Human Resource Management: An In-Depth Analysis of Workplace Stress

This report provides a detailed analysis of workplace stress from a Human Resource Management (HRM) perspective. It begins with an introduction emphasizing the importance of employee well-being and the impact of stress on organizational productivity. The report then explores the definition and historical context of workplace stress, tracing its emergence and the evolution of research in the field. It further examines relevant legislation governing workplace stress, although it notes the absence of specific laws and highlights the coverage under broader health and safety regulations. The impact of stress on employees, employers, and HRM is discussed, including effects on motivation, absenteeism, and productivity. The report includes a case study of a legal dispute related to workplace stress, illustrating the challenges of compensation for mental health issues. It then outlines strategies for addressing workplace stress, such as encouraging open communication, providing management training, promoting teamwork, and implementing wellness programs. Finally, the report analyzes current trends, including the increasing levels of stress caused by management changes, and concludes by summarizing key findings and emphasizing the need for proactive stress management in the workplace.

1
Running head: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Human Resource Management
Name
Institution

2
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Introduction
A workplace is a significant place where all employers should focus their attention and
ethics to the employees. Employees are very important in every workplace since most of the
duties and responsibilities are accomplished by employees. Employees are the ones who
determine the productivity of an organization depending on how they are treated as well as their
physiological and psychological well-being. Workplace stress is an aspect which has emerged
among employees and is significantly affecting them as well as human resource managers and
employers, hence eventually affecting the productivity of the entire organization (Pasca and
Wagner, 2012). This piece of work aims at giving an explanation and history of workplace stress,
highlighting legislation governing workplace stress, the impact of workplace stress, how
businesses should deal with the issue as well as trends that are related to workplace stress.
Additionally, an illustration of workplace stress will be illustrated using a recent article that is
related to this issue.
Explanation and History of Workplace Stress
Wang and Schmitz (2011) argue that workplace stress is as a result of an influence of
external stimuli which is mostly referred to as a stressor. A person then evaluates the external
stimuli where this results to straining which is a negative impact on the mental, physical,
psychological as well as behavioral activity or functioning of a person. Precisely, workplace
stress occurs when a subjective cognitive appraisal of negative workplace stressors results in
outcomes which involve health and behavioral straining. Väänänen, Anttila, Turtiainen and Varje
(2012) posit that the issue of workplace stress gained ground in the 1960s when social reformist
movements wanted for a change in workplaces. The change emphasized on work which has
democracy and which focuses on the well-being of an employee. This is the same time when

3
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
research on workplace stress started where scholars carried out different studies and developed
several articles which tackled the issue of workplace stress. Researchers emphasized on
developing models and finding out risk factors which are associated with the issue of workplace
stress.
Legislation Governing Workplace Stress
It is argued that there is no law that covers workplace stress specifically, but it is covered
over a wide set of regulations (Lippel, Vézina and Cox, 2011). For example, the Health and
Safety at Work Act 1974 states that all employers should ensure the safety, welfare, and health of
all employees, in Section 2. Additionally, The Management of Health and Safety at Work
Regulations 1999 states that employers should carry out assessments on risk factors related to the
health and safety of the employees, mostly exposed to them in the workplace, outlined in Section
3. The assessments should be suitable and sufficient. There should also be control measures
which would help in avoiding such risk factors. At situations when the risk factors cannot be
avoided, there should be measures which aim at reducing the risk factors in the most reasonable
and practical ways as possible. The Working Time Regulations 1998 also gives an entitlement of
8hours maximum time for night shifts, 11 hours of rest on daily basis, one day off in a week, a
break of 20 minutes for hours more than 6 in the workplace, and a paid leave of 4 weeks every
year (Goh, Pfeffer, Zenios and Rajpal, 2015)
Impact of Stress in the Workplace
Stress in the workplace has a great impact on the employees, employers as well as human
resource management. Stress in the workplace can be due to several reasons such as deadlines,
budgets, presentations, lack of satisfaction, and discrimination as well as maltreatment among

