Violence and stress in the workplace

Scope and impact of violence and stress

Postal workers have been identified as a “high risk” occupation for exposure to violence and stress. Indeed, in the United States the term “going postal” has become synonymous with severe acts of workplace violence such as homicide. However, less severe and therefore sometimes more inconspicuous acts of violence, such as threats and psychological abuse, occur far more frequently.

The nature of postal work means that employees face the risk of violence and stress emanating from outside the work environment. This was demonstrated recently in the bio-terrorism/anthrax cases in the United States, where emergency precautions were taken in response to the threat. These events highlight the omnipresent dangers postal workers face while processing mass volumes of mail, and the need to remain particularly vigilant to suspect devices such as bombs and incendiary devices. Postal workers also face aggression from the public, dangers associated with handling valuables, as well as heightened stress due to organizational reforms and the impact of mergers and acquisitions, globalization, new technology, new work practices, business performance and the like. These factors have strained relationships between managers, employees and workers’ organizations, have given rise to job insecurity, dissatisfaction and conflict among the workforce, and can lead to workers feeling unable to cope with the demands of work and allowing tensions to intensify.

According to a stress survey carried out by the Communication Workers’ Union in the United Kingdom in 2001, the leading causes of stress were as follows: Bad management 44%, Excessive workload 42%; Staff shortages 20%; Job insecurity 17%; Monotonous work 16%; Long hours 13%; Bullying 11%; Lack of control over work 11%. Stress was high among workers who experience regular acts of violence, or threats of violence. In particular, younger workers and workers on fixed-term contracts reported violence as a major cause of stress in the workplace; 24 % perceived work-related stress as a main health and safety concern, 84% felt more stressed than they did five years ago. From a sample of postal workers, 14% saw the threat of violence as bad or very bad.

In 2005, the Royal Mail Group announced a national agreement with the CWU and the CMA on tackling stress within the company. The Royal Mail Group published a Policy on the Management of Stress entitled Safety standard: Stress management, which contains useful information, advice and approaches to risk assessment.

In a nationwide study on workplace bullying in the United Kingdom in 2002, the highest incidence rates were reported in the postal/telecommunications sector, with 16% of the sample reporting that they had been bullied regularly and 27% in the past five years (as compared to a population norm of 14.6%). Managers were identified as the perpetrators in 79.1% of reported bullying incidents and colleagues were perpetrators in 37.2% of them (as there can be more than one perpetrator, the total does not equal 100).

The prevalence of sexual harassment and the level of under-reporting is evident from a regional survey of women postal workers in Italy, in which 20% of the respondents stated that they had rejected sexual advances from their supervisors and colleagues. Although 45% reported being victims of sexual harassment or had witnessed such an event occurring among work colleagues, only 0.5% took any further action by filing a complaint.

Causes of workplace violence and stress

Intense technological progress and moves towards globalization, along with organizational change and substantial efforts nationally, regionally and globally to regulate postal services, have left former postal monopolies facing competition for the first time and being forced to consider diversification. These sudden changes in certain circumstances have caused deteriorating industrial relations, with conflict often arising as a result of new management initiatives, and workers feeling a sense of injustice and betrayal. Further, work-related stress is usually associated with jobs that are highly demanding and simultaneously allow little control; many areas of postal work correspond to this model, whereby individuals have heavy workloads but little autonomy in completing their assigned tasks.