Middle managers suffer high stress levels

According to a workplace consultancy director, middle managers bear the brunt of stress in the workplace compared to their seniors.

‘The most lethal combination (for stress) is people with very high demand but very little control,’ Teamcorp Australia director Tony Wilson told Occupational Health News.

‘We find CEOs and senior managers with high demand and high levels of control actually don’t get as many stressed-related illnesses as those further down.’

Workplace accounted for 30% of total stress reported in Australia, a recent Australian Bureau of Statistics survey revealed.

Wilson said that workers in age group 26 to 35-years accounted for 43% of workplace stress, reflecting the average age for middle managers.

‘Middle managers have less control and high demand,’ Wilson said.

People in boring jobs and those who believed they were not paid fairly also suffered from high stress.

‘The low demand (jobs) usually mean people are bored with their jobs and don’t get a lot of satisfaction,’ he said.

Giving people more autonomy and a greater sense of control and accomplishment lowered stress levels, Wilson advised.

‘One of the things leaders can do is to give their employees a feeling of control,’ he said.

‘People can control how the work gets done, the way they work and have more ownership and input into goals, team behaviours and values. Once you give people more autonomy they have a greater feeling of control’, he further added.

Work-related stress could be managed and reduced if leaders are made to understand that co-workers have to be given more autonomy!