4
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
others. This stress makes an employee less motivated, having minimal morale, increase in
employee absenteeism, worker turnover, as well as poor timekeeping in the workplace.
Workplace stress also leads to an increase in complaints which mostly affects human resource
management (Dimoff and Kelloway, 2013). The human resource management is required to
handle most of the issue which pertain to the employees, which also makes him or her vulnerable
to developing stress too. The employer is affected negatively through the poor productivity of the
entire organization as well as increased recruitment of new employees due to employee turnover.
Ontario Legal Case Related to Workplace Stress
A case was presented in Canadian Broadcasting Corporation where the provincial government,
as well as the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, denied to provide compensations for
chronic mental stress. Crawley and Brockbank (2017) report that the board and the provincial
government argue that they only provide compensation to traumatic events which happen
suddenly and unexpectedly on employees within the workplace. One of the employees argued
that she was sexually harassed for several years within the organization. This sexual harassment
would occur in the lunchrooms where many photos of pornography would be pinned in the walls.
Additionally, the employee argued that she would be given cards in the workplace which would
be attached to pornographic materials. Most lawyers argued that the board should include mental
stress in the insurance covers that they provide to employees. However, the board said that they
cannot compensate for such kinds of stress. This article shows the issue of workplace stress
which needs to be included in the insurance covers in order for the employees to be
compensated, hence ensuring their safety and health is catered for sufficiently.
How to Address Workplace Stress

5
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Businesses and organizations should address the issue of workplace stress by
encouraging employees to speak out. There should also be a proper management training that
would equip managers with skills of controlling workplace stress such as having the capabilities
of identifying signs of workplace stress as well as conflict resolution. Additionally, teamwork
should be encouraged and incentives given to employees in order to reduce the mental stress
brought about by excess work with little wages (Van Heugten, 2011). Moreover, a program that
emphasizes corporate wellness should be established in order to ensure employee's self-care.
Time-off should also be provided to employees in order to reduce stress brought by excess work
or tiredness.
Trends in Workplace Stress
An article that was published in January 2019 indicates that there is an increase in the
level of stress in the workplace. This is mainly caused by managers who are in the higher ladders
of leadership in the workplace. Statistics indicate that 35% of employees argued that stress is
most commonly caused by bosses in the workplace. Additionally, 80% of employees indicated
that most of their stress is caused by a management change in the workplace, mostly by new
leaders who come in the higher levels of leadership (Lipman, 2019).
Conclusion
Workplace stress has been argued to have its history in the 1960s when different
movements and scholars needed a focus on human safety and health in the workplace. There are
no laws which specifically deal with stress, but broad regulations cover workplace stress in them.
Workplace stress affects the motivation, absenteeism, complaints, time management and hence
the overall productivity of the organization. Stress in the workplace should be addressed by

6
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
developing programs dealing with corporate wellness of employees, educating managers, and
encouraging teamwork. Different cases have been shown which give evidence on the existence
of workplace stress. The trend of this issue of workplace stress indicates its increase, mostly
caused by changes of leaders in the organization.

7
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
References
Crawley, M., & Brockbank, N. (2017). Lawsuit could get Ontario workers the compensation
they've been denied for chronic mental stress | CBC News. Retrieved from
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/wsib-mental-stress-workplace-constitution-
court-1.4189301
Dimoff, J. K., & Kelloway, E. K. (2013). Bridging the gap: Workplace mental health research in
Canada. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie canadienne, 54(4), 203.
Goh, J., Pfeffer, J., Zenios, S. A., & Rajpal, S. (2015). Workplace stressors & health outcomes:
Health policy for the workplace. Behavioral Science & Policy, 1(1), 43-52.
Lipman, V. (2019). Workplace Trend: Stress Is On The Rise. Retrieved from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/victorlipman/2019/01/09/workplace-trend-stress-is-on-the-
rise/#2b6566f46e1b
Lippel, K., Vézina, M., & Cox, R. (2011). Protection of workers’ mental health in Québec: Do
general duty clauses allow labour inspectors to do their job?. Safety Science, 49(4), 582-
590.
Pasca, R., & Wagner, S. L. (2012). Occupational stress, mental health and satisfaction in the
Canadian multicultural workplace. Social indicators research, 109(3), 377-393.
Väänänen, A., Anttila, E., Turtiainen, J., & Varje, P. (2012). Formulation of work stress in 1960–
2000: Analysis of scientific works from the perspective of historical sociology. Social
Science & Medicine, 75(5), 784-794.

8
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Van Heugten, K. (2011). Social work under pressure: How to overcome stress, fatigue and
burnout in the workplace. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Wang, J., & Schmitz, N. (2011). Does job strain interact with psychosocial factors outside of the
workplace in relation to the risk of major depression? The Canadian National Population
Health Survey. Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 46(7), 577-584.