological problems such as anxiety and even depression.

Below are the top ten causes of stress in the workplace.

1) Toxic working environment

We believe that most people will be able to identify a toxic workplace. This is when you find yourself in an organisation where there are constant dramas, office politics, and just general disorder where nobody is accountable, or if there accountability it is never directed at the root cause.

Bullying, harassment and having bosses breathing down your neck constantly can also contribute to the feeling of toxicity, and overall it’s just a generally unpleasant and unhealthy environment for all concerned. Whether you are on the receiving end or not, a toxic workplace benefits neither the individual or the business.

2) Excessive workload

Excessive workload is when you are being asked to manage an ever-increasing list of tasks that frequently push you into staying after hours, coming in before your shift, or having to work evenings at home or maybe even weekends.

The first thing that goes out of the window is your work/life balance, which then cascades into effects on relationships, friendships and general life responsibilities, hobbies and recreation time.

As well as being detrimental to worker output and job satisfaction, it can also lead to conditions such as hypertension (blood pressure) anxiety and depression in extreme cases.

3) Overly-demanding/micro-managing boss

Oftentimes the job itself is not the issue, it’s the demand or attitude of a boss or senior-ranking colleague. The demand might not only be caused by a boss who never leaves you alone, but also when a superior is never present or unable to fulfil his or her role in the chain, putting strain on other parts of the working chain.

Being overly-criticised, under-praised, unacknowledged, unfairly berated, harassed or bullied into working longer or having to work twice as hard will never have a positive outcome for those on the receiving end.

4) Bullying/Harassment

Bullying might be most associated with school years to someone who has never experienced it in their adult life, but it is incredibly common. Not only is it unproductive and unpleasant, it can have hugely damaging implications on self-esteem, personal perception, ability to perform and overall job satisfaction.

Bullying can be exacerbated by other factors in this list, such as high workload, tight deadlines, and generally toxic workplace environments that often turn a blind eye to a dog-eat-dog mentality.

Bullying and harassment don’t even have to take the form of name-calling or obvious slurs, they may be less tangible than this. Being excluded from the rest of the group by a particular colleague, or being gossiped or lied about behind your back are just two of many examples.

5) Poor work/life balance

Having the proper amount of time and mental space to put between yourself and your job is often the difference between enjoying work and feeling completely overwhelmed by it.

If you are not allowed this balance of all things, and your personal hobbies, relationships and time simply spent relaxing fall by the wayside, then it is natural to feel suffocated by your job and thus you may suffer as a result. This varies from person to person, but it is important that the right balance be found in order to feel happy with both aspects of your life.

6) Changing workplace environment

Change is often necessary but isn’t always good. “Bad” change may something as simple as the departure of a long-term manager or colleague that you worked alongside very well, or it could simply be a change in procedure. A new managerial infrastructure and ethos or a new computer system are two good examples.

We are creatures of habit who can become accustomed to things always being a certain way, so anything that comes along – sometimes unannounced – which upset that equilibrium may negatively affect some people way more than others.

7) Challenging colleague relationships

Conflicting personalities, new management, or general unpleasantness may all cause some kind of upset depending on the environment they are present in, and it can often cause members of that collective to become stressed out by it as a result.

Having an open dialogue between colleagues is crucial, and likewise it is essential that everyone has proper access to managerial and/or emotional support should something become an issue.

8) Lack of support and poor communication

Everyone has experienced this in some way or another, whether it be in a relationship or friendship. Sometimes there may be one party who simply doesn’t pull his or her weight when it comes to fulfilling their role in relation to another, and this creates an imbalance which could lead to tasks piling up, or one person/team having to pick up the slack to cover the shortfall.

A chain of departments can only perform efficiently if each part of that chain is fulfilling its duty to an acceptable standard. When this starts to break down, the feeling of pressure and overwork can step in as a consequence.

9) Financial worries/job security

Having a potential redundancy sweep hanging or departmental restructure hanging over your head is not going to do anyone’s mental health any good. You may know that your firm is struggling or that staff have been laid off, particularly in the wake of COVID, and that may contribute to a general feeling of unease.

On the other hand, you could be worried about how you are going to make ends meet due to factors outside of work, and the stress of performing a demanding job where the monetary recompense is no longer sufficient can take its toll on your health.

10) Lack of progression/opportunity

Being stuck in a perceived “dead-end job” can be too much to bear for a certain kind of person, but at the same time they may not feel confident enough to enquire about potential progression paths to get out of the mental or professional rut they are in.

Having an environment where staff feel like they could move up the ladder can make all the difference to your feeling of worth.

In summary

As you can see from the list above, there are many ways these ten examples can bleed over into one another depending on your circumstances, so it can sometimes be very difficult to pinpoint the exact source of the stress you are experiencing.

Many people don’t even realise that they are under stress until it it pointed out to them, or worse – when it has a detrimental effect on personal health or that of a relationship or responsibility.

It is always best to understand how and why you feel the way you do if something isn’t right, because once you have understood the problem on a personal level, you can then take steps to correct the imbalance in your life before it becomes worse.