Stress, a hazard in the workplace - Essay Example

Recent medical research has indicated that stress can ultimately be just as harmful as smoking a pack of cigarettes each and every day. With such a high level of impact with regards to human health and the increasing level to which systemic and/or self engaged stress motivates and defines the workplace, the following analysis will engage the reader with an understanding of how stress can create an ultimate hazard with regards to a toxic workplace alongside the medical ramifications and human resources repercussions that this necessarily entails.

As a means of understanding this and seeking to define the negative ramifications and positive ameliorations of stress within the workplace, from a human resources perspective, the following analysis will attempt to engage the reader with a more full and complete understanding of the many unique dynamics of this issue (Richards, 2013). It is the hope of this author that such a discussion will provide a more definitive level of understanding and a clearer approach to stress reduction and practices/policies that are beneficial in effecting such an end.

Identification of Factors and Discussion of Approach: Firstly, it must be understood that stress impacts directly upon workplace efficiency and productivity. A number of different studies have indicated a statistical correlation between a high stress workplace and a precipitous drop in efficiency and/or productivity that is exhibited as a byproduct of this. Moreover, unlike the counterpart, direct physical injury, stress in the workplace is something of a silent killer (Spruill, 2013). Ultimately, many human resources divisions have come to realize that a high level of unnecessary stress, exhibited within the culture of a specific firm or organization, engenders a greatly increased risk of a litany of different health concerns.

For entities and businesses that operate within the United Kingdom and Ireland, a culture that exhibit a high degree of unnecessary stress necessarily will cause a tangential loss in productivity and time out of work as a result of health concerns brought on and facilitated by such a high level of stress. For those entities and organizations that operate outside United Kingdom, the employer might be required to provide medical insurance for the stakeholders; thereby not only decreasing the efficiency and productivity that the firm is able to exhibit but also losing further money as a result of the stress that is exhibited as part of the company culture.

In effect, the reader should come away with the fundamental understanding that stress within an organization can drain the organization of potential, efficiency, and resources. As such, with a high level of unique cultural stress ingrained within the culture, the human resources Department of any given organization or firm has no alternative but to seek a manner through which to redefine and reengaged the stakeholders as a means of slowly seeking to affect a gradual change within the culture (Stress and Coping, 2013).

Overview of Research: Whereas there are litanies of different studies that help to engage the reader with an understanding of the negative repercussions that stress within an organization necessarily entails, there are relatively few analyses and discussions with regards to the manner through which a human resources department might seek to change the culture that surrounds