Workplace Stress and the Effects of Life Events that Contribute to Injuries

Workplace stress combined with personal stressors can leave your workforce de-motivated, exhausted and at high risk for injury. Some key life events that can contribute to workplace stress are:

Dealing with family grief/death or illness in family

Dealing with marital/family issues

Aging parents

Financial Stress

Domestic/Spousal Violence

Even positive life events can contribute to personal stressors that can be brought into the workplace. Some examples include:

-New marriage

-Blending a new family

-Birth of children

-Winning the lottery (yes, even winning a lottery can be stressful as well as exciting)

With the latest changes to legislation across Canada respecting Workplace Violence and dealing with Mental Health factors, some employers as well as employees are struggling with how to implement these types of programs. 

Questions Employers Face:

-What about spousal abuse? How do we manage this in the workplace? Can we intervene if personal matters affect the worker(s)? Where is the line drawn?

-What about having multiple family members working together? Can home agruements become a factor in workplace discipline?

Employee Concerns:

What if I disclose a personal matter, how will it affect my job?

What if i say I am suffering with a Mental Illness and struggling? Will I be ostracized?

What if the toll of family life stressors is impacting my decisions? Does this impact my performance and is it fair when a promotion comes up?

The above are just examples of some of the concerns from both Management and Employee groups. The impacts both economically and functionally are high. Who pays the price? How do we change the dynamics so that we feel “safe” to disclose mental health stressors to the workplace? The solutions are two-fold and the answers lies within your Safety Culture. Build a workplace of trust, and together we can make our workplaces mentally safe as well as physically.

Share your thoughts.