Workplace stress - Introduction

Welcome to the ILO’s Webpage on workplace stress. The prevention of work-related stress is an important aspect of the ILO’s primary goal, which has been defined by Director-General Juan Somavia as to promote opportunities for women and men to obtain decent and productive work, in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. [Report of the Director-General: Decent work, ILC, 87th Session, 1999)]

The cost of stress

The European Union estimates that work-related stress affects at least 40 million workers in its 15 Member States and that it costs the European Union at least Euro 20 billion annually.
[Guidance on work-related stress: Spice of life - or kiss of death,
European Commission, Directorate-General for Employment and Social Affairs]

See also the section on the costs of stress for further information.

It is now widely acknowledged that stress at work is a very common problem and that it has a very high cost in terms of workers’ health, absenteeism and lower performance.

"... it is worrying to discover that 26% of workers who reported an injury or illness felt that they suffered from stress while at work in the last 12 months, and that this percentage rises markedly in certain sectors (for example, 47% for finance and insurance industry and 44% for education industry)."
[The 1995 Australian Workplace and Industrial Relations Survey (AWIRS 95),
National Occupational Health and Safety Commission, Australia]

[Stress at Work,
National Institutute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), USA]

Yet it has been proven time and again that effective solutions exist for the prevention of stress at work. The best of these offer a very good return in terms of reduced absenteeism, better health, improved efficiency and productivity, and lower medical and other benefit costs.

T50 - A celebrated success story
in preventing stress and achieving a productivity breakthrough

One of the most widely cited success stories in stress prevention was introduced by the Swiss-Swedish company, Asea-Brown Boveri (ABB), starting in 1990. The intervention originally concerned a group of women blue-collar workers with very high sick leave rates, high staff turnover, a high incidence of musculoskeletal disorders and low productivity. The intervention focussed on increasing skills, enriching work and increasing the involvement of workers in the organization of their work.
When the original intervention achieved dramatic decreases in absenteeism and turnover, and equally impressive increases in productivity and work satisfaction, it was extended throughout the company in the form of the T50 programme.
The programme was named after its objective of reducing product lead time by 50 per cent. This objective was broadly achieved through increased productivity, improved worker competence, greater job satisfaction and better occupational health and well-being.
For information on other success stories, go the the section on Developing a workplace stress prevention programme. For further information on the T50 programme, see Conditions of work digest: Preventing stress at work, Case study No. 13, and Stress prevention in the workplace: Assessing the costs and benefits to organisations [European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Ireland, 1996)].

The following sections are designed to give a general background on workplace stress and its costs and effects, while providing an overview of the most effective approaches for its prevention. A number of links and resources are also proposed for those wishing to deepen their knowledge of the subject or who are seeking further guidance.

The section What is workplace stress? takes a look at the effects of stress on health, the categories of persons most likely to be affected by stress, the relationship between stress and gender and the costs of stress. A closer examination is also made of how certain sectors and occupations are affected by occupational stress, including air traffic controllers, assembly line workers, bus drivers, workers in the offshore oil and gas industry and nurses. You may wish to consult the collection of International Hazard Datasheets on Occupation as well.

A second main section focusses on Developing a workplace stress prevention programme. The ILO’s experience shows that, although many measures are taken to help workers cope with stress, these may not be effective in the long term unless they go some way to addressing the causes of stress. An analysis is provided of the types of stress prevention which are most effective, the first step in stress prevention - diagnosis and options for a stress prevention programme. Guidance is provided on the development of a stress prevention manual for particular sectors and occupations in an Introduction to the preparation of manuals on occupational stress. The development of a framework for action at the national level and within the European Union is also reviewed.

Finally, a section is devoted to ILO action in the field of workplace stress.

This Webpage is designed to help all the actors concerned decide on the action to be taken for the prevention of occupational stress or to improve measures which are already being implemented. The official who covers work-related stress at SafeWork is David Gold, Senior Adviser, Psychsocial Factors. Send your reactions and comments on this webpage to the SafeWork Secretariat.

[ Top of page ]

[ Stress at workplace ]

Updated by AS, approved by JT. Last modification: 18.11.2002.

Workplace stress - Introduction

The cost of stress

T50 - A celebrated success story in preventing stress and achieving a productivity breakthrough

T50 - A celebrated success story
in preventing stress and achieving a productivity breakthrough