Stress costs

Explanations > Stress > Stress costs

Costs for the person | Costs for the employer | So what?

Costs for the person

The cost of stress for the individual is potentially very high, and many die or become unemployable through stress-related illness.

Stress can also affect your personal life, with stress at work overflowing into behaviors at home that harm your family and friends.

Even if you keep it to yourself, your loss of functionality, both at work and at home will affect people in both arenas.

Costs for the employer

Stress has high costs for employers. Data includes:

• 60 to 80 percent of worksite accidents are the result of stress
• Costs associated with stress may reduce U.S. industry profits by 10 percent.
• 75 to 90 percent of visits to physicians are stress related.
• Cost to US industry of stress-related illness is over $200 billion a year.
• 20 percent of the total number of health care claims are stress related.
• 16 percent of health care costs are explained by stress.

Other impacts include:

• Reduction in cognitive ability and hence performance
• Reduction in motivation and hence performance (and possible leaving the company)
• Betrayal effects that lead them to sabotage or other damaging acts
• Law suits for unreasonable behavior by the employer

So what?

When you are getting stressed, find ways of de-stressing. Also remember that tomorrow is another day, and if you want to enjoy your life, then building an effective

When you are winding up and overloading people to get more work done, remember to balance the benefit now with the potential high costs later.

See also

Tension principle